RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PHYSIOLOGICAL AND SELF-REPORT RESPONSES PRODUCED BY COCAINE-RELATED CUES

In response to cocaine cues, 150 subjects with a history of cocaine ab use showed decreases in skin temperature and skin resistance and incre ases in heart rate and reported craving, high, and withdrawal response s. These responses were consistent across four years of data collectio n. Craving reports were not consistently associated with either high o r withdrawal responses, and many subjects endorsed increases in both h igh and withdrawal states. Correlations revealed no pattern of associa tion among physiological variables and responding did not differ betwe en subjects who did and those who did not report increases in each of the drug states. Finally, physiological variables did not predict repo rted drug states in discriminant analyses. Cocaine cue reactivity cann ot be easily related to a unitary state of high, withdrawal, or cravin g. it is suggested that future studies focus more on the prediction an d measurement of treatment outcome than on the form of cue responses.