hypnotic

1. n. a drug that helps induce and sustain sleep by increasing drowsiness and reducing motor activity. In general, hypnotics differ from sedatives only in terms of the dose administered, with higher doses used to produce sleep or anesthesia and lower doses to produce sedation or relieve anxiety. Benzodiazepines are among the most widely prescribed hypnotics; antihistamines and other agents are used to lesser degrees. Newer, nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics, such as eszopiclone, zolpidem, and zaleplon, are achieving clinical currency because of the relative infrequency of adverse side effects.

2. adj. pertaining to hypnosis or sleep.

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Psychology term of the day

February 23rd 2025

radical feminism

a branch of feminist thought that holds as its main tenets that (a) the oppression of women is pandemic, the most fundamental of all historical instances of oppression, and thus a paradigm case of oppression; (b) because the oppression of women is systemic and ubiquitous, sweeping social change is the only remedy radical enough to overcome it; (c) traditional gender roles are constraining to both sexes and ought to be overcome; (d) biology should not determine the destiny or shape the lives of women; and (e) consciousness raising, in which women come to see their personal problems as symptomatic, is the beginning of liberation. These tenets have been adopted in one form or another by many strains of feminism.