Obsessive-compulsive aspects of craving: development of the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale

"Craving" for alcohol needs improved definition and measurement. This revie w provides a rationale for considering at least certain aspects of craving as having obsessive and compulsive features. As such, there may be phenomen ological, but not necessarily etiological, overlap with obsessive-compulsiv e disorder. There are increasing data that suggest a neuroanatomical overla p between addiction/craving and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The self-rat ed Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS), based on the Yale-Brown Obse ssive Compulsive Scale for heavy drinking interview (YBOCS-hd), was develop ed to assist in the examination of certain aspects of "craving" in alcoholi cs. The development, reliability, face validity, congruent validity and pre dictive validity of the OCDS are presented and discussed in this paper. The utility of the OCDS as a measurement tool in cognitive-behavioral and phar macological alcoholism treatment research is highlighted. The potential of this instrument as a research and clinical tool for the understanding and e valuation of alcohol dependence needs further evaluation.