ABSTRACT
Drug craving depends on the patient's personal history, his/her personality, and on his/her resilience to stressors—which might also be a case of genetic predisposition. At least two main components can be described in drug craving. The first is represented by the desiderative–appetitive aspect, or the desire to seek and use the drug in order to re-experience its pleasant effect. The second is represented by the need for the drug in order to avoid painful or adverse withdrawal symptoms. Most authors agree in identifying drug craving as the cause of typical drug dreams in drug-addict patients. The conscious and unconscious aspects of drug craving can be observed, in patients who have been abstinent for years and who consider themselves out of drug dependence. The most important research paradigms used in investigating the neurobiological and neuroanatomical substrate of drug addiction are the studies on animal models and the studies on humans based on recent functional neuroimaging techniques.
