ˌpsychopharmaˈcology
Also with hyphen.
[f. psycho- + pharmacology.]
The branch of science concerned with the way drugs affect the mind and behaviour.
| 1920 D. Macht in Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull. XXXI. 167/1 The number of contributions to the domain of what we may be permitted to call ‘psychopharmacology’ is certainly very meagre. 1935 Jrnl. Nerv. & Mental Dis. LXXXI. 161 The psycho-pharmacology of sodium amytal. 1958 A. Huxley Let. 2 Feb. (1969) 845, I have been asked..to do a piece on the ethical, religious and social implications of psychopharmacology. 1969 New Scientist 10 Apr. 80/1 LSD..may be remembered as a herald of psychopharmacology. 1970 A. Toffler Future Shock (1971) viii. 160 New knowledge..in psychopharmacology, made many Freudian therapeutic measures seem quaintly archaic. |
Hence ˌpsychopharmacoˈlogic (chiefly U.S.), -ˈlogical adjs., of or pertaining to psychopharmacology; (of a drug) psychoactive; ˌpsychopharmacoˈlogically adv.; ˌpsychopharmaˈcologist, an expert or specialist in this subject.
| 1939 Jrnl. Mental Sci. LXXXV. 406 (heading) A psycho⁓pharmacological study of schizophrenia with particular reference to the mode of action of cardiazol, sodium amytal and alcohol in schizophrenic stupor. 1958 Science 10 Jan. 61/2 Depressions not accompanied by anxiety and tension are less apt to be ameliorated by a psycho⁓pharmacologic agent. 1960 Clin. Pharmacol. & Therapeutics I. 257/2 Studies by psychopharmacologists and comparative psychologists concerning the effects of the new psychotropic drugs on experimentally conditioned emotional responses of animals. 1964 M. Gordon Psychopharmacol. Agents I. i. 3 One of the new psycho⁓pharmacological agents, reserpine, had a difficult time gaining acceptance in the Western hemisphere. 1967 Guardian 1 July 12/3 A psycho-pharmacologist said: ‘I wouldn't be dismayed if the use of marijuana were made legal.’ 1970 Nature 5 Sept. 1008/1 Psychopharmacological experiments are beginning to yield data relevant to urban crowding as a health hazard. 1971 Amer. Jrnl. Psychiatry CXXVIII. 695/1 Peyote contains more than ten alkaloids, the most psychopharmacologically significant of which is mescaline. 1977 M. E. Jarvik Psychopharmacol. in Pract. of Med. 21 In complicated cases the individual should be referred to a psychopharmacologically oriented psychotherapist. 1979 [see psychobiologist]. |