Cravings

"Unlike most of our crowd, I did not get over my craving for liquor much during the first two and one-half years of abstinence.  It was almost always with me......"  Doctor Bob's Nightmare.  Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, New York City, 2001, p 181.

Craving to use drugs and alcohol is a common problem.  As Doctor Bob points out in the above quote, craving is rare for alcoholics beyond the acute detoxification phase, but protracted for many other drugs depending on the class of addictive compound and the pharmacological properties of the specific drug.   Apart from the biological determined heterogeneity of response to addictive compounds there are also the subjective aspects.  In order strive for more objectivity, modern psychiatry has established diagnostic criteria for disorders of interest.  These disorders are grouped in categories to seem uniform.  Depending on the criteria of interest there is a broad range of subjective experience and description when describing common problem like anxiety and depression.  Some people don't know the difference between them.  Others have a mixture of both.  Some people are anxious all of the time independent of their surroundings.  Others get depressed or panic only in certain situations.  The interpretation of what a person considers to be a craving is as diverse.

Craving for an addictive drug or alcohol comes in many forms.  It can be a perception of a physical property of the actual compound itself such as the taste, odor, appearance or consistency.  It can be physical acts associated with its use and a common example there is a feeling that cigarette smokers get when they feel like they need to do something with their hands after they stop smoking.  It can be cue induced like being offered a drug or being in a place where previous drug transactions occurred.  It can be recall of the first intense and protracted euphoric experience of using the drug even though that has long passed related to tolerance.  The overwhelming affect associated with craving is anxiety and fear because of the sign on an impending withdrawal or relapse.  The negative reinforcement that keeps addictions going after the initial states of positive reinforcement due to the euphorigenic effects of the drug is avoiding withdrawal.  Craving may be a signal that acute withdrawal is imminent or that there is a state of chronic withdrawal.

Craving has had an uncertain place in the field of addiction and the diagnosis of addictive states, largely because of the broad range of experiences associated with craving.  This diagrammatic summary shows that various groups have considered the definition to be too vague.  In other cases there was no consensus that craving was a universal enough phenomenon to be considered a diagnostic criterion.  That changed this spring when the DSM-5 added craving and eliminated legal consequences of drug and alcohol use as a diagnostic criterion.  Medications used to eliminate cravings probably led to that consideration, but people with cravings are more likely to relapse and have significant distress during recovery.

The addition of cravings to the DSM-5 opens up a whole new area of focus during encounters with people who have addictions.  Prior to this change the two major texts on addiction devoted about 3-4 pages to craving phenomena.  Addiction psychiatrists and addictionologists may have already been focused on this area, but I think that overall it makes ongoing assessments more dynamic because it is an intervention point for physicians and there are a number of medical and non-medical interventions that are possible.  Omar Manejwala, MD reviews the options in his very readable book entitled Craving.  This book is interesting because it gives a number of practical tips on how to counter cravings based on the substance involved as well as the importance of psychosocial interventions like 12-step recovery and how that might work.  Addiction science has probably been at the cutting edge of neurobiology for at least the past decade and with this focus there is often the implicit understanding that we are searching for some medication that will be an immediate solution to craving.  In some cases we have that medication, but I always emphasize that cravings at some point disappear and that there are non medication approaches to addressing them.

George Dawson, MD, DFAPA

Manejwala O.  Craving: Why We Can't Seem To Get Enough.  Hazelden, Center City, MN, 2013.

Definitions:

Neuropsychopharmacology The Fifth Generation of Progress (2002):  Craving is a powerful, "must-have" pull that causes addicted people to risk and sometimes lose, their relationships, families, money, possessions, jobs and even their lives. (p.1575)

Response to Dr. Willenbring

I wrote this response to Mark Willenbring's post on his blog.  I reposted it here because the links do not work in the reply section of his blog in case anyone is interested in the references:

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I generally agree with what you are saying.  I think the no fault aspect of the illness is very difficult for many to grasp - most importantly the policy makers and health plan administrators.  I think it is captured very well in the latest ASAM definition.  I think that Sellman’s Top Ten list and the responses to it are also instructive especially item 7 “Come back when you are motivated” is no longer an acceptable therapeutic response’ is part of your message.

From a systems standpoint, the lack of a full array of services to treat addiction is striking.  Over the course of my career I have seen detox services essentially moved to mental health units and then to the street.  I wrote a post about this several weeks ago that was read by current detox staff who agreed with it.    It is hard to believe that in many if not most cases people with addictions are sent home from the ED, sent home with a handful of benzodiazepines, or sent to a facility with no medical coverage for a complex detox process.  I think the test of any health care system is whether a primary care doc can ask themselves if they have a safe detox procedure for any of their regular patients who are addicted to opioids and benzodiazepines and needs surgery.

Medical systems in general have a very poor attitude toward people with addictions.  I think that these healthcare systems and their personnel are much more likely to take a moralistic attitude toward addicts and not treat them well.  I have seen that theme repeated across multiple care settings.  Many rationed care settings disproportionately reduce resources necessary to treat addiction.  I think it is safe to say that most cardiology patients with suspicious chest pain get a $10,000 evaluation and reassurance or appropriate treatment.  Most patients with addictions do not even get a $300 evaluation.  They may actually see a physician who provides them with medications that fuel their addiction.  Institutionalized stigma plays a big role in that.  There are no billboards in the Twin Cities advertising state-of-the-art addiction treatment.  There are many advertisements for heart centers.

I am less pessimistic about the effects of 12-step recovery and time in a residential setting whether it is a high end recovery facility or a state hospital.  I think if you are in a setting where there is no active treatment or sober environment you are probably wasting your time.  I have seen people who were declared hopeless recover with time away from alcohol and drugs on the order of months.  Vaillant’s study of severe alcoholism is a great example of the different paths to recovery and there are many.  His subsequent analysis of how AA might work suggests that affiliation rather than blaming may be the most curative element.  AA is difficult to study but I think that the message is positive and embodied in #3 of the Twelve Traditions.  Up to that point the founders were looking at the issue of exclusion but decided against it because alcoholism was a life threatening disease and they could turn nobody away. 

George Dawson, MD, DFAPA