Thread for functioning and working alcoholics

  • Thread starter Thread starter BF 388
  • Start date Start date
>OZfag
>thinks their drinking is fine

Checks out.

Nah, I've known lots of functional alcoholics and a very few functioning addicts of other kinds. I think general lack of stigma and ease of access to liquor makes it easier to be a working drinker.

Eta: at least you're not pissing it up on the dole, so you've got my respect for that.
 
  • Agree
  • Thunk-Provoking
  • Like
Reactions: malleusmaleficarum, Ravelord, Caesare and 2 others
21_viz125_bakers.jpg
Functioning is a very flexible term.
 
  • Agree
  • Horrifying
  • Like
Reactions: Sofonda Cox, SmileyTimeDayCare, Gustav Schuchardt and 3 others
I think you can rate a society by how easy it is for its addicts to be functional. America is based on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For a chronic alcoholic that means lots of booze.

Many great thinkers would agree. Benjamin Franklin once said that wine was 'proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy'.

The guy who sleeps outside the liquor store said 'I wanna make sure I'm there when it opens'.

Exigent Circumcisions said:
Nah, I've known lots of functional alcoholics and a very few functioning addicts of other kinds. I think general lack of stigma and ease of access to liquor makes it easier to be a working drinker.
Click to expand...

The interesting thing is that the drugs that are legal - alcohol and nicotine - have functional users. The drugs that are illegal don't really. For every fast talking media scumbag with a coke habit it will all come crashing down at some point, it's only a matter of when.

Pot is sort of in between. It's not heavily criminalised in a lot of places and there are people who smoke pot occasionally who are more or less functional. On the other hand there are people who smoke it all the time and are clearly fried.
 
  • Agree
  • Informative
  • Disagree
Reactions: malleusmaleficarum, a feel, Lemmingwise and 2 others
Gustav Schuchardt said:
The interesting thing is that the drugs that are legal - alcohol and nicotine - have functional users. The drugs that are illegal don't really. For every fast talking media scumbag with a coke habit it will all come crashing down at some point, it's only a matter of when.
Click to expand...
I've seen more than a few use alcohol to let it all come crushing down too.
 
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: malleusmaleficarum, guccigash, Kaiser Wilhelm's Ghost and 1 other person
Lemmingwise said:
I've seen more than a few use alcohol to let it all come crushing down too.
Click to expand...
I mean it's not necessarily true. What it is more like is that as alcohol and nicotine are socially acceptable, addicts or even people who you would otherwise say have "substance issues" dont go to as great lengths to hide their use or it's easy to spot their influence.

For every opiod pill user youve seen ruin their life, there are probably people who use it and other drugs regularly who are functioning and you just dont recognize it.

There are reddit forums for just about everything, used to be one about shoplifting--but there are several for every drug, and more than a few for actual alcoholics. They can be good resources actually, to learn about your drug and how to use it without fucking up necessarily. There are several doctors, otherwise "prestigious" professionals who post there and talk about their use.

One lady on the alcoholic forum said her dentist was flirting with her and she back, it wasnt even about the money, she wanted to jump his bones, and was worried about having to pretend to be mostly sober--turns out, they decided to skip doing anything but drinking and going back to his place for more booze, coke and pot. The dude frequently "partied" and used, relatively casually I guess, but managed to keep a professional demeanor. I guess you wouldnt call him an "addict" but there it stands.
 
  • Horrifying
  • Agree
Reactions: Y2K Baby and Exigent Circumcisions
DuckSucker said:
What it is more like is that as alcohol and nicotine are socially acceptable, addicts or even people who you would otherwise say have "substance issues" dont go to as great lengths to hide their use or it's easy to spot their influence.
Click to expand...

I suppose my perspective is different after discovering a liquor cabinet that was refilled with water to hide the fact that they were all emptied.
 
Lemmingwise said:
Is an addict really an addict when they're fully functioning?

Or does fully functioning just mean countdown until he/she isn't?
Click to expand...
Functioning alcoholism is a term to mean you can function within society and still have an alcohol dependancy. The alcohol dependancy interferes with your personal life in ways that make you an addict but you still manage to show up to your job on time. Really bad alcoholics like to claim the term to minimize their dependency in the eyes of others, so the confusion is understandable.
 
  • Agree
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: Arm Pit Cream, A Owl, Y2K Baby and 1 other person
i can't have a 9-5 jobs, but i do have 12hr night shifts. Love my work because it allows me to drink and smoke hookah.
 
Lemmingwise said:
Is an addict really an addict when they're fully functioning?
Click to expand...

Sadly, it is.

And I say "sadly" because this "normality" they show hides any serious issue and fools people into believing there is no problem.

Take, for example, Gary Oldman. He said he was never the kind of loud obnoxious drunk people assume all alcoholics are. He only drank alone in his room and went to work completely wasted and still was able to perform well. It took him years to accept he had a problem because it didn't affect his work. It affected his personal life, though.
 
  • Agree
  • Informative
  • Feels
Reactions: 6thRanger, Fek, a feel and 1 other person
Piss Clam said:
look to see if you have an underlying psychiatric issue.
Click to expand...
If?
:story: :story: :story:

Kamiii said:
Alcohol addiction is a carnival ride compared to actual drug addiction
Click to expand...

You know that alcohol withdrawal is one of the only types of withdrawal that can kill you, right? With stimulants you just want to die but it's not going to happen. With alcohol you can seize and die.
 
Last edited:
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: BillionBisonBucks, Coleman Francis, Fek and 3 others
Hello, fellow alcoholics!
I am currently in the final phase of a 3 month alcohol rehab and therapy, so I can safely tell you that you're not nearly as "functioning" as you think you are. Which is fine, because that's simply part of our inherently human denial to have a problem, and we've all been there. The majority of people in my group and the majority of people I met on my journey back to sobriety are employed (including myself, which is why it took me years to accept I am an alcoholic), have families and don't stand out to an observer unless they know what to look for.

You're fooling yourself, mate. Trust me when I say I thought like you a couple of months ago, but now that I'm sober I realize how much alcohol ruled my life, my decisions, my feelings, and how it prevented me from mental growth. I also felt fairly energetic and fit. LOL. I wasn't. I am slowly regaining that now, and enjoying every minute of my sober life.

Again, you're fooling yourself. :)
 
  • Feels
  • Like
  • Winner
Reactions: malleusmaleficarum, The Jesus Lizard, Pineapple Fox and 14 others
a feel said:
Hello, fellow alcoholics!
I am currently in the final phase of a 3 month alcohol rehab and therapy, so I can safely tell you that you're not nearly as "functioning" as you think you are. Which is fine, because that's simply part of our inherently human denial to have a problem, and we've all been there. The majority of people in my group and the majority of people I met on my journey back to sobriety are employed (including myself, which is why it took me years to accept I am an alcoholic), have families and don't stand out to an observer unless they know what to look for.

You're fooling yourself, mate. Trust me when I say I thought like you a couple of months ago, but now that I'm sober I realize how much alcohol ruled my life, my decisions, my feelings, and how it prevented me from mental growth. I also felt fairly energetic and fit. LOL. I wasn't. I am slowly regaining that now, and enjoying every minute of my sober life.

Again, you're fooling yourself. :)
Click to expand...
Nobody likes a quitter.


Nah congratulations, I personally drink about 3-4 750ml bottles of vodka per month but I used to be putting down 6-12 beers most days of the week and that was hell.
 
  • Like
  • Feels
  • Agree
Reactions: Arm Pit Cream, Kaiser Wilhelm's Ghost, Slappy McGherkin and 1 other person
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back