Thanks for sharing Bernadette because now I can see why I dislike the term so much.
I can appreciate that people want to use the term and I understand the definition. But I'd like to share my feelings if that is OK.
The term "functional alcoholic" just pi$$es me off. Yeah, my dad was a functional alcoholic by EVERYONE else's standards, only from the OUTSIDE that is. What we went through behind all that apparent functionality was DYSFUNCTIONAL and HELL (moreso for my Mom and older siblings than for me--because I at least had my older siblings to help care for me). I will completely spare you the details, and the stories I have heard of all the other functional alcoholic parents. I now thankfully know in my heart that I was NOT alone.
So I don't give a rat's a$$ if you are a doctor, lawyer, physicist, or President of a small country; driving a Lexus, Mercedes, or BMW; shopping at Nordstrom's with your girlfriends, playing golf in Cabo St Lucas with the boys from the club, or spending the afternoon at the spa having your nails done OR smoking crack on the streets of your big city, robbing liquor stores at gunpoint, in jail for possession, lost all your front teeth, whatever. They are all ONE IN THE SAME. They have the disease and it is GOING to get worse. If they are holding down a job or meeting some other societal standard of "normalcy," I guarantee they are NOT functional and probably DYSfunctional in another significant area of their life. Just read the posts here of all the men, women, children and other loved ones of alcoholics and addicts with jobs, cars, families, houses, etc and all the atrocities these people suffer.
I'm done. Thanks for listening.