I get more confused by the term functional alcoholic every day.
When I had that counselor call for my xah in rehab the counselor made a comment that 'S' came to us pretty functional to start with. Huh? He drinks all day every day, anxiety is so high he can't leave the house or sit still, had a complete meltdown when his sister left for 3 days and called the hospital to come and get him, quit a job he's been applying to for *years* after two weeks because he just went off the deep end, hasn't worked full time in years, goes to the ER on a regular basis for panic attacks and pills, lost his marriage, has no place to live, doesn't see his kids half the time for one lame reason or another.
How low do you have to go before your are no longer 'functioning'.
And even when I was providing the home, the car, the meals, the food, the utilities, completing the paperwork, yadda yadda yadda it didn't seem to functioning to me. I mean, I guess he wasn't sleeping out in the yard by the tree or getting his knee caps busted at the local dive or anything but sheesh.