psychotropic, a. and n.
(saɪkəʊˈtrəʊpɪk, -ˈtrɒpɪk)
Also -trophic (-ˈtrəʊfɪk).
[f. psycho- + -tropic, -trophic.]
A. adj. Affecting a person's mental state; psychoactive; spec. = psychotomimetic a.; of or pertaining to a drug of this kind.
| 1956 M. Rinkel in Neuropharmacology: Trans. 2nd Conf., 1955 240, I had considerable conversation on this subject with Dr. Goodman..and Dr. Loewi of Utah University. They made the very good proposal of calling all these drugs which affect the mind ‘phrenotropic or psychotropic’. This general term would allow for a number of subdivisions: drugs that are beneficial; those which may cause psychosis; [etc.]. 1962 Listener 13 Dec. 1003/1 In recent years extravagant hopes have been centred on the psychotropic drugs, drugs which will relieve agitation and depression. 1968 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 10 Nov. 1/2 Traffic in psychotropic drugs—ranging from LSD to sedatives—had reached ‘epidemic proportions’, the International Narcotics Control Board warned yesterday. 1968 A. Goldstein et al. Princ. Drug Action vi. 474 Despite the nearly universal exposure of the population to the ‘legal’ psychotropic drugs (alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine), some become habituated and some do not. 1970 Nature 7 Feb. 485/1 The essence of the commission's code is a catalogue of drugs of dependence—‘psychotrophic drugs’ as they are now called. 1972 J. I. M. Stewart Palace of Art vii. 66 Art, like a tomtom or a psychotropic drug, can loosen up the mind of an individual exposed to it. 1977 It June 2/4 If you enter a state of non-ordinary reality, as you do when you use psychotropic plants, it is only to draw from it what you need in order to see the miraculous character of ordinary reality. 1977 Lancet 24–31 Dec. 1326/1 None of the subjects were taking psychotrophic medication at the time of admission. 1978 Guardian Weekly 1 Jan. 10/1 Large numbers of prisoners are being given psychotropic drugs as a form of social control rather than medical treatment. |
B. n. A psychotropic drug.
| 1976 Nature 29 Apr. p. ix (Advt.), Astra Chemicals is the UK subsidiary of Scandinavia's largest pharmaceutical group which specialises in the research, manufacture and marketing of ethical drugs in the fields of local anaesthetics, bronchodilators, cardiovasculars and psychotropics. 1977 Proc. R. Soc. Med. LXX. 766/2 The majority are adults who have deliberately swallowed an overdose of drugs, chiefly in the category of ‘psychotropics’. |
Hence psychoˈtropically adv.
| 1962 Jrnl. Sci. & Industr. Res. XXIa. 421/2 The psychotropically active hydrazines having a monoamine oxidase inhibiting effect are pronounced antidepressants. |