Desire thinking across the continuum of drinking behaviour

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Desire thinking, involving elaboration of desired targets, is linked to addictive behaviors.
• Its role across the spectrum of drinking behavior requires further exploration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of desire thinking on drinking behavior across a continuum.
• To differentiate desire thinking patterns in alcohol-dependent, problem, and social drinkers.

Main Methods:

• Self-report measures of desire thinking, negative affect, craving, and drinking behavior were administered.
• Participants included alcohol-dependent (n=43), problem (n=59), and social drinkers (n=68).

Main Results:

• Alcohol-dependent and problem drinkers exhibited higher imaginal prefiguration than social drinkers.
• Alcohol-dependent drinkers showed higher verbal perseveration than problem drinkers, who in turn scored higher than social drinkers.
• Discriminant analysis correctly classified 75.9% of cases based on craving, imaginal prefiguration, verbal perseveration, and age.

Conclusions:

• Desire thinking emerges as a potential risk factor across the entire spectrum of drinking behavior.
• Interventions specifically addressing desire thinking may enhance the effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatments.