Craving

In addiction, craving refers to the desire for the drug
An urge refers to the internal pressure or mobilization to act on the craving
In short, craving is associated with wanting and an urge with doing
An urge is the instrumental sequel to a craving
A person feels the desire to experience a “high” or relief from discomfort and feels a pressure to act to obtain this experience

Urges

An urge is the behavioral intention to engage in a specific behavior
Urges may be regarded as compulsions when the individual feels incapable of resisting them
The urge is instigated by an unpleasant feeling state such as anger, frustration or anxiety, or the anticipation of an unpleasant stressful event
The ultimate goal of consummating the urge is a reduction of the original feelings whether it be craving for excitement or a desire to relax(Pg. 31, “Cognitive Therapy of Substance Abuse,” Aaron T. Beck, Fred D. Wright, Cory F. Newman, Bruce S. Liese, The Guilford Press, New York, 1993.)

Between Craving And Urge To Use Lies The Opportunity For Action

Here is the space that must be developed and practiced in a rehab. Rehabs have the opportunity to remove the ability to use drugs or alcohol so they artificially increase the time between craving and the urge and then actual use. In this unusually large space that rehab creates is the place to practice some of the suggestions I will post in the following days. By practicing these techniques in rehab or on your own you can insure that cravings do not lead to renewed substance abuse and relapse.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 21st, 2005 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Drug Addiction, Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.