Sensory deprivation
In this case a constant uniform stimulus is used instead of attempting to remove the stimuli; this leads to effects which have similarities to sensory deprivation.
[5] Sensory deprivation techniques were developed by some of the armed forces within NATO, as a means of interrogating prisoners within international treaty obligations.
[6] The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the use of the five techniques by British security forces in Northern Ireland amounted to a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment.
In chamber REST, the subject lies on a bed in a completely dark and sound-reducing (on average, 80 dB) room for up to 24 hours.
Food, drink, and toilet facilities are provided in the room and are at the discretion of the tester, who can communicate with the participants using an open intercom.
[8] Chamber REST affects psychological functioning (thinking, perception, memory, motivation, and mood) and psychophysiological processes.
The flotation medium consists of a skin-temperature solution of water and Epsom salts at a specific gravity that allows for the patient to float supine without the worry of safety.
Flotation therapy has been academically studied in the US and in Sweden with published results showing reductions of both pain and stress.
The addition of Epsom salts to attain the desired specific gravity may have a therapeutic effect on hypertonic muscles.
In contrast, flotation REST was seen more as a recreational tool and was tested primarily for use with stress-related disorders, pain reduction, and insomnia.
Nineteen subjects, all of whom used chamber or flotation REST to induce relaxation or treat smoking, obesity, alcohol intake or chronic pain were analyzed.
One example is the floating man argument proposed by Ibn Sīnā, whose primary objective is to affirm the existence of the human soul.
[14] The argument concludes then that since the man can affirm his existence while being subjected to extreme sensory deprivation, his soul is something different from his physical body.
REST, when combined with other effective smoking cessation methods (for example: behavior modification) resulted in long-term abstinence of 50%.
A University of Arizona study used chamber REST as a complement to traditional outpatient substance abuse treatment and found that four years later, 43% of the patients were still sober and drug-free.
After the Parker Report of 1972, these techniques were formally abandoned by the United Kingdom as aids to the interrogation of paramilitary suspects.
The Irish government on behalf of the men who had been subject to the five methods took a case to the European Commission of Human Rights (Ireland v. United Kingdom, 1976 Y.B.
"[21][22] This consideration was overturned on appeal, when in 1978 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) examined the United Nations' definition of torture.
The court subsequently ruled that the five techniques "did not occasion suffering of the particular intensity and cruelty implied by the word torture," however they did amount "to a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment," which is a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 3.
