Many people with a drinking problem often try to hide their alcoholism. People tend to say that they are functioning alcoholic – because they seem to be performing and being okay. Some people seem to be just fine even though they abuse alcohol. Experts call these people “functional” or “high-functioning” alcoholics.
What is a functioning alcoholic?
A high functioning alcoholic is someone who meets the criteria for alcohol dependency but can maintain – or appear as if they are maintaining – a reasonably stable life
Living with a functioning alcoholic can be stressful. Along with dealing with the daily effects of their destructive drinking and the ongoing consequences of their alcohol use, you are likely to get them to access professional help.
It is officially called “alcohol use disorder,” you’ll still hear a lot of people talking about alcoholism or alcohol abuse. It’s a condition that ranges from mild to moderate to severe. And it’s all still.
Being an alcoholic starts so tiny, innocently, and it’s easy to be addicted that one glass to calm your nerves can create something bigger that would be difficult to get out of, says Thembekile Msane of the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
Some common signs that you are a functioning alcoholic
- Drinking heavily and excessively
- Drinking alone
- Justifying your drinking as being a reward or celebration
- Drinking expensive alcohol to ‘prove’ you don’t have a problem
- Being unable to socialise without alcohol
- Avoiding social settings without alcohol
- Struggling to remember events as a result of heavy drinking
- Making jokes your heavy drinking
- Becoming aggressive, short-tempered and impulsive after drinking
- Storing alcohol in strange places
- Becoming irritable and restless when you have not had a drink for a day or two.
