Pier 5 Condo

Miss Benning was a health instructor at the most popular co-ed high school in the district. Although she had been teaching for only four years, she had already established a reputation as a teacher with instructional approaches that inspired and stimulated her students to think and to learn.

For example, one Wednesday morning at 11:00 she addressed the pupils in her classroom and said the following: “For the next three or four days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general point of view and we are also going to learn about several of the most highly researched signs of alcoholism from a less general and more explicit viewpoint.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will beyond doubt validate that a drinker with a drinking problem is an individual who is addicted to alcohol, but the more signs that a drinker exhibits, the higher the probability that he or she is an alcohol dependent individual.”

Miss Benning then told the the pupils that each individual would be responsible for studying four alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her conclusions to the class via a ten minute oral presentation.

The Students are Enthused About Giving An Extensive Presentation to Their Fellow Students About Alcoholism Signs

After learning about the different alcohol dependency signs for several days, the time had arrived for the student presentations. It was instantly clear to see that the students were thrilled about the subject because the information that they presented was first class. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the interest exhibited by the students in her class concerning this topic was an understatement.

The day after all of the pupils completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper with a list of all the alcohol addiction signs that were discussed and presented in the presentations and in class. 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 alcohol dependency. After about fifteen minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and informed her pupils that after she studies the numbers, she will discuss her findings the next school day.

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

The Pupils Compare Their Numbers With the Evaluations From A Board of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Authorities

When the next school day finally came, 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 informed her students that the numbers in the new column she added stood for the findings that were stated publicly by a group of alcohol dependency experts.

Miss Benning asked the pupils in her class to look over the information she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any issues, questions, or concerns. Within 30 or 40 seconds, virtually everyone in the classroom raised his or her hand. It was clear to see that the pupils had some questions, concerns, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. For instance, just about every individual in the class disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the experts, specifically, “Do you feel awfully ill when you refrain from drinking?”

The Principal Difference Between Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcohol Dependency and Not With Alcohol Abuse

Miss Benning then told the pupils in her class why this answer was the most clear-cut indicator of alcohol dependency. She underlined the fact that the main difference between alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.

In effect this means that when an individual who is addicted to alcohol abruptly quits drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then told the pupils in her class that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the body and by the brain to the deprivation of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated another way, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling an alcohol dependent person that something is terribly wrong and needs to be rectified. These signals consist of several uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can possibly lead to a person’s death if the appropriate therapy is not promptly obtained.

Miss Benning then listed the host of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an individual who is addicted to alcohol suddenly stops drinking.

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

To state this as precisely as possible, Miss Benning underscored the point that alcohol abusers, unlike alcoholics, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they quit drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Pupils Think They Have Uncovered A Discrepancy With the Findings From The Team of Alcohol Dependency Specialists

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

Miss Benning explained to the pupils in her class that this sign does not inevitably suggest that the problem is alcohol addiction, but that it does underscore the need that alcohol dependent individuals have to drink in order to prevent alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol dependent person, the pupils started to comprehend the fundamental difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

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

After roughly one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ answers. While many pupils figured that approximately 80 to 90 percent of alcohol addicted individuals would ask for alcohol dependency rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs, most of the pupils thought that this number would not be less than 65 percent.

The Students Were Surprised to Find Out That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the United States Seek Alcohol Treatment

To the surprise of most of the students, Miss Benning mentioned that according to various scientific studies, only 25% of the people who are alcohol dependent in the United States get alcohol dependency rehab. This surprised most of the students because they believed that exposure to the alarming facts and statistics associated with alcoholism would motivate the majority of the alcohol addicted individuals to ask for alcoholism rehab.

Miss Benning then stated that people who are alcohol dependent not only need alcohol on an everyday basis in order to function but they also need alcohol everyday so they can prevent possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, the alcoholic’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than facts or logic. To be sure, since the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol addicted individual, this is a challenging issue that is hard to reverse.

A few minutes later the bell rang, meaning that the end of class had arrived. Based on the enthusiasm displayed by the pupils when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning knew that she had motivated and inspired the pupils in her class to stop and think about an important health and social problem that exists in our culture.