Miss Benning was a health instructor at the best known parochial high school in the region. Although she had been teaching for only one year, she had already secured a reputation as an instructor with educational methods that stimulated and inspired the pupils in her class to think and to learn.

For instance, one Wednesday morning at 9:00 she addressed the students in her class and articulated the following: “For the next four or five days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wide-ranging point of view and we are also going to learn about some of the most typical signs of alcoholism from a more specific perspective.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will undeniably substantiate that someone with a drinking problem is an alcohol addicted person, but the more signs that a person exhibits, the greater the probability that he or she is an alcoholic.”

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

The Students are Thrilled About Giving A Detailed Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About The Signs of Alcoholism

After learning about the various alcoholism signs for quite a few days, the time had finally arrived for the oral presentations. It was immediately noticeable that her pupils were enthused about the topic because the material that they presented was excellent. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the excitement exhibited by the students in her classroom concerning this subject 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 dependency signs that were presented and discussed in the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked the pupils in her class to study the list and rank the top eight alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After about ten minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told her pupils that after she analyzes the results, she will reveal her findings the next school day.

There was some real excitement by the students while they were walking out of Miss Benning’s class. 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 Students Match Their Numbers Against the Results From A Team of Alcoholism Professionals

When the next school day finally arrived, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper that listed the top four alcohol dependency signs as per the students’ rankings. To the right of these results, she included another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then explained to her pupils that the numbers in the second column she added represented the findings that were stated by a team of drug and alcohol abuse specialists.

Miss Benning asked the pupils in her classroom to go over the information she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, questions, or issues. Within 40 or 50 seconds, almost every pupil in the classroom raised his or her hand. It was clear to see that the students had some issues, concerns, or questions about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. For instance, virtually every individual in the classroom disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, namely, “Do you feel unusually ill when you stop drinking?”

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

Miss Benning then explained to her pupils why this answer was the most clear-cut indicator of alcohol addiction. She highlighted the fact that the principal difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.

Basically this means that when a person who is addicted to alcohol abruptly stops drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then told the students in her class that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deficit of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated more forcefully, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the body and from the brain telling an individual who is addicted to alcohol that something is extremely out of kilter and needs to be rectified. These signals consist of several uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can possibly result in a fatality if the appropriate therapy is not promptly received.

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

The fact that Miss Benning tried to stress 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, alcohol abusers ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

To explain this as plainly as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the point that alcohol abusers, unlike alcoholics, are not alcohol dependent and as a result, when they stop drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Pupils Feel They Have Discovered An Incongruity With the Findings From The Group of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Professionals

The pupils also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the chemical dependency 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 told the pupils in her class that this sign does not inevitably suggest that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does highlight the need that alcohol addicted individuals 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 individual who is alcohol dependent, the pupils started to grasp the major difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.

To add a sense of closure to the subject matter, Miss Benning asked the pupils 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 alcoholism signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would ask for alcohol dependency rehab?”

After about one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ responses. While many pupils reasoned that about 75 to 85 percent of people who are addicted to alcohol would get alcohol addiction rehabilitation 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 60 percent.

The Pupils Were Amazed to Learn That Only 25% of People Who are Addicted to Alcohol in the United States Get Alcoholism Rehabilitation

To the amazement of most of the students, Miss Benning proclaimed that according to various scientific studies, only 25% of the alcohol dependent individuals in the United States ask for alcoholism rehabilitation. This astonished most of the pupils because they believed that first-hand knowledge of the gruesome statistics and facts correlated with alcohol dependency would motivate most of the people who are alcohol dependent to seek alcohol dependency rehabilitation.

Miss Benning then explained that alcohol dependent individuals not only need alcohol on an everyday basis in order to function but they also need alcohol on an everyday basis so they can avert possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Evidently, the alcohol dependent individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than logic or facts. Undeniably, since the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcoholic, this is difficult to reverse.

The Incidence of Mental Health Difficulties and Alcohol Addiction Often Leads to Marital, Relationship, Divorce, and Friendship Problems

Lastly, Miss Benning explained to pupils that it is important to understand that alcohol dependency and a variety of mental health predicaments such as depression are highly associated. What is more, the occurrence of mental health issues and alcohol addiction frequently lead to friendship, marital, divorce, and relationship problems.

The Students are Encouraged to Learn About Alcoholism Symptoms and Signs in Today’s Society

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

For more than a few years alcohol addiction research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong correlation between alcoholism and dangerous health conditions and mental health issues such as depression.

For instance, in 2005, medical research and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics demonstrated the fact that that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion per year. It can be emphasized that this massive alcohol-related expense was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is relevant to accentuate these facts, it is also important to point out that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.

That is to say, chronic alcohol abuse and alcoholism are also highly correlated with obesity and with cancer.

Certainly, substance abuse examination has revealed that alcohol dependency can increase the risk for different kinds of cancer, especially cancer of the colon, voice box (larynx), liver, rectum, throat, kidneys, and the esophagus. Heavy and repetitive drinking can also lead to immune system issues and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.

Hazardous and Irresponsible Drinking Breaks Down the Problem Drinker’s Systems and Organs

Furthermore, if alcohol addiction continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will probably be affected in a harmful manner. As an illustration, long-term, abusive drinking is particularly harmful to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This medical condition leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can sooner or later lead to cirrhosis of the liver, an acute and potentially terminal disease. Abusive, long-term drinking not only can lead to severe liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be unalterable and may, in turn, result in serious disease or an untimely death.

The Importance of Alcohol Therapy

It is vital, as a result, to know how to identify the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcoholic can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol counseling he or she requires.

Alcohol Addiction and Sophisticated Brain Research

Fortuitously, medical research is persistently finding original and significant information. Recent alcoholism research supplies a high-quality illustration. More exactly, for roughly the last ten years, complicated brain-imaging scanning instruments have verified that repetitive and long-term abusive drinking transforms the constitution of the brain to a significant extent, consequently resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or conceivably as long as the individual lives.

Stated another way, medical investigation has demonstrated that individuals who have been drinking in an excessive manner for an extensive length of time increase their risk for developing permanent and serious alterations in the brain.

This type of damage may be directly related to the alcohol’s effects on the brain, to severe liver disease, or might be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health.

Malnutrition, Abusive Drinking, and Mental Disorders

As a final illustration of different health problems that are considerably related to alcohol dependency, take into account the fact that in accordance with scientific exploration, the excessive and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical condition that limits the absorption of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.

This form of organ failure is related to malnutrition and to an assortment of severe mental and neurological disorders including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a long-term incapacitating medical condition that is exemplified by incessant memory and learning difficulties.

Abusive Drinking Also Results in Relationship and Friendship Problems

In addition to critical health problems, hazardous and abusive drinking also results in friendship and relationship problems. For instance, people who involve themselves in hazardous drinking many times experience marital problems, divorce, affairs, and sexuality problems.

Conclusion: The Significance of Education

It is obvious that continued, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly correlated with many severe medical conditions that can and do result in dangerous ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be highlighted and presented to everyone in our society, especially to all students, so that a massive amount of people will be able to abstain from hazardous drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the quality rehab they require.

Let us look at this realistically. Yes, alcohol counseling is significant, but alcohol treatment is something that is commonly done AFTER the fact. Education, conversely, is something that is done BEFORE the problem emerges. Stated differently, whereas alcohol treatment is “reactive,” education is “proactive.” It is stated that both approaches are necessary when discussing alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.