Can the Functioning Alcoholic Last?

Dr. Neill Neill

Part Three of the Functioning Alcoholic

There is a third critical factor to bear in mind when questioning the functioning of a so-called "functioning alcoholic." The first factor to consider was whether the alcoholic is functioning generally in life, or just in one aspect of life, like his job. The second factor was whether the alcoholic in achieving his potential and pursuing his dreams, not just getting by.

The third factor has to with how long the "functioning," at whatever level, can last in the presence of alcoholism.

Excessive alcohol consumption was affecting my health. If I hadn’t changed to a healthier lifestyle when I did, I would have been dead years ago. And what I have brought to others over the past thirty years would simply never have existed.

I had a good friend who was a brilliant youth psychiatrist. He would go back to an apparently productive afternoon after a five, double-martini lunch. But he left his wife and two children and potentially thousands more young clients by dying far too young. Liver cancer ended his functioning.

I lost two alcoholic colleagues to suicide. They left young families. This fall two friends died of health repercussions of alcoholism. They were significantly younger than me. With all of these untimely deaths most people were too polite or too embarrassed to even mention the alcohol factor in their deaths.

Conclusions

The notion of the functioning alcoholic is a myth. The phrase "functioning alcoholic" is an oxymoron.

To function is to function in life, not just in a part of life. Functioning means fulfilling your potential and pursuing your dreams as best you can within the actual limits of circumstances. And functioning is a long-term matter, not just a temporary condition.

Since none of these descriptions of functioning is consistent with being an alcoholic, I must conclude I have never met a functioning alcoholic. Have you?

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Copyright © Neill Neill. All rights reserved. Dr. Neill Neill maintains an active psychology and life-coaching practice on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. He is a member of the treatment team at Sunshine Coast Health Centre, a drug and alcohol addiction treatment facility for men. He writes regular newspaper and magazine psychology articles on healing and self-improvement. His goal is to facilitate growth in human consciousness and increase the human store of hope, happiness and generosity of spirit.