Are you a social drinker or a functional alcoholic?

On a Friday, the girls will get together for a night out and finish several bottles of wine with the excuse of letting their hair down after a hard week. As the girls gather around a table or sit at the bar, across the room will be a similar group of men downing several bottles of beer or several glasses of some expensive hard liquor.

This is a scene you are likely to encounter in several high-end bars where professional women and men gather to have one for the road, which, inevitably, will turn into 10.

But has it ever occurred to you that the amount of alcohol you put away on a daily basis would have you and those friends of yours labelled as alcoholics?

Many people will protest saying “a bottle a night may be a bit excessive.. but a bottle on a Friday after a hard week with a meal, why not?! Life’s too short.”

Experts say heavy drinkers, binge drinkers and functional alcoholics are all alcoholics when it comes down to definition. The common denominator here is that they all abuse alcohol whether they deny this fact or not.

Many Kenyans, even though they will not admit it, fall under the category of functional alcoholics. These are the type that can indulge in the substance and yet are seemingly in control of their professional and personal lives.

On the outside, these are people who appear successful – holding good jobs, living in nice neighbourhoods, driving top of the range cars and with lovely families to boot. But beneath this veneer is a major problem that is not being acknowledged by the affected person or those around them.

It could be that lawyer friend you know, your family doctor, the engineer neighbour, the “sober” politician you watch on TV, or the ardent journalist bringing you news every evening.

At the end of a working day, they will gather in a posh pub for a drink which will turn into two, then three before they lose count. And this is where the problem comes in.

At casual glance, they do not fit the stereotypical picture what an alcoholic looks or behaves like but some drink for much more than your regular drunk…just that they can hold huge amounts of alcohol better. They may not stagger or slur, but the amount consumed fits them squarely in the alcoholic mould.

In the US, it is estimated that 17 million adults are affected, with a staggering 20 per cent being “functionally dependent on alcohol”.

According to recent media reports, Kenyans guzzled nearly half a billion shillings worth of whisky in 2013 and the figure moved higher as the festive season concluded in 2014. This year, the figure is also expected to skyrocket as we get to the festive season.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) report that monitors the industry in Scotland indicated that the amount of alcohol sold to Kenya stood at £3.37 million, a 62 per cent increase from £2.08 million sold in 2012.

“What it means to be a functional alcoholic is that you can be addicted to drinking copious amounts of alcohol every day and still continue to function normally in your day-to-day life.

“Your boss or that colleague who sits next to you in the office could be a functional addict who drinks heavily after work or once they get home from work and yet still able to get up the next day and even get to work before you,” says Susan Njoroge, a Psychologist and a rehab officer for recovering alcoholics.

So what exactly is the prototype of a functional alcoholic?

“They are usually middle-aged, educated, married with a family, mother, father and holding a good job,” says Ms Njoroge.

Outwardly, you would easily assume that they are in charge of their personal lives and career, even as they consume copious amounts of alcohol, she said.

However, Dr Njoroge notes that most functional addicts are in denial should one point out to them that they are drinking beyond the normal limit.

They do not recognise that they have a problem and, as a result, they do not seek treatment since, after all, they have never missed work, they are always well dressed, they have never been arrested for drunk driving and they only drink to relieve the stress of work.

Gladys Mwangi, a child and adult psychologist, however says that even if one drinks for pleasure or as a way of managing stress, the alcohol content in their bodies still poses a risk to the consumer if imbibing remains a regular habit.

Risk factors

Dr Mwangi says that alcohol dependence is roughly 60 per cent genetic and 40 per cent environmental. People with a family history of alcoholism should watch their drinking very carefully or abstain altogether, she says.

She also says that about a quarter of functional addicts have had a major depressive illness at some point in their lives.

“You may not realise that you are experiencing anxiety or depression as a functional alcoholic, but escalating anxiety and depression can lead to problematic drinking in the future.

“how much one drinks is dependent on how much their body can take, they could be heavy drinkers or otherwise but very often when someone is drinking daily and having trouble cutting down, there is a co-existing problem like anxiety or depression,” she says.

When to get help

A tell tale sign to look out for is the failure to restrain yourself from drinking once you have started.

“When you set limits on how much you can drink and then find yourself not able to keep to your limits, then you should know there’s a problem brewing. You may say you will only go for a girls’ night out with your colleagues or friends on a Wednesday but then find yourself stopping for a drink most days of the week or drinking when you get home,” says Dr Mwangi.

Every functional alcoholic, according to Dr Mwangi, only realises they have a problem when something bad happens to them and eventually ruins their ability to function properly.

“It’s only when such a person gets into an accident or finds themselves doing things they would never otherwise do, such as getting into careless sexual situations repeatedly that they may realize that they have gone out of control.”

High-functioning alcoholics can go years and even decades without being confronted about their problem, although as time goes on, most will incur some consequences: an angry spouse, maybe a failed marriage or a driving under the influence of alcohol charge.

Often, until some major event occurs related to their addiction, they and those around them will turn a blind eye and not address the behaviour.

This denial is common with high-functioning alcoholics, particularly if they are binge drinkers. Many people mistakenly believe alcoholics drink every day, but among women, binge drinking is more common and soon enough turns into something else.

It can be particularly difficult to identity someone as needing treatment for alcohol dependence if that person continues to hold a high-level job and is not financially impacted by their abusive drinking.

They’re usually good parents, good workers. They watch their weight. They go to the gym. Then they go home and have four beers or two bottles of wine.

High-functioning alcoholics, in essence, lead two lives: the public one where they are professionals, and the private one where they drink far more than the normal social drinker.

Dr Njoroge states that the process of healing first involves self-realisation by the individual that all is not well.

“A person needs to accept to get through denial. Although it is never easy to accept that they need help, this is the highest point where they need full support from their families. An alcoholic should reach the point of realization on their own that they actually need help instead of being coerced by family members to get professional support,” she said.

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