What I Learned About Drug Addiction and Alcoholism in High School and My Increased Self Worth and Self Esteem
May 12, 2010 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I registered for a substance abuse class. At that time period, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in reality was a sub classification of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and particularly 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 individuals all through the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol rehab and the different alcohol rehab clinics that are typically available to abusive drinkers.
Detrimental Effects That are Associated With Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse
Some of the dangerous outcomes associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class without a doubt terrified me. The ruined lives and frequent problems experienced by most alcohol addicted people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. That is, I did not want to face the wreckage and destruction that alcohol addicted people almost always experience.
Think about this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old teenager 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 consuming alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teen wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related issues before he or she becomes an adult?
What teenager wants to deal with alcohol withdrawals 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 a person has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a young person want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that centers on hazardous drinking?
These issues were so significant that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was totally incredible to me was the number of students who basically didn’t care about the negative results of abusive drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be bothered with the truth and how these effects can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to grasp a saying that my grandfather used to tell me all through my adolesence: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
It’s Important, Beneficial, and Liberating to Keep Yourself From the Destructive and Unhealthy Consequences of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
And even at my young age, I also started to comprehend how liberating, beneficial, and important it is in life to keep away from the unhealthy and damaging end results of alcohol and drug abuse. And realizing this helped me further increase my self worth and self esteem.
A Young Man’s Excessive and Hazardous Drinking Results In a DUI, Time Behind Bars, and Then Inspiration to Change His devastating and Destructive Lifestyle
Jesse had a particularly difficult time keeping a job. Indeed, because of his sluggishness and lack of incentive, he was unemployed far more often than he was in a state of employment. And when he did secure a job, he had a hard time getting to work when his shift began, he usually received less than optimal performance assessments, and he called off sick so regularly that he typically got fired two or three weeks after he began working. To no one’s amazement, one of the consequences of Jesse’s appalling employment track record was the fact that he was virtually without a dime almost on an everyday basis.
Regardless of Jesse’s irresponsible work record and financial lack of attention, then again, one way or another he managed to drink abusively most of the time.
So it came as no big shock when Jesse got arrested for a fourth DWI. When he went to court, the magistrate clearly stated to Jesse that his alcohol-related behavior was deplorable and, as a consequence, he was going to sentence Jesse to serve five months in the city jail.
Time In Jail To Reflect On The Unhealthy Results of Hazardous and Excessive Drinking
During his time in the county jail, Jesse was expected to learn more about alcohol facts, about the hurtful effects of careless drinking, and he was required to get alcohol counseling. The judge highlighted the fact that unless Jesse gets professional alcohol counseling and learns how to live a life of abstinence, he will quite possibly be spending a lot more time placed behind bars.
Jesse stated that he comprehended what the judge was declaring but he still proclaimed that placement in the county jail was not the best verdict. The magistrate saw things from an entirely different orientation and claimed that it was his obligation to keep alcohol addicted individuals off the streets who drive under the influence and who get arrested for one or more DUIs. To support this statement, the judge listed some long-standing, comprehensively researched alcohol statistics that emphasized some of the injurious results that are correlated with irresponsible and abusive drinking.
Although Jesse realized that he drank abusively, he never thought that he was an alcoholic. So it was a real shocker when Jesse began having alcohol withdrawals just about three hours after getting incarcerated.
To deal with his alcohol withdrawals in a safe manner, Jesse was life flighted to a drug and alcohol treatment hospital for alcohol detox and then brought back to the municipal jail. While locked up in the city jail Jesse got alcohol treatment but due to the fact that he got this counseling as something that was imposed upon him, he did not take ownership of his excessive and irresponsible drinking.
When his time in the local jail was over, the magistrate without reservation told Jesse that he would be under careful scrutiny and would be mandated to take periodic random breath alcohol tests.
Jessie’s Hazardous and Excessive Drinking Prevents Him From Living in a Productive and Responsible Manner
After hearing how Jesse failed to take ownership of his drinking situation and how he grudgingly followed the treatment protocol while in the city jail, the judge knew that it was just a matter of time before he would be seeing Jesse once again in court about his irresponsible drinking behavior. As the judge reflected on Jesse’s situation, he couldn’t help but think about how some people never use their intellect and discover how to live in a responsible and mature manner.
An Old Relationship Motivates and Inspires Jesse to Completely Change His Life
But something happened in Jesse’s life that significantly changed his lifestyle. One day when he was at the store buying chewing tobacco, he met Alice, a girl he hadn’t seen since the ninth grade. After exchanging pleasantries, Alice openly told Jesse that due to her alcohol and drug abuse she was fortunate to be alive.
When Jesse asked her what happened that changed her life in such a positive way, she explained to Jesse that when her cousin Jenny passed away from drug poisoning, this made her see the destructive and detrimental life she had been living.
She emphasized the point that the first thing she did after her cousin’s funeral service was to start going back to church. That was five years ago and with the help, support, and guidance of her minister and other people who went to her parish, she started going to Alcoholics Anonymous and she also got drug and alcohol rehab at the local drug and alcohol treatment facility. Alice told Jesse that despite a few rough moments, she is at last on the path to long term recovery and feeling a sense of happiness and bliss for the first time in her adult life. When Jesse accepted Alice’s invitation to attend her church she was pleasantly surprised. After going to roughly four or five church services, for the first time since he was twenty-one years old, Jesse began thinking that maybe there was hope for him and that he could finally confront his alcohol and drug issues and start living a more productive and rewarding life.
A Young Couple Reviews Their Abusive and Heavy Drinking and Their Short and Long-Term Dreams, Aspirations, and Goals
Augie and Merissa have been dating for seven-and-a-half years. They met while taking the same accounting class at a medium size, country, Church affiliated liberal arts college located in the Western part of the U.S. While they were mainly good friends at first, they finally started dating when they were in their third year of college.
Because both of them came from very ”old school” backgrounds, neither one of them drank very much beyond the experimental stage when they first began dating. As the time advanced, then again, they began to go to more keg parties, happy hours, sorority and fraternity parties, and football bashes. As a consequence, they steadily began to drink more as time went by.
Their Social Life Frequently Consisted of Going to Happy Hour With Their Friends, Going to Professional Sporting Events, Going to Parties With Their Friends, Going to Restaurants Three or Four Nights Per Week, and Going With Their Friends to the Local Pub on the Weekends
After they graduated from college, they both found jobs in a medium size city that was located around eighty miles from their undergraduate college. Then they at long last decided to move into the same apartment with one another.
Given the fact that they were far removed from the college drinking scene, however, their social life frequently consisted of going to restaurants three or four nights per week, going to happy hour with their friends, going to professional sporting events, going to parties with their friends, and going to the local club with their friends on the weekends. In a word, Merissa and Augie began drinking in an irresponsible and hazardous manner.
Now that they were living with each other and beginning to get more serious about their relationship, then again, they began to think about having children, getting married, becoming more responsible, and buying a house.
With any major transformation in a person’s life there is commonly something that elicits the specific transformation in question. For Augie and Merissa the notion of buying a new house and having children was this “change agent.” Stated more explicitly, for the first time in their lives, Augie and Merissa began to critically appraise their excessive drinking and the long term alcohol effects on their lives.
How Would Their Hazardous and Heavy Drinking Affect Their Relationship With One Another, Their Ability to Have Children, Their Finances, Their Relationship With Their Parents, and Their Mental Health?
Would their irresponsible and heavy drinking unfavorably affect their ability to have children? How would they be able to continue spending almost all of their money on drinking if they were to start saving for a new house? How accountable would they be if they had children and continued to drink in an irresponsible and excessive manner? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long term dreams, aspirations, and goals while they still drank in an irresponsible manner while having fun as they did when they were in college? What would their abusive and irresponsible drinking do to their relationship? How would their irresponsible and hazardous drinking affect their mental health?
From a different slant on things, although neither one of them ever suffered from alcohol poisoning, received a DUI, or experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms, they realized that their hazardous and heavy drinking was becoming a thorny issue that they could not discount anymore.
After Giving Their Situation Some Serious Deliberation, Merissa and Augie Finally Understood That Their Goals, Aspirations, and Dreams Would not be Reached if They Continued Their Drinking Behavior
All of these queries undoubtedly indicated the same conclusion: Augie and Merissa needed to realize more fully that they couldn’t continue their excessive and irresponsible drinking if their dreams, hopes, and aspirations were to be fulfilled.
Once they came to this conclusion, they told their drinking friends about their plans to start a family, about their marital plans, and about their goal of buying or building a new house. They also told their drinking pals that they still wanted to associate with them but that they would be drinking responsibly from this time forward so that they could start to realize their future plans, hopes, and dreams.
Unpredictably, all of their pals expressed relief because they too had been pondering the direction of their lives and concluded that their life-styles were too centered around drinking. They also understood that they would have to change radically if they were to become more mature and exhibit more thoughtfulness for their careers, their goals, and for their health in the next fifteen or twenty years.
After their candid discussion with their pals about their hopes, dreams, and plans, Augie and Merissa basically started to have more meaningful relationships with all of their buddies. The primary reason for this was the fact that all of them were on the same page regarding their excessive and irresponsible drinking and their short and long-term goals, aspirations, and plans.
A Young Couple Evaluates Their Irresponsible and Excessive Drinking and Their Short and Long-Term Hopes, Plans, and Dreams
Merissa and Augie have been dating for four years. They met while taking the same gender and sexuality studies class at a relatively small, countryside, private liberal arts college located in the far Western part of the U.S. While they were in essence good friends at first, they finally began dating when they were in their second year of college.
Due to the fact both of them came from very conventional backgrounds, neither one of them drank very much beyond the experimental stage when they first started to date. As the time passed by, then again, they began to go to more football bashes, happy hours, sorority and fraternity parties, and keg parties. As a result, they over time began to drink increasingly more the longer they interacted with one another.
Their Social Life Commonly Consisted of Going to Professional Sporting Events, Going to Parties With Their Friends, Going to Restaurants Three or Four Nights Per Week, Going to Happy Hour With Their Friends, and Going With Their Friends to the Local Club on the Weekends
After they graduated from college, they both got jobs in a relatively small city that was located around seventy-five miles from their undergraduate college. Then they decided to move in with each other.
Due to the fact they were far removed from the college drinking scene, nevertheless, their social life regularly consisted of going to parties with their friends, going to happy hour with their friends, going to professional sporting events, going to restaurants three or four nights per week, and going to the local watering hole with their friends on the weekends. In short, Merissa and Augie began drinking in an abusive and hazardous manner.
Now that they were living in the same apartment with one another and beginning to get more earnest about their relationship, nevertheless, they began thinking about buying a house, having children, becoming more responsible, and getting married.
With any big change in an individual’s life there is often something that causes the particular change in question. For Augie and Merissa the thought of buying a new house and having children was this “trigger.” Stated more explicitly, for the first time in their lives, Augie and Merissa began to reflect on their excessive and irresponsible drinking and the long term alcohol effects on their health.
How Would Their Excessive and Abusive Drinking Affect Their Ability to Have Children, Their Mental Health, Their Relationship With Their Parents, Their Finances, and Their Relationship With One Another?
Would their heavy and excessive drinking unfavorably affect their ability to have children? How would they be able to continue spending so much money on drinking if they were to start saving for a new house? How responsible would they be if they had children and continued to drink in an excessive and irresponsible manner? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long term aspirations, dreams, and hopes while they still drank in a hazardous and irresponsible manner while having fun as they did when they were in college? What would their heavy and hazardous drinking do to their relationship? How would their irresponsible drinking affect their mental health?
From a different viewpoint, although neither one of them ever suffered from alcohol poisoning, received a DUI, or experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms, they realized that their abusive and hazardous drinking was becoming a thorny issue that they could not overlook any longer.
After Giving Their State of Affairs Much Thought, Augie and Merissa Finally Comprehended That Their Dreams, Hopes, and Aspirations Would not be Fulfilled if They Continued Their Hazardous Drinking
All of these inquiries without a doubt resulted in the same conclusion: Merissa and Augie needed to comprehend more clearly that they couldn’t continue their abusive and heavy drinking if their aspirations, dreams, and hopes were to be fulfilled.
Once they got to this conclusion, they alerted their drinking buddies about their goal of buying or building a new house, about their plans to start a family, and about their marital plans. They also told their drinking friends that they still wanted to hang around with them but that they would be drinking in strict moderation from this point forward so that they could start to realize their future dreams, goals, and aspirations.
Much to their surprise, all of their buddies expressed relief because they too had been pondering the direction of their lives and concluded that their life-styles were too focused on drinking. They also understood that they would have to change substantially if they were to become more responsible and exhibit more thoughtfulness for their aspirations, their careers, and for their health in the next ten or fifteen years.
After their candid discussion with their friends about their dreams, hopes, and plans, Augie and Merissa essentially started to have more meaningful relationships with all of their pals. The fundamental reason for this was the fact that all of them had the same frame of mind regarding their excessive drinking and their relatively short and long-term plans, goals, and aspirations.
A Young Woman Makes an Effort to Quit Drinking, Experiences Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms, Realizes That She is Addicted to Alcohol, and Makes Up Her Mind to Get Alcohol Therapy
Jennifer is a thirty-five-year-old bank cashier who has been ingesting alcohol in an abusive and hazardous manner since she and her boyfriend broke up. In actual fact, for the past eight months she has been drinking nearly a bottle of wine every night, and on the weekends she also has been drinking several shots throughout the day. In short, Jennifer has been drinking so hazardously that it’s a miracle that she hasn’t suffered from alcohol poisoning.
After feeling downcast because she was starting to forget about the importance of her health, Jennifer at last told herself that enough is enough, that it’s time to quit the self pity party, that it’s time to quit the excessive and abusive drinking, and time to make a new start with her life. So the next Saturday morning at 8:00 AM, she came to a decision that she would quit drinking suddenly and completely without planning or preparation.
When She Quit Drinking She Felt Awful, She Vomited Numerous Times, Her Head Was Throbbing, She Started to Sweat Profusely, She Had Absolutely No Appetite, and She Was Extremely Restless and Moody
When Jennifer stopped drinking, she thought that she would quite possibly be tempted to take a few drinks, but she never expected to feel so dreadful. More to the point, about two hours after she stopped drinking, she vomited a number of times, she started to sweat profusely, her head was aching, she had absolutely no appetite, and she was extremely moody and nervous.
When she called her best pal and told her that she had stopped drinking and that after a couple of hours she abruptly began experiencing flu-like symptoms, Ruth, her best pal, told Jennifer to call her doctor and go over what was going on.
She Admits to Her Healthcare Professional That She Has Been Drinking In an Abusive and Irresponsible Manner, That She Just Tried to Stop Drinking, and That She is Going Through Ghastly Flu-Like Symptoms
So Jennifer called her healthcare practitioner, told him that she has been drinking in an irresponsible and hazardous manner for several months and that when she tried to totally stop drinking earlier in the day, within a couple of hours she felt as if she had the most dreadful flu-like symptoms that she had ever gone through.
Her physician informed her that she may be going through symptoms of alcohol withdrawal and that she should have a friend or family member take her to the emergency room as soon as humanly possible.
As soon as Jennifer got off the phone, she got a neighbor to take her to the emergency room. Interestingly, all the way to the hospital, as sick as Jennifer felt, the only thing she could think about was whether or not she might be alcohol dependent.
It seems that her healthcare practitioner had called ahead and told the emergency room personnel to expect Jennifer because when she got to the hospital, she was met by a paramedic and a nurse who without hesitation asked her to lie down on the portable bed they had with them. After getting transported to the emergency room and undergoing two or three basic tests, it was validated that Jennifer was in point of fact going through alcohol withdrawal symptoms and was in need of alcohol detoxification.
A physician gave her some medications to reduce her flu-like symptoms and also gave her some drugs to help eliminate the alcohol that was still in her circulation system.
A Chemical Dependency and Substance Abuse Medical Practitioner Goes Over the Fact That She is an Alcoholic and Then Clearly Explains What Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms and Alcohol Addiction Stages Are
After a couple of hours, Jennifer was transferred from the emergency room and transported to the recovery room. After she was in recovery for roughly an hour, Doctor Schmidt, an alcohol abuse and substance abuse specialist, came to visit her. He took his time and clearly explained that Jennifer had experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms when she quit drinking due to the fact that she had become addicted to alcohol.
He then explained that with excessive drinking on a daily basis, the drinker’s brain steadily adapts to the alcohol in order to perform in a “routine” fashion. When the individual then all at once abstains from ingesting alcohol, as one would expect, the brain takes action by generating alcohol withdrawal symptoms. What is more, her doctor also clearly explained the different alcoholism stages that a person who is alcohol dependent typically goes through as the disease gradually gets worse.
It is Determined that Jennifer is in the Earliest Stage of Alcoholism and She Receives a Good Projection For a Full Recovery if She Gets the Alcohol Addiction Rehabilitation She Requires
Fortunately for Jennifer, it was verified that she was in the earliest stage of alcohol dependency and, as a consequence, she got a favorable diagnosis for a complete recovery if she gets the alcohol addiction treatment she requires.
Jennifer told the physician that she will do whatever it takes to get sober and to re-establish her life. She also mentioned that she has an excellent hospitalization insurance policy that will quite possibly pay for most, if not all, of the treatment costs that will be incurred. It was clear to see that Jennifer was quite grateful about her positive medical prognosis and felt at peace knowing that she will be able to get the alcohol dependency therapy she requires so that she can start on the road to recovery.
Shocking Discoveries About Alcohol and Drug Abuse in High School
When I was a sophomore in high school, I took a substance abuse class. At that time, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in point of fact was a sub classification of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and particularly 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 throughout the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehab and the diverse alcohol rehab facilities that are frequently available to problem drinkers.
Dangerous Outcomes That are Related to Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse
Some of the detrimental effects related to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class definitely startled me. The ruined lives and frequent problems experienced by most alcohol addicted individuals made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. More to the point, I did not want to face the disaster and ruination that alcohol dependent people almost always encounter.
Ponder upon this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old individual wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What adolescent wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that drinking alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teen wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related problems before he or she becomes twenty-one?
What adolescent wants to deal with alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to quit drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause difficulties in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after a person has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would an adolescent want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that centers on abusive drinking?
These issues were so significant that I discussed some of them in class during the school year. What was utterly astounding to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the harmful consequences of irresponsible drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with the facts and how these outcomes can shatter their lives. For the first time in my life I started to understand something that my grandfather used to say to me all through my youth: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
It’s Important, Energizing, and Beneficial to Keep Yourself From the Destructive and Unhealthy Outcomes of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
And even at my young age, I also started to realize how beneficial, important, and energizing it is in life to keep yourself from the debilitating and unhealthy results of drug and alcohol abuse.
A Health Teacher in the Largest Co-ed High School in the Local Community Motivates Her Pupils to Learn About the Significance of Alcohol Dependency Signs in Today’s Society
Miss Benning was a health teacher at the largest co-educational high school in the county. Even though she had been teaching for only a few years, she had already established a reputation as a teacher with instructional methods that inspired and stimulated her pupils to think and to learn.
As an illustration, one Friday afternoon at 1:30 she addressed the pupils in her classroom and articulated the following: “For the next two weeks we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more broad-based point of view and we are also going to learn about some of the most highly researched signs of alcoholism from a more specific perspective.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will definitely show that an individual with a drinking problem is an alcohol dependent individual, but the more signs that a drinker exhibits, the greater the probability that he or she is an alcoholic.”
Miss Benning then told the members in the class that each individual would be accountable for investigating four alcohol dependence signs and then presenting his or her findings to the class via a eight minute oral presentation.
The Students are Energized About Giving A Detailed Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About Alcoholism Signs
After learning about the different signs of alcohol addiction for several days, the time had finally come for the individual presentations. It was at once noticeable that the pupils in her class were enthused about the topic because the information that they presented was first class. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the passion manifested by her pupils concerning this topic could not be overstated.
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 presented and discussed in the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked her students to go over the list and rank the top ten alcohol addiction signs that were most indicative of alcohol dependency. After roughly twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and explained to the pupils in her class 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 exiting 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 outcome of their in-class research.
The Pupils Compare Their Numbers With the Results From A Team of Alcoholism Professionals
When the next school day arrived, Miss Benning handed out a sheet of paper that listed the top three alcohol addiction signs as per the pupils’ rankings. To the right of these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then explained to her students that the numbers in the additional column she added signified the findings that were announced by a panel of drug and alcohol addiction authorities.
Miss Benning asked the students in her classroom to look over the information she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any questions, issues, or concerns. Within 30 or 40 seconds, almost every student in the class raised his or her hand. It was apparent that the students had some concerns, questions, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. For instance, virtually every individual in the class disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, specifically, “Do you feel extremely nauseous when you abstain from drinking?”
The Most Important Difference Between Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcoholism and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then explained to the students in her classroom why this answer was the most straightforward sign of alcohol dependency. She underlined the fact that the basic difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.
Primarily this means that when an individual who is addicted to alcohol all of a sudden quits drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then informed the pupils in her classroom that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the body and by the brain to the deficiency of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated another way, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the body and from the brain telling an alcohol dependent person that something is dreadfully misaligned and needs to be rectified. These messages consist of a number of painful, uncomfortable, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in a person’s death if the proper therapy is not immediately received.
Miss Benning then went over the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when a person who is addicted to alcohol abruptly stops drinking.
The fact that Miss Benning tried to underscore was this: an individual 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 sign or symptom that few, if any, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To state this as overtly as possible, Miss Benning underscored the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike individuals who are addicted to alcohol, are not alcohol dependent and as a result, when they quit drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Think They Have Uncovered A Deviation With the Findings From The Board of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Experts
The students also had an issue with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol addiction experts, that is to say, “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 explained to the students in her class that this sign does not automatically suggest that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does underline the need that alcohol addicted people have to drink in order to avert alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
After Miss Benning explained the relevance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the person who is addicted to alcohol, the students started to grasp the fundamental difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism.
To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked the students in her classroom 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 alcoholism signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would ask for alcohol dependency treatment?”
After approximately one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ answers. While many pupils believed that approximately 85 to 95 percent of alcohol dependent people would get alcohol addiction rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs, most of the pupils reasoned that this number would not be less than 50 percent.
The Students Were Astonished to Discover That Only 25% of Individuals Who are Alcohol Dependent in the U.S. Obtain Alcoholism Treatment
To the astonishment of most of the pupils, Miss Benning mentioned that according to various scientific examinations, only 25% of the alcohol addicted people in the United States obtain alcoholism rehab. This surprised most of the students because they believed that first-hand knowledge of the alarming facts and statistics linked to alcohol addiction would motivate most of the people who are addicted to alcohol to ask for alcohol treatment.
Miss Benning then stated that individuals 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 stay away from possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Evidently, the alcohol dependent person’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than facts or logic. Certainly, due to the fact that the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol dependent person, this is hard to overcome.
The Pupils are Eager to Learn About Alcohol Dependency Symptoms and Signs in Today’s Society
A few minutes later the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Based on the excitement displayed by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning recognized that she had encouraged and stimulated her students to stop and think about a noteworthy health and social problem that exists in our society.