When people have cravings for certain food and can’t move on through their day without having it, it-s the same for those who are struggling with addiction. In fact, developing cravings for drugs or alcohol (or other addictive behavior) is one of the primary tell-tale signs that you’re having an addiction.
Addiction cravings are very hard to resist. Even if you have promised yourself over and over that you will quit, you still find yourself relentlessly giving in. There are even some people who experience intense cravings for drugs that they would steal or go through danger just to get them.
What is craving?
Cravings are defined as intense desire or consuming yearning. Those who have developed chemical or behavioral dependencies may experience strong cravings. These are hard to ignore or even avoid as the mind has become predisposed to see the satisfaction of their cravings as a reward and even a necessity. Even those who were even successfully and steadily sober for many years or even decades, may even go back to their addictions just by giving in to a craving.
Craving and Sensitization
The Incentive Sensitization Theory is one explanation for cravings. According to this theory, people have cravings as a result of their brain developing strong association between an addictive substance or behavior and a sense of reward.
The road to cravings is a four-way process:
- People are repeatedly exposed to an addictive substance (or behavior), making them develop hypersensitization, which means the addictive substance will cause more impact to the person’s neurobehavioral response in the future.
- Hypersensitization leads to incentive salience, which means the person develops more than just a preference or liking to the substance, but a desire.
- This incentive salience keeps the person repeating the behavior (using the drugs or drinking alcohol) in the future.
- This process becomes deeply inculcated in the unconscious mind and manifests itself as intense outward cravings for the substances.
How to deal with cravings
- Avoid the same environment that remind them of their substance cravings or bring back those cravings.
- You are not your cravings. You have no obligation to respond to your cravings.
- Have a distraction to keep your mind off your cravings.
- Challenge your cravings. Remember how giving in to these have caused you nothing but trouble.
- Talk to another person to combat cravings. This is where a sponsor or support group comes in.
- Cravings often happpen with HALT (hunger, anger, loneliness, tiredness), so combat these feelings even before the cravings creep in.
- Remember why you gave up on your cravings or addictions in the first place.
Are you struggling with addiction or starting out in your recovery journey and are having intense cravings? Talk to us. Our counselors and rehab specialists are here to help. Call or text us in our confidential helpline: 09175098826.
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