The Effect of Eye Movements on Craving in Alcohol-Dependent Inpatients: A Randomized Controlled Experiment

In this study, we explored whether making Eye Movements (EM) during the recall of intrusive images related to alcohol craving reduced the vividness and emotionality of these images and their ability to elicit craving. In a randomized controlled experiment in a treatment facility for substance use disorders in the Netherlands, 50 inpatients with alcohol use disorder were asked to recall mental images related to alcohol craving while simultaneously making EM ( n = 29) or keeping a steady gaze ( n = 21). Vividness and emotionality of the mental images and craving were measured. Making EM had no significant effect on the vividness and emotionality of images related to alcohol craving, nor on their ability to elicit craving. Our findings do not support the notion that EM reduce alcohol craving.