I'm no psychiarist nor a professional counselor, but I do speak from experience. Sounds like the beginning of what could be a serious problem if it isn't nipped in the bud.
I'll admit to getting thoroughly sh*t-faced on a regular basis in my younger days, but once it starts to affect your everyday life, then something's gotta be done about it. In fact, I got depledged out of one fraternity because of a drunken binge at a party I was at. I won't go into the sordid details, but suffice it to say that I was made an example when they actually brought me up on 'conduct unbecoming a member of (XYZ) fraternity' (Not the current fraternity I belong to.) In fact, during my pledgeship in Alpha Sigma Phi, I was almost falling down the same slippery slope, getting drunk into oblivion and almost becoming a liability to the chapter's image until I got a serious talking to by my older brothers in the house. As I got older and wiser, I found that I didn't need massive quantities of alcohol to have fun; in fact I don't even drink much alcohol these days, considering the severe penalties for driving drunk. I know my limits, and when to say enough's enough.
It seems you're at least trying to help him out by counseling him, and by seeking professional help, but you (and others) need to encourage him to change his potentially self-destructive actions. Cutting back from a case to a six-pack a day is not enough. If you love him enough to seriously consider marriage, you just can't shrug off the problem and hope it'll go away.
Anyway, that's my opinion, I'm sure others will chime in with their suggestions and recommendations.
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ASF
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well known.
Alpha Alpha (University of Oklahoma) Chapter, #814, 1984
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