meperidine

n. a synthetic opioid used in the acute management of moderate to severe pain (see opioid analgesic). It is an agonist at the mu opioid receptor and has the side effects of other opioid analgesics. Fatal reactions have resulted when meperidine is administered to patients taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), and it should therefore not be used in patients who have taken MAOIs within 14 days. Patients taking phenothiazine antipsychotics or tricyclic antidepressants concurrently with meperidine may experience severe respiratory depression. Also called pethidine. U.S. trade name (among others): Demerol.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

cognitive ethology

the study of mental experiences, including consciousness and intentionality, in nonhuman animals and of the influence of these experiences on the animals’ behavior as they interact with their natural environment. Whether, and which, animals actually possess consciousness and intentionality remains a subject of controversy. [proposed in 1978 by U.S. zoologist Donald Redfield Griffin (1915–2003)]