I just want to express thanks to everyone who posted on this thread. I've read all the posts here and I've done some investigation into PAWS and anxiety. It seems that there may be something to this idea of GABA receptors decreasing when abusing alcohol. Search for "
Expression of specific ionotropic glutamate and GABA-A receptor subunits is decreased in central amygdala of alcoholics" and you'll find an open access academic article on the subject.
There's very little study data on how/if those receptors rebalance, but the general consensus seems to be that the brain does alter the number of these receptors in order to maintain a kind of equilibrium.
I have decided to give sobriety another go. I'm currently on day three. I'll be keeping a mood diary this time to hopefully see if after 3 months + I start to notice an improvement in base level stress/anxiety.