View source for Sodium Pentathol

'''Sodium Pentathol''' is Abbott Laboratories brand name for ''sodium thiopental,'' a [[barbiturate]]. In its typical form it is a yellowish-white hygroscopic powder having a garlic-like odor. It is soluble in water and alcohol. It is used in medicine as a fast-acting general anesthetic.<ref>[http://health.howstuffworks.com/anesthesia4.htm How Anesthesia Works], Eugenie Heitmiller, MD, HowStuffWorks website</ref> It is often used as part of the process of execution by [[lethal injection]].<ref>[http://www.cya.ca.gov/ReportsResearch/lethalInjection.html Lethal Injection Procedure], California of Corrections and Rehabilitation</ref> 

==Use in Interrogation==
Sodium Pentathol makes the neural membrane more permeable to [[chloride]] ions, resulting in general inhibition, starting with the [[cortex]] and working down to the lower [[brain]] regions with increasing biological effect. Because of its effects it is known as a ''truth serum'' and used in interrogation.<ref>[http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2006/Macgee/Web%20Project/truth_serums.htm]</ref>

At an appropriate dosage, a patient experiences a neural inhibitory effect which creates an alcohol-like disinhibition of normal behavioral restraints. At higher dosages, but not high enough to cause [[unconsciousness]], a patient may experience a stupor and Sodium Pentathol may inhibit independent thought and action to a greater extent. The result makes the patient more suggestible and less willful.  Under such circumstances, a context for either recalling [[memory|memories]] or constructing new ones may then be created.  The actual veracity of the testimony achieved in this manner may be impossible to determine from a single session alone. There is some overlap in interrogation with the practice of using [[ethyl ether]] to aid in obtaining a psychodynamic 'catharsis,' which may or may not relate to actual events in the patient's personal history, and overlap with some aspects of the use of [[hypnosis]] for similar purposes.

==Notes and references==
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[[Category:Pharmaceuticals]]