Role of Craving in the Transition Across Level of Addiction Severity: A Longitudinal Study.

Substance/Alcohol Use disorders are defined as a loss of control over the use despite harmul consequences, as well as an intense and persistent urge to use, also called craving. Previous research has shown that craving is central among the diagnostic criteria for addiction, suggesting that it may be important in the onset and persistence of addiction. Addiction develops progressively, and it appears crucial to identify predictive markers of the transition from one level of severity to another over time. One hypothesis is that more closely linked symptoms (meaning symptoms that influence each other more) could be associated with greater severity and/or with the evolution of addiction severity over time. The aim of this project is to explore how the characteristics of the association between addiction symptoms (diagnostic criteria and symptoms as they occur in daily life), and the importance of craving relative to other symptoms, could serve as markers of different addiction severities and of the transition across these levels of severity.