psycholepticadj.n.
/ˌsʌɪkə(ʊ)ˈlɛptɪk/, U.S. /ˌsaɪkəˈlɛptɪk/ A. adj.
1. Psychology. Of or relating to psycholepsy. psycholeptic crisis n. (esp. in the terminology of P. M. F. Janet) a sudden exacerbation of symptoms in a patient regarded as psychasthenic or hysterical, characterized esp. by feelings of strangeness, unreality, and non-existence. Now historical.
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the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > characteristics of
psychical1642
functional1818
reactive1900
psycholeptic1925
1886 H. Maudsley Nat. Causes & Supernat. Seemings 352 His success in such psycholeptic sleights of thought.
1887 H. Maudsley in Mind 12 508 There is a veritable psycholepsy or neurolepsy—the condition and effect of the psycholeptic strain being the induction of such a molecular state as to render conduction impossible.
1905 tr. P. Janet in Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 19 Jan. 93/1 For these crises, affecting apparently the patient's acts and percepts alone, I propose to adopt the name ‘psycholeptic crises’.
1925 E. Paul & C. Paul tr. P. M. F. Janet Psychol. Healing I. x. 558 Individuals in whom psychological tension is unstable, suffer from sudden relaxations of this tension, succumb to psycholeptic crises.
1940 H. G. Baynes Mythol. of Soul xi. 882 We could then regard the whole drama as a psycholeptic crisis with its characteristic feeling-symptom of the end of the world.
2. Designating a psychoactive drug that has a depressant effect on mental activity, such as a sedative, tranquillizer, hypnotic, or anxiolytic.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > sedatives, antispasmodics, etc. > [adjective] > tranquillizing
nepenthean1650
tranquillizing1801
ataractic1955
neuroleptic1958
psycholeptic1959
1959 Lancet 31 Oct. 738/2 The increasing flood of drugs in this area of psychopharmacology has brought into frequent use such adjectives as psychotropic, thymoplegic, thymotropic, psychotypic, psycholeptic, phrenotropic, psychotonic, ataractic, analeptic, neuroleptic, neuroplegic, thymoleptic, thymeretic, and dysleptic.
1982 Arzneimittelforschung 32 465 This study does not indicate that clozapine contains greater risk of clinical side effects than commonly used psycholeptic drugs.
1999 P. Matthews Cannabis Culture (2000) vi. 99 Pot..is formally categorized with psychedelic drugs as ‘psychodysteptic’, an unmemorable word for substances that change your mood but not in a predictable direction (the two other categories being ‘psycholeptic’, meaning downers like alcohol that depress the central nervous system, and ‘analeptic’ or uppers, like amphetamine or cocaine).
B. n.
A psycholeptic drug.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > sedatives, antispasmodics, etc. > [noun] > sedative
sedative1797
depressant1876
psycholeptic1961
1961 Comprehensive Psychiatry 2 241 Classifications proposed by Delay and Kline are discussed. Delay distinguishes the psycholeptics as including hypnotics, neuroleptics, and tranquilizers.
1971 Zirkle & Kaiser in A. Burger Med. Chem. (ed. 3) II. lv. 1412/1 The antipsychotic agents were originally given such names as tranquilizers.., ataraxics.., psycholeptics, and psychosedatives.
2002 Internat. Jrnl. Clin. Pharmacol. & Therapeutics 40 102 The PIC registered mainly drugs used in the therapy of disorders of the central nervous system, i.e. mostly psycholeptics and drugs acting on the alimentary tract.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1886