The Insertion of Narcoanalysis in Uruguay (1930-1960)

Abstract

This article deals with the emergence and insertion of narcoanalysis in Uruguay, in the period 1930-1960. For this, a historical review of the use of drugs in psychiatry is carried out from the mid-nineteenth century to the constitution of the practice of narcoanalysis at the beginning of the twentieth century. Narcoanalysis was considered a valuable
contribution to psychiatric therapy, reaching the Uruguayan psychiatric field around the 1950s. In this context, narcoanalysis is introduced into legal medicine, considering the use of pentothal (“truth serum”) as an adjuvant technique in medical-legal interrogations. This matter generated controversies that were not alien to the Uruguayan press. The criticisms aimed at condemning the use of narcoanalysis outside the medical field, questioning the alleged scientificity of crime detection and standardizing its application with other methods of torture.