Sensory deprivation

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Sensory deprivation is the deliberate reduction or removal of physiological stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing respectively, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch, taste, thermoception (sense of heat), and/or 'gravity'. Sensory deprivation has been used in various alternative medicines and in psychological experiments, and for torture or punishment.

Though short periods of sensory deprivation can be relaxing, while extended deprivation can result in extreme anxiety, hallucinations, bizarre thoughts, depression, and even antisocial behavior

Isolation tank

An isolation tank is a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salty water at skin temperature. They were first used by John C. Lilly in 1954 in order to test the effects of sensory deprivation. Such tanks are now also used for meditation, prayer, relaxation, and in alternative medicine.

Isolation tanks were originally called sensory deprivation tanks. They were renamed because it was found that the terminology of "sensory deprivation" negatively prejudiced people prior to experiencing the use of the device. Dr. Peter Suedfeld and Dr. Roderick Borrie of the University of British Columbia began experimenting on the therapeutic benefits of this technique in the late 1970s. They renamed the technique Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST) or Flotation REST.

A therapeutic session in a flotation tank typically lasts an hour. For the first forty minutes it is reportedly possible to experience itching in various parts of the body (a phenomenon also reported to be common during the early stages of meditation). The last 20 minutes often end with a transition from beta or alpha brainwaves to theta, which typically occur briefly before sleep and again at waking. In a float tank the theta state can last for several minutes without the subject losing consciousness. Many use the extended theta state as a tool for enhanced creativity and problem-solving or for superlearning. Spas sometimes provide commercial float tanks for use in relaxation. Flotation therapy has been academically studied in the USA and in Sweden with published results showing reduction of both pain and stress. The relaxed state also involves lowered blood pressure and maximal blood flow.

The five sensory deprivation techniques

These methods, sometimes termed "disorientation" or "sensory deprivation" techniques, were not used in any cases other than the fourteen so indicated above. It emerges from the Commission's establishment of the facts that the techniques consisted of:

  1. wall-standing: forcing the detainees to remain for periods of some hours in a stress position, described by those who underwent it as being "spreadeagled against the wall, with their fingers put high above the head against the wall, the legs spread apart and the feet back, causing them to stand on their toes with the weight of the body mainly on the fingers";
  2. hooding: putting a black or navy colored bag over the detainees' heads and, at least initially, keeping it there all the time except during interrogation;
  3. subjection to noise: pending their interrogations, holding the detainees in a room where there was a continuous loud and hissing noise;
  4. deprivation of sleep: pending their interrogations, depriving the detainees of sleep
  5. deprivation of food and drink: subjecting the detainees to a reduced diet during their stay at the center and pending interrogations.

In BDSM sessions

Sensory deprivation often as part of of a BDSM session. Depending on length of time, severity and techniques, sensory deprivation can be use as a punishment or as a reward.

Techniques can include mummification using body bags, saran wrap, vacuum beds, hoods as well as honor bondage. Using the five points above, let your imagination take you where ever you wish to go -- or places you wish to avoid <g>


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