Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Psychotropic
/ˌsaɪkoʊˈtroʊpɪk/adjective
Of a drug that acts on the brain to alter mood, perception or behaviour.
The Greek roots
ψυχή
psychḗ
breath, soul, mind
τρέπω
trépō
to turn, redirect
Literally: “mind-turning”
The story of the word
ψυχή plus τρέπω, to turn: something that turns the mind. The word entered English in the 1950s, exactly when chlorpromazine and the first antidepressants were emptying the back wards of asylums, and it names the whole class without judging it. That same τρέπω gives heliotrope, the plant that turns toward the sun, and entropy, Clausius's 1865 coinage for energy turning toward disorder.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1950s
Same family
heliotropeentropytropicpsyche
In a sentence
He had been on psychotropic medication since his twenties and knew every side effect by name.
The review covers psychotropic prescribing in care homes, which is the awkward part.