“It’s not the number of drinks that defines an alcoholic; it’s what happens to you when you’re drinking.”

There’s an interesting article in the New York Times about high functioning alcoholics, people who are alcoholics but are able to maintain respectable, even high-profile lives, usually with a home, family, job and friends. I see these folks a LOT in London. And it always astounds me. But reading the article I realize how many “HFA’s” I’ve known personally (particularly during my college years). Kind of scary.

The signs:

• They have trouble controlling their intake even after deciding that they will drink no more alcohol than a given amount.
• They find themselves thinking obsessively about drinking — when and where and with whom they will drink next.
• When they drink, they behave in ways that are uncharacteristic of their sober self.
• They experience blackouts, unable to remember what took place during a drinking bout.

High Functioning, but Still Alcoholics [NY Times]