title: Cognitive regulation of craving in alcohol-dependent and social drinkers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Helping alcohol-dependent individuals to cope with, or regulate, cue-induced craving using cognitive strategies is a therapeutic goal of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for alcohol dependence. An assumption that underlies this approach is that alcohol dependence is associated with deficits in such cognitive regulation abilities. To date, however, the ability to utilize such strategies for regulation of craving has never been tested in a laboratory setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here we compared 19 non-treatment-seeking, alcohol-dependent drinkers (AD) to 21 social drinkers (SD), using a laboratory task that measured the ability to reduce cue-induced alcohol craving by thinking about long-term negative consequences of drinking, which is a specific cognitive regulation strategy that is taught in CBT. The task also assessed the ability to reduce food craving elicited by high-calorie food cues using a similar strategy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The reduction in craving when using this cognitive regulation strategy was approximately double in SD, compared to AD, for both alcohol and food cues. Furthermore, in SD but not AD, the ability to regulate cue-induced alcohol craving was correlated with the ability to regulate food craving. There were no significant correlations found between the ability to regulate cue-induced alcohol craving and a number of self-report measures related to severity of alcohol dependence, baseline craving, impulsivity, and general self-regulation ability, for either AD or SD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that alcohol dependence is associated with deficits in cognitive regulation of cue-induced craving and that these deficits are not specific to the regulation of alcohol craving, but generalize to the regulation of other appetitive states, such as food craving. Future studies may use similar procedures to address the neural and cognitive processes that underlie such regulation deficits, as well as the effects of treatments such as CBT on these processes.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York.
authors: Nasir H
authors: NH
authors: Naqvi
authors: Kevin N
authors: KN
authors: Ochsner
authors: Hedy
authors: H
authors: Kober
authors: Alexis
authors: A
authors: Kuerbis
authors: Tianshu
authors: T
authors: Feng
authors: Melanie
authors: M
authors: Wall
authors: Jon
authors: J
authors: Morgenstern
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D003071:Cognition; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D066249:Craving; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Coping Skills; Craving; Cue-Exposure; Self-Regulation