I�ve been feeling anxious lately. In fact, I�ve been feeling meta-anxious, because I�m anxious about feeling anxious. I consider myself a chill person, and I�d like to stay that way.

The other day I was browsing over at the Unhooked forum, and somebody was talking about post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAW). PAW is described as a set of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms often experienced by people recovering from substance abuse.

This seems a good place to say that I haven�t bought into the idea of medicalizing alcohol and drug use. That is, I�m not convinced �alcoholism� is a �disease� for which I need �treatment� and �recovery.� This is a touchy subject, and I realize the medical view currently is widely accepted. For me, though, drinking is a behavioral problem -- one with physical repercussions, sure, but no disease forced me to lift a glass to my mouth over and over.

Anyway, that said, I found it comforting to read about PAW. In a way, it�s the most absurd example of the medicalization mindset. �People experience stress after quitting drinking or doing drugs.� Well, no shit, Sherlock. That doesn�t make it a medical syndrome.

Still, I was happy to read this:

�The individual [experiencing PAW] may be hyper-reactive emotionally. Even small events of little consequence may loom large in his/her mind and create strong and overly valent (not being able to bond thoughts together) reactions.�

Hello, thank you! And this:

�[People experiencing PAW] may feel stressful in situations that ordinarily would not bother them, and in addition, when they react they overreact. They may do things that are completely inappropriate for the situation. So much so that later on they may wonder why they reacted so strongly.�

And, to summarize:

�A person [experiencing PAW] often feels incompetent, embarrassed, and �not okay� about themselves.�

I�m not saying that I think I have PAW or that I believe PAW even exists. I just find it comforting that people in situations similar to mine have found themselves stressing over things that didn�t bother them before. I also like the idea that the anxiety will recede, and I won�t always spend days spazzing because I gave someone incorrect directions on the street, or because someone at the gym thought I said �bye� when I really said �hi,� sparking a series of failed social interactions. Basically, I don�t want to have to stop leaving the house.

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