Lemondrop

In July, Diane Schuler, 36, who by all appearances was a put-together career woman, wife and mom, killed herself and seven others (her daughter, three nieces and three strangers in the second car), after driving drunk and high on the wrong side of the Taconic Parkway in New York. When rumors that Schuler -- whose blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit -- might have been an alcoholic began to surface, her husband vehemently denied them. After all, she was hardly the fall-down drunk most often associated with alcoholism.

The truth is some women just hide it better than others. Statistics from the CDC show that women are drinking heavier more often. In the 10 years between 1997 and 2007, the percentage of women who hit the bottle hard for at least 12 consecutive days rose about 3 points. More women are also driving drunk; arrests for women driving under the influence jumped by nearly 30 percent during the decade ending in 2007.

Blame the Recession?
Some psychologists say the recession may be fueling more drinking among women due to the stress of becoming the breadwinners as their husbands lose jobs. Women also more often drink alone, which may explain why they can hide the behavior better and also get treatment less often than men.

Some of these women might also be High Functioning Alcoholics (HFAs), alcoholics who can hold down jobs, maintain social lives and even pursue hobbies and volunteer interests. Sarah Allen Benton of Boston was one of them.

Click here to read Sarah's story and more


Blacking Out Is Bad
"My typical drinking pattern was two to three nights a week of binge drinking, during which I may have consumed between nine and 15 standard drinks in one evening," Benton said. "I would never know the exact amount because I didn't count and tended to black out."

Starting at 23, she began unsuccessfully trying to control her drinking and even attended counseling, but could not stop boozing to the point of blacking out. At 27, she entered recovery and now works as a therapist at Emmanuel College. She's now 33 and recently wrote a book called "Understanding the High-Functioning Alcoholic."

Not the Only Addiction
Dr. Talia Witkowski, 29, of Los Angeles, became an alcoholic at the ripe old age of 13, downing whole bottles of vodka three nights a week. "The first time I ever had a drink, I got drunk and blacked out," she said. "I loved the fact that I got emotionally numb, couldn't remember a thing and lost all inhibition."

The behavior continued through college, when Witkowski would get drunk at lunch and then stumble to class, and into adulthood, when she used alcohol to go after unavailable men. Throughout her alcoholism, she also struggled with smoking pot and overeating.

"I hurt myself and others financially, using money I didn't have or using friends' money. I'd get men drunk so they'd be interested in me sexually," she admitted. "I would, of course, then have to drink more to numb out emotionally from what I did when drunk."

Two-and-a-half years ago, she entered a recovery program led by another former addict. She now works with adults and children with addictions and eating disorders.

"For someone like me, unless I had freedom from all of the addictions, I would never have freedom from any one of them," she said.

Cult of Personality
HFAs like Benton and Witkowski are able to deny their addictions through their achievements and relatively intact lives. Many possess traits such as perfectionism, attachment to external success, workaholic tendencies and good communication skills that help them get by. Couple those characteristics with some addiction-prone DNA, and you get someone who downs three scotches every night to cope.

The real signs of a problem are not necessarily the number of drinks you consume or even how often you drink, says Benton -- it's how often you get out of control.

"In terms of defining the alcoholic it is truly what happens when they take the first drink of alcohol," Benton said. "For some alcoholics, they could experience these symptoms after three or four drinks and for others after 15. Therefore, it is up to an alcoholic to be honest about what their relationship to alcohol is and the effect that it has on them."

Tell us: Lots of us socially drink a few times a week, and sometimes it gets a little heavier than planned. Do you ever think your drinking is getting out of hand?