Sodium pentothal hypnosis: A procedure for evaluating medical patients with suspected psychiatric co-morbidity

The development of psychiatric co-morbidity in medical illness is well known, but distinguishing the functional from the organic is often difficult. This paper describes a procedure using hypnotic doses of sodium pentothal (thiopental) combined with hypnosis to distinguish signs and symptoms of physiologic origin from those of psychiatric origin. Three cases are presented to illustrate the procedure. In the ''Discussion'' the four-phase technique is described, and three criteria are proposed to aid in the selection of patients. The cases presented are of patients who were under evaluation for confirmation of neurologic diagnosis and degree of disability prior to discharge from active military duty. Using the pentothal hypnosis procedure during the re-evaluation, the disabilities were reversed and conversion disorders were diagnosed.