1. A psychological treatment which i conducted with the patient under the influence of a sedative or narcotic.
2. In psychotherapy, the use of intravenous barbiturates to enhance relaxation, to facilitate communication, and to render the person more responsive to the suggestions of the therapist.

In any particular narcotherapeutic session, the focus may be on reassurance (narcohypnosis), on uncovering repressed material (narcoanalysis), on encouraging expression of repressed affects (narcocatharsis), on eliciting data for later assimilation (narcosynthesis), or on obtaining data to provide more adequate evaluation (narcodiagnosis).