« A Rug Adds A Touch Of Beauty ToThe Room | Home | 2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 »
A Health Instructor In The Most Popular Parochial High School In The Local Community Instructs Her Pupils About The Importance Of Alcoholism Signs In Today’s Society
By OnTopic | July 13, 2010
Miss Benning was a health instructor at the most popular parochial high school in the local community. Even though she had been teaching for only one year, she had already acquired a reputation as a person with a teaching methodology that stimulated and motivated pupils to think and to learn.
For example, one Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 she addressed her pupils and articulated the following: “For the next three or four days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general perspective and we are also going to learn about some of the most highly researched signs of alcoholism from a more specific point of view.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will unquestionably confirm that an individual with a drinking problem is an individual who is addicted to alcohol, but the more signs that a person exhibits, the stronger the possibility that he or she is a person who is alcohol dependent.”
Miss Benning then told the students in the class that each pupil would be responsible for researching four alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her findings to the rest of the class via a seven minute oral presentation.
The Students are Keyed Up About Giving A Relatively Long Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About The Signs of Alcohol Addiction
After learning about the various signs of alcohol addiction for a number of days, the time had arrived for the student presentations. It was instantaneously apparent that the students were energized about the subject matter because the information that they presented was superb. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the fervor displayed by her students concerning this subject 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 dependency signs that were presented and discussed in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked the pupils in her class to study the list and rank the top eight alcohol dependency signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After around ten minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and explained to her students that after she analyzes the numbers, she will reveal her findings the next school day.
There was a real buzz by the students while they were exiting Miss Benning’s class. One could swear that her pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could find out the results of their in-class research.
The Pupils Match Their Results Against the Results From A Board of Substance Abuse Authorities
When the next school day came, Miss Benning handed out a sheet of paper that listed the top three alcoholism signs according to the pupils’ rankings. To the left of these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ answer.” She then explained to her students that the numbers in the second column she added represented the responses that were articulated by a group of alcoholism experts.
Miss Benning told the students in her classroom to look over the information on the sheet of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any questions, issues, or concerns. Within 10 or 20 seconds, virtually every student in the class raised his or her hand. It was obvious that the students had some issues, concerns, or questions about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. For instance, virtually every pupil disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, to be precise, “Do you feel extremely ill when you abstain from drinking?”
The Central Difference Between Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcohol Addiction and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then told the pupils in her class why this answer was the most precise sign of alcohol dependency. She pointed out that the basic difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.
Essentially this means that when an alcohol dependent individual abruptly 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 accustomed. Stated more precisely, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling an alcoholic that something is very misaligned and needs to be rectified. These messages consist of several dangerous, uncomfortable, and painful withdrawal symptoms that can possibly result in a loss of life if the appropriate treatment is not promptly undertaken.
Miss Benning then went over the multitude of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an alcohol addicted individual abruptly stops drinking.
The fact that Miss Benning tried to underscore 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, people who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To state this as clearly as possible, Miss Benning stressed the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol addicted people, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they quit drinking, they almost never experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Think They Have Found A Dissimilarity With the Findings From The Panel of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Experts
The pupils also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol addiction professionals, to be precise, “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 informed her pupils that this sign does not necessarily denote that the problem is alcohol dependency, but that it does underline the need that individuals who are alcohol dependent have to drink in order to steer clear of alcohol withdrawals.
After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol dependent person, the pupils started to grasp the major difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked the pupils in her classroom to take out a piece of paper and answer the following question: “if every person who is alcohol dependent knew about every one of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcoholism signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcohol dependency treatment?”
After roughly four or five minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ predictions. While many students reasoned that approximately 75 to 85 percent of alcohol dependent people would get alcohol addiction rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol addiction signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, most of the pupils believed that this number would not be less than 65 percent.
The Students Were Surprised to Find Out That Only 25% of People Who are Alcohol Dependent in the United States Obtain Alcoholism Rehab
To the surprise of most of the students, Miss Benning proclaimed that according to different scientific examinations, only 25% of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol in the U.S. get alcohol addiction rehab. This amazed most of the students because they believed that first hand experience of the alarming facts and statistics associated with alcohol dependency would motivate most of the people who are alcohol dependent to obtain alcohol dependency rehabilitation.
Miss Benning then stated that alcohol addicted people not only need alcohol everyday in order to function but they also need alcohol on an everyday basis so they can keep away from possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Evidently, the alcohol addicted individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than facts or logic. Without a doubt, because the craving for alcohol is “reality” to the alcoholic, this is hard to negate.
The Students are Inspired to Learn About Alcohol Addiction Signs and Symptoms in Today’s Society
A few minutes later the bell rang, meaning that the end of class had arrived. Based on the enthusiasm exhibited by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning knew that she had stimulated and inspired the students in her class to stop and think about an important health and social problem that exists in our society.
Topics: News And Society | No Comments »