Originally Posted by
HollowHappiness 
Hello midgetcop. Thanks for sharing, I feel overjoyed that I'm not alone in this. I don't find it strange, in fact I tried that once too. I didn't drink much, but I definitely felt the positive emotions come out, and the temporary surge of confidence and the worries settling, but my negative emotions didn't come out.
After much contemplation, and wisdom from this forum, I have also come firmly to the conclusion that is is natural, and as long as we are accepting of what is to come, it will come, naturally, and perhaps unexpectedly.
May I ask how long you've abstained from your addiction/s? I've been masking my pain for ~5 years, so it would make sense that almost 60 days is too soon to be asking for my emotions to surface. However it depends from person to person and there are so many factors involved. I'm hoping that I can have a catharsis by the 90 day mark.
I've been drinking for almost 20 years, that's my whole adult life and part of my adolescence. I've had lots of long stints of sobriety the past few years, broken up by brief relapses. My last drink was about 1 month ago. I still have a long way to go, but as they say in AA - easy does it.
I wouldn't get hung up on any timeline for your catharsis. It's just one more thing to stress over. Continuing to share here in SR, joining a support group like AA, or finding a therapist (or all of the above!) might help tap into these emotions you want to deal with.