narcosis

narcosis

narcosis (närkōˈsĭs), state of stupor induced by drugs. The use of narcotics as a therapeutic aid in psychiatry is believed to have a history dating back to the use of opium for mental disorders by the early Egyptians. Prolonged narcosis was employed at the beginning of the 20th cent.; its chief value was the reduction of excitement and tension in the psychotic patient. J. S. Horsley introduced (1936) the term narcoanalysis for the use of narcotics to induce a trancelike state in which the patient talks freely and intensive psychotherapy may be applied. It was used with considerable success in treatment of acute combat psychoneuroses during World War II.

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narcosis

[när′kō·səs]

(medicine)

Drug-produced state of profound stupor, unconsciousness, or arrested activity.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

narcosis

unconsciousness induced by narcotics or general anaesthetics

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005