Craving as an Indicator of Psychopharmacotherapy Efficiency

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Summary - Craving represents an important diagnostic criterion in diagnosing addiction. Over the recent years there is a growing interest regarding the phenomenon of craving. It is defined as a strong need for drinking of alcohol or intensive thinking about alcohol, surfacing at an attempt to stop drinking or to control drinking of alcohol and is accompanied with the feeling of compulsion to take alcohol. There are many models explaining the concept of craving and they are complementing each other. This psychological phenomenon has its biological point of reference. Also, there is a growing number of studies in which specific areas of the brain and the various neurotransmitting systems …