Sensory deprivation

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Sensory impairment or perceptual isolation is the deletion or deletion of intentional stimulation of one or more senses. Simple devices like blinders or earplugs and earplugs can cut eyesight and hearing, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch, taste, thermoception, and 'gravity'. Sensory deprivation has been used in a variety of alternative medicine and in psychological experiments (eg with insulation tanks).

Short-term sensory seizure sessions are described as relaxed and conducive to meditation; however, extended or forced sensory deprivation can cause extreme anxiety, hallucinations, strange, unreasonable, and depressed thoughts.

The related phenomenon is perceptual deprivation, also called the Ganzfeld effect. In this case a constant uniform stimulus is used rather than trying to remove the stimulus; this leads to an effect that has similarities with sensory deprivation.

Sensory robbery techniques are developed by some armed forces in NATO, as a means to interrogate detainees in international treaty obligations. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the use of five techniques by British security forces in Northern Ireland amounted to inhumane and degrading treatment practices.

Video Sensory deprivation

Terapi stimulasi lingkungan terbatas (REST) ​​

There are two basic methods of restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST): REST space and REST flotation.

Chamber REST

In the REST room, the subject lies in the bed in a really dark room and reduces the sound (on average, 80dB) up to 24 hours. Their movement is limited by experimental instruction, but not by mechanical barriers. Food, drink and toilet facilities are provided in the rooms and based on the discretion of the examiner, who can communicate with the participants using an open intercom. Subjects are allowed to leave the room before 24 hours; However, less than 10% actually did because they found the room so relaxing. REST chamber affects psychological functions (thinking, perception, memory, motivation, and mood) and psychophysiological processes.

Flotation REST

In REST flotation, the room contains a tank or swimming pool. The flotation medium comprises a solution of water temperature and Epsom salts of a specific gravity which allows the patient to float supine without worrying about safety. In fact, to submit temporarily in the solution requires "deliberate effort." Less than 5% of the subjects studied went before the duration of the session ended, which is usually about one hour for REST flotation.

During the first 40 minutes, it is reported possible to experience itching in various parts of the body (a phenomenon also reportedly common during the early stages of meditation). The last 20 minutes often end up with a transition from a beta or alpha brainwave to theta, which usually occurs briefly before bedtime and again upon waking. In a float tank, theta state can last for several minutes without loss of subject awareness. Some use the extended theta state as a tool for enhancing creativity and problem solving. The spa sometimes provides a commercial buoy tank for use in relaxation. Flotation therapy has been academically studied in the US and in Sweden with published results showing a reduction in both pain and stress. Relaxed state also involves lowering blood pressure, decreasing cortisol levels, and maximal blood flow. Regardless of the physiological effects, REST seems to have a positive effect on wellbeing and performance.

Chamber versus REST flotation

There are some differences between flotation and chamber REST. For example, in the presence of a medium in REST flotation, subjects have reduced tactile stimulation when weighed without weight. The addition of Epsom salts to achieve the desired gravity may have a therapeutic effect on hypertonic muscle. Since one of the main results of REST space is a state of relaxation, the REST effect of space on stimuli is less clear, which can be attributed to the nature of the solution.

Also, due to the inherent immobilization experienced in REST flotation (by not being able to roll over), which may become uncomfortable after a few hours, the subject can not experience the duration of the REST session of space. It may not allow subjects to experience changes in attitudes and thoughts related to REST space. In addition, the research questions raised between each technique are different. The Chamber REST question comes from research that began in the 1950s and explores questions about the need for stimulation, the nature of passion and its relation to external stimuli. Practitioners in this area have explored its usefulness in the treatment of major psychiatric dysfunctions such as autism and substance abuse. Instead, REST flotation is seen as more of a recreational tool as it is tested more for its use with stress-related disorders, pain reduction and insomnia.

Numerous studies have debated which method is a more effective treatment process, but only one has been explored statistically. Nineteen subjects, all using space or REST flotation to induce relaxation or to treat smoking, obesity, alcohol intake or chronic pain were analyzed. Interesting statistics, d, are measures of treatment effect size. For reference, d = 0.5 is considered to be a moderate effect and d = 0.8 is a large effect. 19 subjects undergoing REST chamber had d = 0.53 and six REST flotation subjects showed d = 0.33. In addition, when examining subjects undergoing REST and REST treatments along with other treatment methods, there is little difference. However, Flotation REST has the advantage of the required lower duration (45 minutes compared to 24 hours).

Maps Sensory deprivation

Other uses

The use of REST has been explored in assisting in smoking cessation. In studies ranging from 12 months and five years, 25% of REST patients achieved long-term abstinence. REST, when combined with other effective smoking cessation methods (eg behavior modification) yields 50% long-term abstinence. Also, when combined with weekly support groups, REST produces 80% of patients who achieve long-term abstinence. Relatively, the use of nicotine patch alone has a 5% success rate.

Alcoholism is also the target of research related to REST. In conjunction with an anti-alcohol education message, patients undergoing two hours of REST treatment reduced their alcohol consumption by 56% in the first two weeks after treatment. The decrease in consumption was maintained during follow-up done three and six months after the first treatment. However, this may be due to a placebo effect.

In addition, REST has been tested to determine its effect on other drug users. An Arizona University study used REST space as a complement to traditional outpatient abuse treatment and found that four years later, 43% of patients were conscious and drug free. Eight months later, no one in the control group remained clean.

Psychedelic effects

Studies have been conducted to test the effects of sensory deprivation on the brain. One study took 19 volunteers, all tested in the 20th and bottom 20th percentile on a questionnaire that measured the tendency of healthy people to see things that did not really exist, and placed them in a black tavern, soundproofed for 15 minutes, after which they completed other tests that measure experiences such as psychosis, were originally used to study drug users. Five subjects reported seeing facial hallucinations; six reported seeing a face/face that did not exist; four noted a high sense of smell, and two reported feeling "evil presence" in the room. People who scored lower on the first test had less perceptual distortion; However, they still report seeing various hallucinations. Much research has been done to understand the underlying cause of hallucinations, and much evidence has accumulated indicating that long periods of isolation are not directly related to the degree of hallucinations experienced.

Schizophrenia appears to tend to experience fewer hallucinations while in REST compared with non-psychotic individuals. A possible explanation for this is that non-psychotic individuals are usually exposed to greater levels of sensory stimulation in everyday life, and in REST, the brain tries to recreate the same level of stimulation, resulting in a hallucinatory event. According to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Neurological and Mental Illness, hallucinations caused by the brain misidentify the source of what is being experienced, a phenomenon called wrong source monitoring. A study conducted on individuals undergoing REST while under the influence of Phencyclidine (PCP) showed a lower incidence of hallucinations compared with participants who did not take PCP. The PCP effects also seem to decrease while undergoing REST. The effects of PCP in reducing the incidence of hallucinatory events provide potential insight into the mechanisms behind these events.

Five sensory robbery techniques

Five techniques stand on the wall; hooding; subject to noise; sleep deprivation; food and beverage deprivation was used by security forces in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s. After the Parker Report of 1972, these techniques were officially abandoned by the United Kingdom as an aid to interrogate paramilitary suspects.

The Irish Government on behalf of those targeted by the five methods filed a case with the European Commission for Human Rights ( Ireland v. United Kingdom , 1976 YB Eur.Consultant About Hum. Rts 512, 748, 788-94 (European Commission for Human Rights)). The Commission stated that it "considers the combined use of five methods for the amount of torture." This consideration was canceled on appeal, when in 1978 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) examined the definition of UN torture. The court then ruled that the five techniques "did not cause suffering to the specific intensity and cruelty implied by the word torture," but they did much "against the practice of inhuman and degrading treatment," which is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 3.

That their judgment of the court stated that:

This method, sometimes called "disorientation" or "sensory robbery" technique, is not used in any case other than the fourteen mentioned above. It arose from the Commission's establishment of the fact that the technique consists of:

(a) standing on the wall: forcing prisoners to stay for several hours in a stressful position, explained by people who live it as "thrown to the wall, with their fingers placed high above the head of the wall, legs open and hind legs, causing them to stand on their feet with body weight especially on the fingers ";

(b) hooding: put a black or dark blue bag over the head of the prisoner and, at least initially, keep it there all the time except during the interrogation;

(c) subject to noise: awaiting their interrogation, detaining the prisoners in a room where there is a continuous loud and hissing sound;

(d) sleep deprivation: awaiting their interrogation, depriving sleep prisoners

(e) food and beverage deprivation: subjecting prisoners to a reduced diet during their stay at the center and pending interrogations.

JosÃÆ'Â © Padilla

José © © Padilla, an American citizen of Brooklyn, New York, was convicted in a federal court that assisted terrorists in 2007 and was sentenced to 17 years and 4 months in prison. While awaiting trial, a report emerges that, in order to persuade him to disclose information, he becomes the target of sensory seizure for weeks at a time. For 1,307 days, Padilla is stored in 9 'x 7' cells without natural light, clock or calendar. When Padilla left her cell, she was shackled and equipped with thick glasses and headphones. His advice was that when he was interrogated, Padilla was subjected to loud lights and thumping voices. When meeting with his advisors, they reported Padilla showing facial tics, random eye movements and unusual body changes. According to them, Padilla had become so "devastated" that she became convinced that her lawyers were part of an ongoing interrogation program and saw her kidnappers as protectors.

"Total Isolation"

In January 2008, the BBC aired a special Horizon titled "Total Isolation". The premise of the event centered on six individuals, four men and two women, agreed to shut inside a cell inside a nuclear bunker, alone and in total darkness for 48 hours. Prior to isolation, the volunteers underwent visual memory testing, information processing, oral eloquence and sugestibility.

After two days and two nights, the subjects noted that their inability to sense time, as well as hallucinations, made the experience difficult. Of the six volunteers, three auditory and visual hallucinations are experienced - snakes, oysters, small cars and zebras. One was sure their sheets were wet. Two seem to cope well.

When completed, the test the subject takes before the experiment is done a second time to test its effect. The results show the ability of all volunteers to complete the simplest tasks has deteriorated. One subject's memory capacity fell 36% and all subjects had trouble thinking of words beginning with the nominated letter; in this case, the letter "F". The four men had a steeply suggestive suggestion, though this did not happen to women.

"It's very difficult to stimulate your brain without light, it makes me empty, I can feel my brain does not want to do anything."

- Adam Bloom (volunteer subject) - "Total Isolation"

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See also

• Isolation to facilitate abuse
• Sensory overload
• Apophenia
• Improved interrogation techniques
• Human experiments in the United States
• Ganzfeld Effect
• Ganzfeld Experiment
• Johnny Got His Gun
• Prisoners cinema
• Dark retreat
• THX 1138
• John C. Lilly
• Foreign
• Fringe (TV Series)

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Footnote

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References

• European Court of Human Rights, "Ireland v. the United Kingdom" January 18, 1978
• Solomon, P. et al. (eds.) (1961) Sensory deprivation. Harvard U Press.
• Goldberger, L. (1966). Experimental isolation: An overview. I. J. Psychiat. 122, 774-782.
• Zubek, J. (ed.) (1969). Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen years of research. Appleton Century Crofts.
• Dirk van Dierendonck & amp; Jan Te Nijenhuis - Flotation limits environmental stimulation therapy (REST) ​​â € <â €
• Marvin Zuckerman & amp; Nathan Cohen (1964). Source of Visual Audit Sensory Report in perceptual isolation experiments.
• P.R Corlett, C.D Frith, P.C.Fletcher (2009). From medicine to deprivation: Bayesian framework for understanding the psychosis model.

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Further reading

• Goldberger, L. Experimental isolation: An overview. Amer. J. Psychiat., 1966, 122, 774-782.
• Heron, W. Pathology of boredom. Sci. Amer, 1957, 196, 52-56.
• John C. Lilly, (inventor of flotation tanks), "The Deep Self: Deep Relaxation and Tank Isolation Techniques" (See also John Lilly, in Flaherty, BE (Ed) Psychophysiological aspects of space flight, Columbia U Press, 1961 )
• Solomon, P. et al. (eds.) (1961) Sensory deprivation. Harvard U Press.
• Suedfeld, P. (1980). Limited environmental stimulation: Research and clinical applications. Wiley Interscience.
• Zuckerman, M., et al. Experimental factors and subjects that determine responses to perceptual and social isolation. J. abnorm. Psychol. 1968, 73, 183-194.
• Zubek, J. (Ed.) 1969, Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen years of research. Appleton Century Crofts.
• Based on Numbers Findings Report on the Torture of Prisoners and Accountability of Torture and Responsibility of Prisoners (April 26, 2006).

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External links

• Hallucinations in anechoic chambers: the science behind claims

Source of the article : Wikipedia