Dante was a seventeen year old high school junior who was exhibiting quite a few alcohol-related issues at school. For that reason, the principal explained to him that he had to see Miss Johnson, the school counselor, before he would be permitted to return to school.
Later that afternoon when Dante went home after school, he had to explain his school suspension to his parents. His Mom and Dad were “fairly old-style” and told Dante that getting suspended from school was not a workable educational plan of action. They explained to Dante that failing to graduate from high school would more likely than not be like a lead weight around his feet that could quite possibly hamper his educational achievement for the rest of his life. Furthermore, Dante’s parents were extremely displeased that he was drinking in the first place and drinking with his classmates in the second.
They explained to Dante that even though he may be a teen, he has to realize rather quickly that drinking is the road to ill health, failure, pain, and financial problems.
It was evident that his parents were out-and-out in full agreement with Dante’s principal and informed Dante that he needs to see Miss Johnson, the school psychologist. After his talk with his parents, Dante eventually agreed to see Miss Johnson the next day. So Dante phoned the school and scheduled an appointment to see Miss Johnson the next day during his second period class.
The Psychologist Asks Dante if He Comprehends Why His Recent Alcohol-Related Behavior Made the School Administrators Uneasy
When Dante got to his scheduled appointment with Miss Johnson, she promptly surveyed all of the alcohol-related issues Dante had experienced and asked him if he knew why his recent alcohol-related activities gave the school administrators room for alarm.
Quite frankly, Dante was not sure why the principal told him he had to see a school counselor. As he expressed to Miss Johnson, why should he see a professional therapist about his drinking activities? Due to the fact that just about all of his peers drink about as much as he does, for all intents and purposes, drinking shouldn’t be such a big thing. Stated more explicitly, if just about everybody is drinking, why is this such a big thing?
Miss Johnson asked Dante when he started to drink alcoholic beverages. He said that some of his older buddies introduced him to drinking hard liquor when he was twelve or thirteen years old and getting ready to enter junior high school.
Miss Johnson explained to Dante that while his buddies may indeed drink more than he does and that they may be a bad influence on him, the facts are that he is the one who is getting removed from school due to alcohol-related absenteeism, fighting, and delinquency, not his classmates. Furthermore, Miss Johnson also emphasized the fact that Dante, and not his friends, is the one who is failing and who is missing one day of school every week because of his alcohol related difficulties. Finally, Miss Johnson underscored the fact that due to his drinking situation, Dante is getting into a harmful cycle of excessive drinking that can sooner or later wreck his life.
In a word, Dante’s involvement with teenage alcohol abuse was starting to impede his ability to act like an accountable young man. As articulated by Miss Johnson, “Just because most of your classmates drink wine, hard liquor, beer, or wine coolers does not mean that it is the healthiest thing in the world for you.”
Dante Learns That In the Long Run He Must Be Accountable For Himself In Order to Steer Clear of Damaging, Dangerous, Unhealthy, and Destructive Effects In the Future
Miss Johnson informed Dante that other individuals can indeed influence a person in an unhealthy manner, but that the individual herself or himself has to in due course claim responsibility for herself or himself in order to avert damaging, destructive, dangerous, and unhealthy situations down the road.
Fortunately, Miss Johnson was extremely well equipped for her appointment with Dante. She showed him research studies and reports she had underlined that listed various drinking statistics and facts that applied to most people in general. Then she showed Dante quite a lot of figures and reports that applied principally to teenagers.
As an illustration, Miss Johnson explained the difference between alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse and informed Dante that individuals who continue to drink in an abusive manner often become addicted to alcohol.
Miss Johnson also discussed the concept of binge drinking which she defined as follows: ingesting five or more drinks in one sitting for males and consuming four or more drinks in one sitting for females.
The Psychologist Verbalizes More Than a Few Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Addiction Facts and Statistics
Then Miss Johnson presented various alcohol facts and the following eight alcohol abuse statistics:
1. The 25.9% of adolescent drinkers in the United States who are alcohol abusers and alcoholic drink 47.3% of the alcohol that is ingested by all teen drinkers.
2. Fifty percent of United States homicides are alcohol related.
3. In 2002, U.S. alcohol dependency statistics and facts reported that 2.6 million binge drinkers were between the ages of 12 and 17.
4. It is projected that more than 3 million teens in the U.S. between the ages of 14 to 17 are alcohol abusers or dependent on alcohol.
5. In the United States, more than 40% of those who start drinking at the age 14 or younger become alcohol dependent.
6. Relatively few of the more than 18 million U.S. alcohol abusers receive the alcohol rehabilitation they require.
7. Adolescent drinking costs Americans nearly $53 billion annually. If this cost were shared equally by each congressional district, the amount would total more than $120 million per district.
8. Alcohol-related issues are unevenly found among both adult and juvenile criminal offenders.
Dante Gets A Much Needed Primer on the Facts Concerning the Short Term and the Long Term Results of Adolescent Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse
After Miss Johnson conveyed the aforementioned alcohol abuse and alcoholism facts and statistics, it was clear that what Miss Johnson revealed to Dante was a real source of discovery for him. Why? Because for the first time in his young life, someone not only took the time to go over the short term and the long term effects of alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction, but she also took the time to corroborate what she was saying with alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency facts and statistics that related to everyone in general, and principally to underage drinkers.
As a matter of fact, it was almost as if a light went on and Dante without pause grasped why he should not be engaging in excessive and abusive drinking with or without his peers anymore. Dante thanked Miss Johnson for her concern and for the information she went over.
Miss Johnson then asked Dante how he felt about getting a physical exam and an alcohol evaluation for the alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency rehab he would probably need. Dante thought about this for a minute and then agreed to get an extensive physical examination and to go through a complete assessment of his drinking circumstances so that he could start an alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency rehabilitation program in a realistic time frame. After meeting with Miss Johnson, it was clear that Dante’s self image self esteem had been augmented as he began to address his excessive and careless drinking.
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