A High-functioning alcoholic (HFA) is a form of alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

 where the alcoholic is able to maintain their outside life such as jobs, academics, relationships etc. all while drinking alcoholically. Many HFAs are not viewed by society as alcoholics because they do not fit the common alcoholic stereotype

Stereotype

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

. Unlike the stereotypical alcoholic, HFA's have either succeeded or over-achieved

Overachievement

Overachievers are individuals who "perform better or achieve more success than expected." The implicit presumption is that the "overachiever" is achieving superior results through excessive effort...

 through their lifetimes. This can lead to denial

Denial

Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.The subject may use:* simple denial: deny the reality of the...

of alcoholism through both the HFA, co-workers, family members and friends. Functional alcoholics account for 19.5 percent of total U.S. alcoholics, with 50 percent being smokers and one-third having a multigenerational family history of alcoholism.

Signs and symptoms

1. Drinking Patterns

• When they have one drink, they experience a craving to have more and cannot predict what their alcohol intake will be.
• They obsess about the next time they will be able to drink alcohol.
• They behave in ways that are not characteristic of themselves while drunk and continue to repeat these behaviors and patterns.
• Surround themselves socially with heavy drinkers.
• Getting drunk before actually arriving at social engagements.
• Setting drinking limits (i.e., only having 3 drinks, only drinking 3 days per week) and not being able to adhere to them
• Driving drunk and not getting arrested or involved in an accident
• Always having to finish an alcoholic beverage or even another person's unfinished beverage.
• Using alcohol as a reward
• Having memory lapse due to excessive drinking (blackouts)
• Taking breaks from drinking and then increasing alcohol consumption when they resume drinking after a period of time
• Engaging in risky sexual behavior when intoxicated
• Not being able to imagine their life without alcohol in it

2. Denial

• Have difficulty viewing themselves as alcoholics because they don't fit the stereotypical image and because they feel their lives are manageable
• Avoid recovery help

3. Professional and Personal Life:

• Well respected for job/academic performance and accomplishments
• Can maintain a social life and intimate relationships
• Surround themselves with people who drink heavily

4. "Double Life":

• Appear to the outside world to be managing life well
• Skilled at living a compartmentalized life (i.e., separating professional, personal, and drinking lives)

5. Hitting Bottom:

• Experience few tangible losses and consequences from their drinking.
• May hit a bottom and not recognize it clearly