substance withdrawal

a syndrome that develops after cessation of prolonged, heavy consumption of a substance. Symptoms vary by substance but generally include physiological, behavioral, and cognitive manifestations, such as nausea and vomiting, insomnia, mood alterations, and anxiety. DSM–IV–TR identifies six drug classes associated with withdrawal: alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, nicotine, opioids, and sedatives, hypnotics, or anxiolytics. DSM–5 lists tobacco in place of nicotine and further identifies caffeine and cannabis as being associated with a withdrawal syndrome.

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Psychology term of the day

February 22nd 2025

emergent feature

an entity produced by the interaction of small or simple elements (e.g., short line segments) in the visual system, such an entity (e.g., a polygon) being more salient to human perception than are the elements themselves. In ergonomics, object displays are usually designed to make use of emergent features; the display configurations yield an overall image (e.g., a rectangle or pentagon) that can be perceived holistically by the operator of a machine system and therefore rapidly analyzed to assess the state of the system. When a component of the system is not in the appropriate or normal state, the image will be distorted, alerting the operator to potential problems.