Miss Benning was a health teacher at the best known private high school in the district. Although she had been teaching for only one year, she had already acquired a reputation as a teacher with teaching methods that stimulated and inspired the pupils in her class to think and to learn.

For instance, one Wednesday morning at 11:30 she addressed her students and said the following: “For the next two weeks we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wide-ranging viewpoint and we are also going to learn about several of the best known signs of alcoholism from a more detailed point of view."

"Not all of these alcoholism signs will absolutely reveal that an individual with a drinking problem is an alcoholic, but the more signs that a drinker exhibits, the greater the likelihood that he or she is an individual who is addicted to alcohol.”

Miss Benning then explained to the students in the class that each student would be responsible for investigating three alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her conclusions to the other class members via a twenty minute oral presentation.

The Students are Wound Up About Giving A Thorough Presentation to Their Fellow Pupils About The Signs of Alcoholism

After learning about the different alcohol dependency signs for a number of days, the time had finally come for the student presentations. It was instantaneously obvious that the students were wound up about the subject because the information that they presented was superb. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the interest displayed by the pupils in her classroom concerning this topic was an understatement.

The day after all of the students completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper with a list of all the alcohol addiction signs that were presented and discussed in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked the pupils in her classroom to study the list and rank the top five alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcoholism. After about twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and told the students in her classroom that after she assesses the numbers, she will discuss her findings the next school day.

There was some real excitement by the students while they were leaving Miss Benning’s classroom. One could swear that her students couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could learn about the results of their in-class research.

The Pupils Contrast Their Answers With the Results From A Team of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Authorities

When the next school day arrived, Miss Benning gave out a sheet of paper that listed the top five alcohol addiction signs as per the pupils' rankings. To the right of these results, she included another column that was labeled “correct response.” She then told the students in her class that the numbers in the second column she added were the conclusions that were put together by a team of drug and alcohol abuse experts.

Miss Benning asked her pupils to look over the information on the piece of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, questions, or issues. Within 10 or 20 seconds, almost every pupil in the class raised her or his hand. It was apparent that the students had some concerns, questions, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the professionals. For instance, almost every individual in the classroom disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the authorities, namely, “Do you feel awfully nauseous when you stop drinking?”

The Most Important Difference Between Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Dependency and Not With Alcohol Abuse

Miss Benning then informed her students why this answer was the most unambiguous indicator of alcoholism. She stressed the fact that the foremost difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.

Basically this means that when an individual who is addicted to alcohol all of a sudden stops drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then informed her pupils that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deficiency of alcohol to which they had become acclimated. Stated another way, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the body and from the brain telling an alcohol dependent individual that something is terribly misaligned and needs to be rectified. These messages consist of several uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can possibly result in a fatality if the appropriate treatment is not immediately undertaken.

Miss Benning then went over the many different alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an alcoholic suddenly quits drinking.

The fact that Miss Benning tried to emphasize was this: an individual who engages in alcohol abuse can experience almost any and every one of the alcohol dependency signs that the students had ranked, but the one sign or symptom that few, if any, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

To state this as exactly as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol addicted individuals, are not alcohol dependent and as a result, when they stop drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Students Think They Have Discovered A Deviation With the Findings From The Group of Alcoholism Specialists

The students also some difficulty with the second ranked answer given by the substance abuse professionals, specifically, “Have you ever had a drink the first thing in the morning to get rid of a hangover or to steady your nerves?”

Miss Benning told the students in her class that this sign does not inevitably suggest that the problem is alcohol addiction, but that it does highlight the need that alcohol dependent people have to drink in order to prevent alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

After Miss Benning explained the relevance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the individual who is addicted to alcohol, the students started to appreciate the primary difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.

To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked the students in her class to take out a piece of paper and answer the following question: “if every person who is an alcoholic knew about every one of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcohol dependency rehab?”

After roughly one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils' responses. While many pupils reasoned that about 70 to 80 percent of people who are addicted to alcohol would seek alcohol addiction rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol addiction signs, most of the students figured that this number would not be less than 70 percent.

The Students Were Surprised to Discover That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the U.S. Ask For Alcohol Dependency Treatment

To the surprise of most of the pupils, Miss Benning acknowledged that according to various scientific examinations, only 25% of the alcoholics in the U.S. ask for alcoholism rehab. This astonished most of the pupils because they thought that exposure to the abysmal facts and statistics linked to alcohol addiction would motivate most of the alcohol addicted people to get alcohol addiction treatment.

Miss Benning then explained that individuals who are alcohol dependent not only need alcohol everyday in order to function but they also require alcohol on a daily basis so they can avert possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, the alcohol dependent person’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than logic or facts. As a matter of fact, since the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol addicted individual, this is hard to reverse.

A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating the end of the class. Based on the excitement displayed by the pupils when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning knew that she had stimulated and encouraged the students in her class to stop and think about a significant health and social problem that exists in our society.

Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependency, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, alcoholism, alcoholism facts, alcoholism signs, kids and teens, self improvement, signs of alcoholism, teen alcohol abuse