Origins
Drawn from Acheron, one of the rivers of the Greek underworld associated with pain, sorrow, and passage between states. Unlike the River Styx, Acheron represents suffering that must be crossed rather than a final boundary. The combined form suggests the fear of being carried backward unintentionally through pain.
Meaning
Acherodrift is the fear that the pain returning in recovery means we are sliding backward rather than healing. Because numbness once felt safer and more manageable, the resurgence of emotion is misread as regression instead of necessary progression. In Acherodrift, we mistake intensity for failure and discomfort for danger, worrying that we are being pulled back toward the very state we were trying to escape. The fear is not of pain itself, but of what we believe the pain signifies.
Usage
When the emotions hit hard, Acherodrift set in and we worried that feeling this much meant we were losing ground.