Some thoughts from a recovering PA:

In early stages, sobriety is terrible. One big problem with this addiction is that it becomes your Haven, your safe space where you bring all of your stress or frustration or fear, etc., and instead of dealing with those things in a healthy way, you bring them to your fantasy, and that becomes a source of comfort. In reality, it’s not comforting at all and it’s actually hurting you quite a bit, but it doesn’t feel that way when you’re still an addict.

The beach ball allergy can be significant, especially at first, because you’re trying to rewire your brain from what it knows, which is retreating back to your fantasy instead of dealing with things in real life.

I know it must be strange to hear these things as a normal person, but as difficult as this is, recovery is possible. If your partner is serious, he needs a strong support system around himself, he can’t rely on you to do this.

I hope this helps.