That article is not very well done. And shitty that it's showing up in searches. Just what we need, more non-addicts thinking addicts just lack willpower,
PAWS is certainly real, and easily explainable. Chronic dependence downregulates receptors so that without the drug you're used to, neurotransmitter levels are insufficient for homeostasis. Rebuilding receptor density through upregulation takes time, and the time is takes is longer, the longer and more severely you've been addicted. Furthermore, particularly with GABA receptors and particularly with benzos, . A longtime addict's brain is different than it was before, and different from a non-addict's brain, in that comparatively very minor use after recovering homeostasis will lead to dependence again. Long-term dependence produces semi-permanent and in some cases permanent changes in the brain. Thus, it's more and more difficult for addicts to feel normal without drugs, even increasingly longer after acute withdrawal ceases.
Acute withdrawal sucks and it's the most severe part, but it is not the most difficult to deal with. The most difficult part to deal with is the long-term maintaining of sobriety, and a big part of the reason it is so difficult is because it takes the brain a long time to fully recover, and in some cases, it never really does.
Fortunately, there are lifestyle changes you can make to help yourself greatly, which a lot of people do not do. Studies and experience show that daily exercise helps tremendously in recovering homeostasis and feeling good without drugs, particularly for opiate addicts. Proper nutrition also helps, and equally if not more important is changing your activities and habits to replace the hole left by drugs. One should seek to eliminate sources of pain that often cause drug addiction in the first place, and also to find hobbies to fill one's time with that provide natural methods of feeling satisfaction and joy.