[Dependence and obsession].

Alcoholism, especially the urge to drink and relapse from abstinence, is deeply associated with obsession. And also alcoholics on abstinent 10 years or more are still higher on the obsessive-compulsive symptom dimension more than the depression and interpersonal sensitivity. Obsession was introduced by Kraepelin in 1915 and has been studied extensively since. When a person with obsession becomes exhausted with chronic rumination accompanied suspicion, he or she is driven to impulsive acts like alcoholics, and develops a personality disorder that displays persistent abnormal activities. Impulsive-compulsive spectrum characterizes by dimensions of risk-aversive/risk-seeking and harm-avoidant/harm- minimizing behaviors. Disorders on the compulsive end of the spectrum include obsessive-compulsive disorder, hypochondriasis, body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia nervosa an depersonalization. Mixed compulsive and impulsive disorders include Tourette's disorder, trichotillomania, pathologic gambling, sexual compulsions and alcoholism. Disorders on the impulsive end of the spectrum include borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Using 123I-IMP SPECT, regional cerebral blood flow significantly decreased in alcoholics without Korsakoff sign (WAIS FIQ 90 or over) than alcoholics with Korsakoff signs (WAIS FIQ 89 or under) and control on the frontal lobe and thalamus. Recent model of obsessive-compulsive pathophysiology demonstrating that cortical regions have different effects on the direct and indirect pathways, indicates that the the different effects of serotonergic agents in the cortex alone could result in a change in balance between the direct versus indirect basal ganglia pathway. This article reviews alcoholism and obsession, ego dystonic and ego syntonic, approach-avoidance conflict, a recent biological approach to alcoholics and a spectrum for obsession.