Assessment and Comparison of Psychological Parameters of Alcohol Craving in Alcohol Dependence, Social Drinkers and Non-drinkers Using Visual Paradigms

Background: The present study was planned to assess sociodemographical differences between alcohol dependent, social drinkers and non-drinkers and comparison of subjective craving between alcohol dependent, social drinkers and non-drinkers. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in specialty mental health facility for duration of one year. The study consisted of three comparative groups. Each group consisted of 30 consecutive patients as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled for the study. Informed consent was taken after explaining the nature of the study in detail. Alcohol use screening was done based on Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) whereas the severity of withdrawal was assessed using the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment (CIWA) scale. Results: The mean age in alcohol dependent patients was 35.10 (±9.4) whereas in social drinkers the mean age was 37.43±9.4. The mean age in non-drinking subjects was 30.5±8.6. The mean ACQ score in alcohol dependent group, social drinkers and nondrinkers was 32.76, 14.50 and 12.46 respectively. Thus, the alcohol dependents reported more subjective craving once alcohol related visual cues were presented followed by social drinkers. There is highly significant difference between three groups (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Our study concludes that socio-demographic parameters in alcohol dependent patient differ from social drinkers. On presentation of visual cues, the alcohol dependent subjects reported maximum subjective craving as compared to social drinkers and non-drinkers.