[zweep]

It's called high-functioning addiction and there are tens of millions of such people (mostly addicted to alcohol).

[unlinked_dll]

Or benzodiazepines and prescription painkillers. People switch to heroin when they run out of money.

[th0ma5]

I had heard high functioning is a misnomer. They may have one area of focus they can succeed under some definition, but the overall quality of life and relationships is very poor.

[Marsymars]

My understanding was that "high functioning" is relative to what is essentially "non functioning", where the person is unable to keep up even the semblance of a normal life.

[th0ma5]

Yes yes... But not anywhere near normal functioning.

[th0ma5]

Must be the alcoholics hitting the down arrow :P Here is a great article https://www.nytimes.com./2009/05/05/health/05brod.html ...