Things to Know

What is addiction?: A Definition

All of us use drugs on an everyday basis, even if we don’t realize it. Some of us take drugs in the morning to wake up, and we may feel like we can’t even talk to someone before we do! That’s coffee for you! We take drugs when we get out of work, hanging out with our friends and co-workers, like alcohol and nicotine. So what gives? What is the difference between this use of drugs and the so called “dangerous” use of them?The answer to these questions has so much of a societal importance and has brought so much controversy that there is a dedicated section for it in the DSM- IV TR manual of Psychological Disorders. For simplicity, drug users are divided into two categories: substance dependent and substance abusers. A good example of a substance abuser is the college student or co-worker that always drinks more than they should, way more. Those who are substance dependent have more particular characteristics and they meet the DSM criteria for it, these are the people we commonly refer to as addicts. We must stress, however, that many individuals may abuse of a substance, but that doesn’t mean they are substance dependent. Moreover, we must realize that addiction is something that can affect any type of person regardless of their background.

What is Learning?:

Learning is commonly known as the process by which we create memories and develop our ability to recall those memories. The way we measure it is by testing how much of the memories you're able to recall during and after a certain time span. A student that is studying for a test is gaining knowledge, we  call this part of the learning process: "acquisition"; this is the memory making stage. After you close the book, those memories will go through what has been termed: "extinction" where you start to lose the ability to correctly recall those memories. Being unable to recall is not the same as forgetting, if we take forgetting as losing a memory, it's simply being unable to access and express them.

Pretty simple, right? If you're interested in learning more, take a look at our videos of the week and our posts, we'll usually dedicate a post to the basics before going into a deeper theme.