Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most financially challenged parochial high school in the state. Even though she had been teaching for only two years, she had already achieved a reputation as a teacher with educational techniques that motivated and encouraged the students in her class to think and to learn.

For example, one Friday morning at 11:30 she addressed her students and said the following: “For the next few days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wide-ranging standpoint and we are also going to learn about a number of the most common signs of alcoholism from a less general and more detailed standpoint.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will without doubt substantiate that someone with a drinking problem is an alcohol dependent person, but the more signs that an individual manifests, the higher the probability that he or she is an alcohol addicted individual.”

Miss Benning then told the members of the class that each pupil would be accountable for studying three alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her results to the other class members via a thirty minute oral presentation.

The Pupils are Enthused About Giving An In-Depth Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About Alcoholism Signs

After learning about the different signs of alcohol dependency for several days, the time had finally come for the oral presentations. It was at once clear to see that the pupils in her class were excited about the subject matter because the information that they presented was first class. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the eagerness manifested by her students concerning this subject matter could not be overstated.

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

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

The Pupils Compare Their Answers With the Evaluations From A Board of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Authorities

When the next school day came, Miss Benning handed out a piece of paper that listed the top three alcoholism signs according to the students’ rankings. To the right of these results, she included another column that was labeled “experts’ answer.” She then told the students in her class that the numbers in the new column she added signified the responses that were articulated by a board of alcohol dependency experts.

Miss Benning told the students in her classroom to go over the data on the piece of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any issues, concerns, or questions. Within a minute or two, just about everyone in the class raised her or his hand. It was clear to see that the pupils had some questions, issues, or concerns about their results versus the answers given by the authorities. As an illustration, almost every person in the classroom had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, that is to say, “Do you feel extremely ill when you stop drinking?”

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

Miss Benning then told the students in her classroom why this answer was the most straightforward indicator of alcohol addiction. She pointed out that the foremost difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.

In effect this means that when a person who is addicted to alcohol all of a sudden quits drinking, he or she will go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then explained to her students that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the lack of alcohol to which they had become acclimated. Stated more explicitly, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the brain and from the body telling an alcohol dependent person that something is terribly misaligned and needs to be rectified. These signals consist of several uncomfortable, dangerous, and painful withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to a person’s death if the appropriate therapy is not immediately obtained.

Miss Benning then went over the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an individual who is addicted to alcohol suddenly stops drinking.

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

To articulate this as clearly as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the point that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol addicted individuals, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they quit drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Pupils Believe They Have Uncovered An Incongruity With the Findings From The Panel of Substance Abuse Experts

The pupils also some difficulty with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol addiction experts, that is, “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 informed the pupils in her classroom that this sign does not inevitably signify that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does point to the need that alcoholics have to drink in order to keep away from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

After Miss Benning explained the significance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the person who is addicted to alcohol, the students started to grasp the major difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

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

After approximately four or five minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ answers. While many pupils reasoned that around 70 to 80 percent of individuals who are alcohol dependent would obtain alcohol addiction rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcohol addiction signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, most of the students reasoned that this number would not be less than 50 percent.

The Pupils Were Astonished to Discover That Only 25% of Alcohol Addicted People in the United States Obtain Alcoholism Rehab

To the surprise of most of the pupils, Miss Benning proclaimed that according to various scientific studies, only 25% of the people who are addicted to alcohol in the United States ask for alcohol dependency rehab. This astonished most of the students because they thought that exposure to the awful facts and statistics linked to alcoholism would motivate most of the alcohol dependent people to seek alcohol rehab.

Miss Benning then explained that individuals who are addicted to alcohol not only need alcohol on an everyday basis in order to function but they also require alcohol everyday so they can steer clear of possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, the alcohol addicted individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than facts or logic. In actual fact, since the need for alcohol is “reality” to the person who is alcohol dependent, this is a thorny issue that is difficult to reverse.

The Combination of Mental Health Problems and Alcohol Addiction Regularly Leads to Communication and Commitment Issues in Friendships and Relationships

Lastly, Miss Benning explained to the pupils in her class that it is relevant to realize that alcoholism and a variety of mental health problems such as depression are highly interlinked. Not only this but the occurrence of alcoholism and mental health problems often result in communication and commitment problems in friendships and relationships.

The Pupils are Enthused to Learn About Alcohol Addiction Signs and Symptoms in Today’s Society

A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating the end of the class. Based on the buzz manifested by the pupils when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning knew that she had encouraged and inspired the pupils in her class to stop and think about an important health and social problem that exists in our society.

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When I was a sophomore in high school, I registered for a substance abuse class. At that age, I did not understand that alcohol abuse in truth was a sub classification of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and especially about alcohol side effects, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for people all through the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehabilitation and the different alcohol rehab clinics that are normally available to people who engage in hazardous drinking.

Detrimental Results That are Linked to Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse

Some of the detrimental end results associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class undeniably alarmed me. The ruined lives and frequent serious issues experienced by most alcohol addicted individuals made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated differently, I did not want to face the disaster and destruction that alcohol addicted individuals almost always go through.

Let this sink in for a moment. What fifteen-year-old individual wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What teenager wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that ingesting alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teenager wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related difficulties before he or she becomes twenty-one?

What adolescent wants to experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause problems in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after an individual has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a teenager want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that centers on excessive drinking?

These issues were so significant that I discussed some of them in class during the school year. What was downright unbelievable to me was the number of students who basically didn’t care about the damaging results of excessive drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with reality and how these results can demolish their lives. For the first time in my life I started to understand a saying that my grandfather used to say to me all through my younger years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.

It’s Important, Beneficial, and Liberating to Remove Yourself From the Unhealthy and Debilitating Consequences of Drug and Alcohol Abuse

And even at my young age, I also began to understand how beneficial, enlivening, and important it is in life to keep yourself from the unhealthy and destructive results of alcohol and drug abuse. And realizing this also led to some communication problems, conflict, and commitment issues in the friendships and relationships I established in high school.

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