Isolation tank

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An isolation tank, sensory deprivation tank, float tank, float pod, float cabin, flotation tank, or sensory attenuation tank is a water filled, pitch-black, light-proof, soundproof environment heated to the same temperature as the skin.

Contents

Method

The tank is filled with 10 inches (25 cm) of water which contains enough dissolved Epsom salt to create a specific gravity of approximately 1.25–1.26, enabling a person to float freely with their face above the water. In order to reduce thermal sensations, the water in the float tank is maintained at approximately skin temperature, around 35 °C. One typically floats without clothing to minimize tactile sensations, and earplugs are worn during floating both to minimize auditory sensations and to keep Epsom salt out of the ear canal. Several different tank designs exist. Pod and cabin designs utilize enclosures with doors to enter or exit the tank, whereas pool designs (e.g., pictured below) are built from circular fiberglass and lack an enclosure to reduce the risk of claustrophobia. The pool design is housed in a room that is soundproof and lightproof, with tightly controlled ambient air temperature and humidity.

An open fiberglass float pool at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA allows subjects with clinical anxiety to float comfortably, without the apprehension one might encounter in an enclosed float environment. Floatation REST.jpg
An open fiberglass float pool at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA allows subjects with clinical anxiety to float comfortably, without the apprehension one might encounter in an enclosed float environment.

History

The isolation tank was developed in 1954 by John C. Lilly, a medical practitioner and neuropsychiatrist. [1] [2] [3] During his training in psychoanalysis at the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Lilly experimented with sensory deprivation. [4]

Widespread commercial interest and use of the isolation tank did not occur until 1972, when Glenn Perry, a computer systems programmer, began selling the first commercial tanks after he attended a five-day workshop by Lilly. [5]

In 1981, there were about $4 million in sales and rentals in the industry, and expectations were that the market would grow, spurred by the film Altered States (a film starring William Hurt as a psychopathologist experimenting with a flotation tank), which came out in 1980. [6] According to one source in the industry, in the 1980s the rise of AIDS and the fear of shared water reduced demand for flotation centers. [7] By 2013, flotation was more popular in Europe than the US, but had undergone some growth in the area around San Francisco; at that time a low-end tank cost about $10,000, and an hour-long flotation session cost about $70. [7]

Alternative medicine

Use of the float tank has roots in alternative medicine, [8] where its use and promotion occurred largely outside of a scientific framework. Early scientific research on the use of float tanks was stalled by "political activists [who] viewed sensory deprivation as analogous to solitary confinement and torture", thus leading to "hostile publications in the popular media and in professional journals [and] to actual physical violence against researchers." [9] [10]

Flotation has been widely advertised as a form of alternative medicine that has a number of health benefits, but the claims are often exaggerated and poorly evidenced. [8] Despite the lack of scientific support, people have sought treatment from flotation for many conditions including muscle tension, chronic pain, hypertension, and rheumatoid arthritis to PMS. [11]

Research

A 2005 meta-analysis of clinical trials that had been conducted at that time, found that the trials were generally small and highly prone to error, but given that limitation, use of isolation tanks, (called "flotation REST" or "restricted environmental stimulation therapy" in the literature) shows a large effect size (Cohen's d = 1.02) for stress reduction. [12] A 2018 review described flotation-REST as one of "[s]everal emerging technologies [which] may have relevance for interoception and mental health" as it "appears to noninvasively enhance exposure to interoceptive sensations such as the breath and heartbeat". [13]

Flotation-REST

Scientific research with float tank therapy generally uses the term "flotation-REST" (reduced environmental stimulation therapy) to refer to the technique. [14] [15] This term is preferred over "sensory deprivation" due to the fact that 1) the float tank experience actually enhanced sensory input from the body (e.g., cardiorespiratory sensations) and can also be conceptualized as a form of sensory enhancement [16] and 2) the term "sensory deprivation" carries negative connotations of torture and hallucinations that have likely impeded legitimate research in this field. [15]

Notable users

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John C. Lilly</span> American physician, scientist, psychonaut, and philosopher

John Cunningham Lilly was an American physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, philosopher, writer and inventor. He was a member of a group of counterculture thinkers that included Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, and Werner Erhard, all frequent visitors to the Lilly home. He often stirred controversy, especially among mainstream scientists.

Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch, taste, thermoception (heat-sense), and the ability to know which way is down. Sensory deprivation has been used in various alternative medicines and in psychological experiments. When deprived of sensation, the brain attempts to restore sensation in the form of hallucinations.

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Closed-eye hallucinations and closed-eye visualizations (CEV) are hallucinations that occur when one's eyes are closed or when one is in a darkened room. They can be a form of phosphene. Some people report CEV under the influence of psychedelics; these are reportedly of a different nature than the "open-eye" hallucinations of the same compounds. Similar hallucinations that occur due to loss of vision are called visual release hallucinations.

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Monoplegia is paralysis of a single limb, usually an arm. Common symptoms associated with monoplegic patients are weakness, numbness, and pain in the affected limb. Monoplegia is a type of paralysis that falls under hemiplegia. While hemiplegia is paralysis of half of the body, monoplegia is localized to a single limb or to a specific region of the body. Monoplegia of the upper limb is sometimes referred to as brachial monoplegia, and that of the lower limb is called crural monoplegia. Monoplegia in the lower extremities is not as common of an occurrence as in the upper extremities. Monoparesis is a similar, but less severe, condition because one limb is very weak, not paralyzed. For more information, see paresis.

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A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. Although in some cultures five human senses were traditionally identified as such, many more are now recognized. Senses used by non-human organisms are even greater in variety and number. During sensation, sense organs collect various stimuli for transduction, meaning transformation into a form that can be understood by the brain. Sensation and perception are fundamental to nearly every aspect of an organism's cognition, behavior and thought.

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Nipple stimulation or breast stimulation is stimulation of the breast. Stimulation may be by breastfeeding, sexual activity, or an indirect non-sexual response. As part of sexual activity, the practice may be performed upon, or by, people of any gender or sexual orientation. It may occur with the use of fingers, orally, such as by sucking or licking, as well as by use of an object.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sensory processing disorder</span> Medical condition

Sensory processing disorder is a condition in which multisensory input is not adequately processed in order to provide appropriate responses to the demands of the environment. Sensory processing disorder is present in many people with dyspraxia, autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Individuals with SPD may inadequately process visual, auditory, olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), tactile (touch), vestibular (balance), proprioception, and interoception sensory stimuli.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interoception</span> Sensory system that receives and integrates information from the body

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