The invention relates to the determination of the anesthetic state of a patient. In order to achieve a mechanism that enables establishment and maintenance of balanced anesthesia, values are established (31, 32) for a set of diagnostic indices. The set includes at least two diagnostic indices of which a first diagnostic index is indicative of the level of hypnosis and a second diagnostic index of the level of nociception in the patient. The combination of the at least two index values obtained is employed (33) for indicating the anesthetic state of the patient. The combination of the at least two index values may further be employed to control the administration of drugs to the patient.
