Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Cocaine craving and use during daily life

  • Original Investigation
  • Published:
Psychopharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rationale

Craving is often assumed to cause ongoing drug use and relapse and is a major focus of addiction research. However, its relationship to drug use has not been adequately documented.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between craving and drug use in real time and in the daily living environments of drug users.

Methods

In a prospective, longitudinal, cohort design (ecological momentary assessment), 112 cocaine-abusing individuals in methadone maintenance treatment rated their craving and mood at random times (two to five times daily, prompted by electronic diaries) as they went about their everyday activities. They also initiated an electronic diary entry each time they used cocaine. Drug use was monitored by thrice-weekly urine testing.

Results

During periods of urine-verified cocaine use, ratings of cocaine craving increased across the day and were higher than during periods of urine-verified abstinence. During the 5 h prior to cocaine use, ratings of craving significantly increased. These patterns were not seen in ratings of heroin craving or mood (e.g., feeling happy or bored).

Conclusions

Cocaine craving is tightly coupled to cocaine use in users’ normal environments. Our findings provide previously unavailable support for a relationship that has been seriously questioned in some theoretical accounts. We discuss what steps will be needed to determine whether craving causes use.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Addolorato G, Abenavoli L, Leggio L, Gasbarrini G (2005) How many cravings? Pharmacological aspects of craving treatment in alcohol addiction: a review. Neuropsychobiology 51:59–66

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aguinis H, Henle CA (2001) Empirical assessment of the ethics of the bogus pipeline. J appl soc psychol 31:352–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • al’Absi M, Hatsukami D, Davis GL (2005) Attenuated adrenocorticotropic responses to psychological stress are associated with early smoking relapse. Psychopharmacology 181:107–117

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baer JS, Kamarck T, Lichtenstein E, Ransom CC Jr (1989) Prediction of smoking relapse: analyses of temptations and transgressions after initial cessation. J Consult Clin Psychol 57:623–627

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belin D, Balado E, Piazza PV, Deroche-Gamonet V (2008) Pattern of intake and drug craving predict the development of cocaine addiction-like behavior in rats. Biol Psychiatry. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.05.031

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carter BL, Lam CY, Robinson JD, Paris MM, Waters AJ, Wetter DW, Cinciripini PM (2008) Real-time craving and mood assessments before and after smoking. Nicotine Tob Res 10:1165–1169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Catley D, O'Connell KA, Shiffman S (2000) Absentminded lapses during smoking cessation. Psychol Addict Behav 14:73–76

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad KL, Tseng KY, Uejima JL, Reimers JM, Heng LJ, Shaham Y, Marinelli M, Wolf ME (2008) Formation of accumbens GluR2-lacking AMPA receptors mediates incubation of cocaine craving. Nature 454:118–121

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Drummond DC (2001) Theories of drug craving, ancient and modern. Addiction 96:33–46

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein DH, Hawkins WE, Covi L, Umbricht A, Preston KL (2003) Cognitive-behavioral therapy plus contingency management for cocaine use: findings during treatment and across 12- month follow-up. Psychol Addict Behav 17:73–82

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein DH, Schmittner J, Umbricht A, Schroeder JR, Moolchan ET, Preston KL (2009a) Promoting abstinence from cocaine and heroin with a methadone dose increase and a novel contingency. Drug Alcohol Depend 101:92–100

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein DH, Willner-Reid J, Vahabzadeh M, Mezghanni M, Lin J-L, Preston KL (2009b) Real- time electronic-diary reports of cue exposure and mood in the hours before cocaine and heroin craving and use. Arch Gen Psychiat 66:88–94

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein DH, Willner-Reid J, Preston KL (2010) Addiction and emotion: theories, assessment techniques, and treatment implications. In: Kassel JD (ed) Substance Abuse and Emotion. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC (pp 259–280)

  • Griffith JD, Rowan-Szal GA, Roark RR, Simpson DD (2000) Contingency management in outpatient methadone treatment: a meta-analysis. Drug Alcohol Depend 58:55–66

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haney M, Spealman R (2008) Controversies in translational research: drug self-administration. Psychopharmacology 199:403–419

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hartz DT, Frederick-Osborne SL, Galloway GP (2001) Craving predicts use during treatment for methamphetamine dependence: a prospective, repeated-measures, within-subject analysis. Drug Alcohol Depend 63:269–276

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heilig M, Egli M (2006) Pharmacological treatment of alcohol dependence: target symptoms and target mechanisms. Pharmacol Ther 111:855–876

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hopper JW, Su Z, Looby AR, Ryan ET, Penetar DM, Palmer CM, Lukas SE (2006) Incidence and patterns of polydrug use and craving for ecstasy in regular ecstasy users: an ecological momentary assessment study. Drug Alcohol Depend 85:221–235

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hu FB, Goldberg J, Hedeker D, Flay BR, Pentz MA (1998) Comparison of population-averaged and subject-specific approaches for analyzing repeated binary outcomes. Am J Epidemiol 147:694–703

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kassel JD, Shiffman S (1992) What can hunger teach us about drug craving? A comparative analysis of the two constructs. Adv Behav Res Ther 14:141–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kosten TR, Scanley BE, Tucker KA, Oliveto A, Prince C, Sinha R, Potenza MN, Skudlarski P, Wexler BE (2006) Cue-induced brain activity changes and relapse in cocaine-dependent patients. Neuropsychopharmacol 31:644–650

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kranzler HR, Mulgrew CL, Modesto-Lowe V, Burleson JA (1999) Validity of the obsessive compulsive drinking scale (OCDS): does craving predict drinking behavior? Alcohol Clin Exp Res 23:108–114

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leyton M, Casey KF, Delaney JS, Kolivakis T, Benkelfat C (2005) Cocaine craving, euphoria, and self-administration: a preliminary study of the effect of catecholamine precursor depletion. Behav Neurosci 119:1619–1627

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Litt MD, Cooney NL, Morse P (2000) Reactivity to alcohol-related stimuli in the laboratory and in the field: predictors of craving in treated alcoholics. Addiction 95:889–900

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Littell RC, Milliken GA, Stroup WW, Wolfinger RD (1996) SAS system for mixed models. SAS, Cary

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowman C, Hunt WA, Litten RZ, Drummond DC (2000) Research perspectives on alcohol craving: an overview. Addiction 95(Suppl 2):S45–S54

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meddis R (1972) Bipolar factors in mood adjective checklists. Br J Soc Clin Psychol 11:178–184

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miczek KA, de Wit H (2008) Challenges for translational psychopharmacology research—some basic principles. Psychopharmacology 199:291–301

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connell KA, Gerkovich MM, Cook MR, Shiffman S, Hickcox M, Kakolewski KE (1998) Coping in real time: using ecological momentary assessment techniques to assess coping with the urge to smoke. Res Nurs Health 21:487–497

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paliwal P, Hyman SM, Sinha R (2008) Craving predicts time to cocaine relapse: further validation of the Now and Brief versions of the cocaine craving questionnaire. Drug Alcohol Depend 93:252–259

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peirce JM, Petry NM, Roll JM, Kolodner K, Krasnansky J, Stabile PQ, Brown C, Stitzer ML (2009) Correlates of stimulant treatment outcome across treatment modalities. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 35:48–53

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pickens RW, Johanson CE (1992) Craving: consensus of status and agenda for future research. Drug Alcohol Depend 30:127–131

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prendergast M, Podus D, Finney J, Greenwell L, Roll J (2006) Contingency management for treatment of substance use disorders: a meta-analysis. Addiction 101:1546–1560

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reid MS, Flammino F, Howard B, Nilsen D, Prichep LS (2008) Cocaine cue versus cocaine dosing in humans: evidence for distinct neurophysiological response profiles. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 91:155–164

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robins LN, Cottler LB, Bucholz KK, Compton WM III (1995) The diagnostic interview schedule, version IV. Washington University, St. Louis

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson TE, Berridge KC (1993) The neural basis of drug craving: an incentive-sensitization theory of addiction. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 18:247–291

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rohsenow DJ, Martin RA, Eaton CA, Monti PM (2007) Cocaine craving as a predictor of treatment attrition and outcomes after residential treatment for cocaine dependence. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 68:641–648

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosnow RL, Rosenthal R (1996) Computing contrasts, effect sizes, and counternulls on other people's published data: general procedures for research consumers. Psychol Methods 1:331–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosnow RL, Rosenthal R, Rubin DB (2000) Contrasts and correlations in effect-size estimation. Psychol Sci 11:446–453

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Russell JA (1980) A circumplex model of affect. J Pers Soc Psychol 39:1161–1178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute (2008) SAS/STAT 9.2 user's guide. SAS, Cary

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman S, Waters AJ (2004) Negative affect and smoking lapses: a prospective analysis. J Consult Clin Psychol 72:192–201

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman S, Paty JA, Gnys M, Kassel JA, Hickcox M (1996) First lapses to smoking: within-subjects analysis of real-time reports. J Consult Clin Psychol 64:366–379

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman S, Engberg JB, Paty JA, Perz WG, Gnys M, Kassel JD, Hickcox M (1997a) A day at a time: predicting smoking lapse from daily urge. J Abnorm Psychol 106:104–116

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman S, Hickcox M, Paty JA, Gnys M, Richards T, Kassel JD (1997b) Individual differences in the context of smoking lapse episodes. Addict Behav 22:797–811

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman S, Hufford M, Hickcox M, Paty JA, Gnys M, Kassel JD (1997c) Remember that? A comparison of real-time versus retrospective recall of smoking lapses. J Consult Clin Psychol 65:292–300

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman S, Balabanis MH, Paty JA, Engberg J, Gwaltney CJ, Liu KS, Gnys M, Hickcox M, Paton SM (2000) Dynamic effects of self-efficacy on smoking lapse and relapse. Health Psychol 19:315–323

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman S, Gwaltney CJ, Balabanis MH, Liu KS, Paty JA, Kassel JD, Hickcox M, Gnys M (2002) Immediate antecedents of cigarette smoking: an analysis from ecological momentary assessment. J Abnorm Psychol 111:531–545

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman S, Balabanis MH, Gwaltney CJ, Paty JA, Gnys M, Kassel JD, Hickcox M, Paton SM (2007) Prediction of lapse from associations between smoking and situational antecedents assessed by ecological momentary assessment. Drug Alcohol Depend 91:159–168

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sigall H (1997) Ethical considerations in social psychological research: is the bogus pipeline a special case? J Appl Soc Psychol 27:574–581

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Silverman K, Wong CJ, Umbricht-Schneiter A, Montoya ID, Schuster CR, Preston KL (1998) Broad beneficial effects of cocaine abstinence reinforcement among methadone patients. J Consult Clin Psychol 66:811–824

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha R, Garcia M, Paliwal P, Kreek MJ, Rounsaville BJ (2006) Stress-induced cocaine craving and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses are predictive of cocaine relapse outcomes. Arch Gen Psychiatry 63:324–331

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sofuoglu M, Waters AJ, Mooney M, O'Malley SS (2009) Minocycline reduced craving for cigarettes but did not affect smoking or intravenous nicotine responses in humans. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 92:135–140

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tiffany ST, Carter BL (1998) Is craving the source of compulsive drug use? J Psychopharmacol 12:23–30

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vahabzadeh M, Epstein DH, Mezghanni M, Lin J-L, Preston KL (2004). An Electronic Diary Software for ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in Clinical Trials. Proceedings of the 17th IEEE Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS):167–172

  • Volkow ND, Wang GJ, Telang F, Fowler JS, Logan J, Childress AR, Jayne M, Ma Y, Wong C (2006) Cocaine cues and dopamine in dorsal striatum: mechanism of craving in cocaine addiction. J Neurosci 26:6583–6588

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walton MA, Blow FC, Bingham CR, Chermack ST (2003) Individual and social/environmental predictors of alcohol and drug use 2 years following substance abuse treatment. Addict Behav 28:627–642

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warthen MW, Tiffany ST (2009) Evaluation of cue reactivity in the natural environment of smokers using ecological momentary assessment. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 17:70–77

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waters AJ, Shiffman S, Sayette MA, Paty JA, Gwaltney CJ, Balabanis MH (2004) Cue-provoked craving and nicotine replacement therapy in smoking cessation. J Consult Clin Psychol 72:1136–1143

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss RD, Griffin ML, Hufford C (1995) Craving in hospitalized cocaine abusers as a predictor of outcome. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 21:289–301

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss RD, Griffin ML, Mazurick C, Berkman B, Gastfriend DR, Frank A, Barber JP, Blaine J, Salloum I, Moras K (2003) The relationship between cocaine craving, psychosocial treatment, and subsequent cocaine use. Am J Psychiatry 160:1320–1325

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program (IRP) of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health. We thank the NIDA IRP Archway Clinic staff for data collection.

Financial disclosures/conflicts of interest

None to declare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Treatment Section, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Kenzie L. Preston, John Schmittner & David H. Epstein

  2. Biomedical Informatics Section, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Massoud Vahabzadeh & Jia-Ling Lin

  3. Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    David A. Gorelick

  4. NIDA Intramural Research Program, Treatment Section, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Branch, 251 Bayview Blvd., Suite 200, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Kenzie L. Preston

Authors
  1. Kenzie L. Preston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Massoud Vahabzadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. John Schmittner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jia-Ling Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. David A. Gorelick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. David H. Epstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenzie L. Preston.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Preston, K.L., Vahabzadeh, M., Schmittner, J. et al. Cocaine craving and use during daily life. Psychopharmacology 207, 291–301 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-009-1655-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-009-1655-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation