Larry was a seventeen year old high school junior who was manifesting several alcohol-related problems at school. For that reason, the principal informed him that he had to see Miss Johns, the school counselor, before he would be permitted to return to class.

Later that afternoon when Larry went home after school, he had to go over his school suspension with his parents. His parents were “fairly conventional” and informed Larry that dropping out of school was not a doable educational plan of action. They explained to Larry that failing to graduate from high school would more likely than not be like a lead weight around his legs that may hurt his educational attainment for the rest of his adult life. Furthermore, Larry’s Mom and Dad were quite displeased that he was drinking in the first place and drinking with his pals in the second.

His parents explained to Larry that even though he may be young, he needs to comprehend fairly rapidly that drinking is the route to failure, pain, financial problems, and ill health.

It was plain to see that his Mom and Dad were absolutely in concurrence with Larry’s principal and explained to Larry that he had to see Miss Johns, the school psychologist. After his talk with his Mom and Dad, Larry at long last agreed to see Miss Johns the next school day. So Larry phoned the school and made an appointment to see Miss Johns the next morning before school.

The Therapist Asks Larry if He Understands Why His Recent Alcohol-Related Activities Caused Quite a Bit of Apprehension By the School Administrators

When Larry went to see Miss Johns, she instantly analyzed all of the alcohol-related problems Larry had gotten into and asked him if he knew why his recent alcohol-related activities were such a cause for concern.

Quite honestly, Larry was unsure why the principal informed him that he had to see a school counselor. As he stated to Miss Johns, why should he see a professional counselor about his drinking circumstances? In view of the fact that virtually all of his peers drink the same amount that he does, in essence, drinking shouldn’t be such a big issue. Stated another way, if almost everybody is drinking, why is this such a major concern?

Miss Johns asked Larry when he started to drink alcoholic beverages. He said that some of his older pals introduced him to drinking hard liquor when he was twelve or thirteen years old and in the seventh grade.

Miss Johns told Larry that while his classmates may in fact drink more than he does and that they may be a negative influence on him, the facts are that he is the one who is getting discharged from school due to alcohol-related absenteeism, fighting, and delinquency, not his friends. What is more, Miss Johns also underlined the fact that Larry, and not his peers, is the one who is failing and who is missing almost two days of class per week because of his alcohol related problems. Finally, Miss Johns stressed the fact that due to his drinking circumstances, Larry is getting into a negative cycle of alcohol abuse that can finally wreck his hopes, dreams and aspirations.

In a word, Larry’s involvement with adolescent alcohol abuse was beginning to impede his ability to conduct himself like a responsible young man. As stated by Miss Johns, “Just because most of your friends drink wine coolers, wine, hard liquor, or beer does not mean that it is the best thing in the world for you.”

Larry Learns That Ultimately He Must Take Responsibility For Himself In Order to Steer Clear of Dangerous, Destructive, Damaging, and Unhealthy Consequences Down the Road

Miss Johns explained to Larry that one’s friends can undeniably influence an individual in a negative way, but that the person herself or himself has to in due course take responsibility for herself or himself in order to stay away from unhealthy, dangerous, damaging, and destructive consequences in the foreseeable future.

Fortunately, Miss Johns was extremely well equipped for her scheduled meeting with Larry. She showed him research studies and reports she had underlined that listed different drinking facts and statistics that targeted most people in general. Then she showed Larry quite a bit of data that applied especially to teens.

For instance, Miss Johns emphasized the difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction and explained to Larry that individuals who continue to drink in a hazardous manner continually become alcoholic.

Miss Johns also discussed the concept of binge drinking that she defined as follows: ingesting four or more drinks in one sitting for females and drinking four or more drinks in one sitting for females.

The Therapist Presents Several Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependency Facts and Statistics

Then Miss Johns presented the following eight alcoholism facts and alcohol abuse statistics:

1. Alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse cost the U.S. an estimated $220 billion in 2005. This dollar amount was more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion.

2. More than one-half of U.S. adults have a close relative or family member that has or has had alcoholism.

3. More than 75% of female victims of nonfatal, domestic violence stated that their assailant had been using drugs or drinking.

4. In the U.S. on an annual basis, more than one third of pedestrians killed by cars were legally intoxicated.

5. One national research study discovered that students are less likely to drink alcohol if they are socially accepted by individuals at school and believe that teachers treat students in a fair manner.

6. Research indicates that youth who use alcohol may remember 10 percent less of what they have learned than teens who don’t drink.

7. Around ten to twenty percent of the individuals who drink heavily ultimately develop cirrhosis of the liver (i.e., a scarring of the liver that can be fatal).

8. Up to forty percent of the U.S. industrial fatalities and 47 percent of industrial injuries are related to alcohol abuse or alcoholism.

Larry Receives An Important Wake Up Call About the Short Term and the Long Term Consequences of Youth Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependency

After Miss Johns listed the aforementioned alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse facts and statistics, it was plain to see that what Miss Johns revealed to Larry was a real jolt to him. Why? Because for the first time in his young life, someone not only took the time to explain the short term and the long term consequences of alcoholism and alcohol abuse, but she also made the effort to substantiate what she was saying with alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse statistics and facts that related to everyone, and especially to teenagers.

Without a doubt, it was almost as if a light went on and Larry at once comprehended why he should not be engaging in hazardous and abusive drinking with or without his peers any longer. Larry thanked Miss Johns for her concern and for the material she presented.

Miss Johns then asked Larry how he felt about getting a physical exam and an alcohol assessment for the alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency treatment he would probably need.

Larry thought about this for a minute and then agreed to get an extensive physical examination and to go through a thorough assessment of his drinking circumstances so that he could start an alcohol abuse or alcoholism treatment program immediately.

Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most financially challenged co-educational high school in the district. Although she had been teaching for only five years, she had already established a reputation as a teacher with a teaching approach that motivated and encouraged her students to think and to learn.

For example, one Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 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 more broad-based viewpoint and we are also going to learn about several of the most highly researched signs of alcoholism from a less general and explicit standpoint.

Not all of these alcoholism signs will positively prove that a drinker with a drinking problem is an alcoholic, but the more signs that a person exhibits, the greater the probability that he or she is a person who is alcohol dependent.”

Miss Benning then informed the students in the class that each individual would be accountable for examining three alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her results to the other members in the class via a ten minute oral presentation.

The Students are Enthused About Giving A Broad-Based Presentation to Their Fellow Students About Alcohol Addiction Signs

After learning about the different signs of alcoholism for a number of days, the time had come for the oral presentations. It was instantaneously evident that the students were enthused about the subject matter because the information that they presented was superb. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the fervor manifested by the pupils in her classroom concerning this topic was an understatement.

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 dependency signs that were discussed and presented in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked her students to go over the list and rank the top nine alcohol addiction signs that were most indicative of alcohol dependency. After roughly twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told the students in her classroom that after she analyzes the results, she will present her findings the next school day.

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

The Pupils Contrast Their Numbers With the Assessments From A Team of Chemical Dependency Specialists

When the next school day came, Miss Benning handed out a piece of paper that listed the top four alcohol addiction signs according to the students’ rankings. Next to these results, she included another column that was labeled “correct response.” She then informed her pupils that the numbers in the additional column she added stood for the answers that were given by a council of substance abuse authorities.

Miss Benning told her students to look over the information she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, questions, or issues. Within 10 or 20 seconds, almost every pupil in the classroom raised his or her hand. It was evident that the students had some concerns, questions, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the professionals. For example, just about every person in the class had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, to be precise, “Do you feel unusually nauseous when you abstain from drinking?”

The Major Difference Between Alcoholism 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 class why this answer was the most accurate sign of alcohol addiction. She pointed out the fact that the central difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.

Basically this means that when an individual who is alcohol dependent abruptly stops drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then explained to 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 more precisely, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling a person who is alcohol dependent that something is terribly out of kilter and needs to be fixed. These signals consist of several uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to a fatality if the appropriate therapy is not promptly obtained.

Miss Benning then discussed the many different alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when a person who is alcohol dependent 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 dependency 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 explain this as precisely as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the point that alcohol abusers, unlike people who are addicted to alcohol, are not alcohol dependent and as a consequence, when they stop drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Students Think They Have Found An Inconsistency With the Findings From The Group of Alcohol Addiction Specialists

The pupils also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol dependency professionals, to be exact, “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 mean that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does point to the need that alcohol addicted individuals have to drink in order to avert alcohol withdrawals.

After Miss Benning explained the relevance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the person who is alcohol dependent, the pupils started to grasp the basic difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.

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 individual who is alcohol dependent knew about every one of the alcohol addiction signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would ask for alcohol addiction rehabilitation?”

After approximately two or three minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ predictions. While many pupils believed that approximately 85 to 95 percent of individuals who are addicted to alcohol would seek alcohol addiction rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcoholism signs, most of the students thought that this number would not be less than 65 percent.

The Students Were Astonished to Discover That Only 25% of Alcohol Addicted Individuals in the U.S. Obtain Alcohol Rehab

To the amazement of most of the students, Miss Benning acknowledged that according to various scientific investigations, only 25% of the people who are alcohol dependent in the United States obtain alcohol dependency rehab. This shocked most of the pupils because they reasoned that first-hand knowledge of the disgusting statistics and facts correlated with alcoholism would motivate the majority of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol to obtain alcohol dependency treatment.

Miss Benning then explained that alcohol addicted people not only need alcohol everyday in order to function but they also require alcohol on an everyday basis so they can stay away from possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Obviously, the alcohol addicted person’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than facts or logic. To be sure, since the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol dependent individual, this is a challenging issue that is hard to change.

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