# Sodium phenobarbital **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-phenobarbital/166800 "2003-04-06T03:20:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sisenor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sisenor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisenor)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-phenobarbital/166800/1 "2003-04-06T03:20:50Z")
How the the so-called “truth serum” sodium phenobarbital work? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-phenobarbital/166800/2 "2003-04-06T03:24:29Z")
It’s a barbiturate. It doesn’t actually “make” you tell the truth so much as it addles your mind and makes it harder to think up lies, so telling the truth is just easier. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-phenobarbital/166800/3 "2003-04-06T03:31:02Z")
Hmm. According to [this page](http://www.psicologia.freeservers.com/diversos/soro_verdade.html), it’s called thiopental sodium, or Sodium Pentothal. > [@](#): > > Psychiatrists as a part of narcotherapy also use Sodium Pentothal. This drug produces the state of full relaxation and makes patients more susceptible to suggestion, allowing the psychiatrists to uncover the repressed feelings or memories. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sodium-phenobarbital/166800/4 "2003-04-06T10:44:42Z")
it also distorts your reality and makes you more suggestive. So instead of you thinking your talking to Mr Evil Torturer ™, you think your talking to your wife or your Commanding Officer.