Developed in 1954 by John C. Lilly, a medical practitioner and neuropsychiatrist training at the NIMH, A sensory attenuation tank is a lightless, soundproof tank which commonly contains a large amount of epsom salt to allow a patient to float in water that is heated to the same temperature of the human body.
Experimenting with sensory deprivation in conjunction with psychoactive drugs such as the then legal, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), Lilly later found that experiences in sensory deprivation were enhanced by not being under the influence of drugs. These experiments were conducted in an attempt to answer the question about what keeps the brain going and the origin of its energy sources.
Lilly attempted to test the hypothesis that energy sources are entirely biological and internal, that energy sources are not supplied by the surrounding environment; and the arguments that cutting off all stimuli to the brain will send it to sleep, by creating an environment which isolated an individual from external stimulation.
Further study and experimentation of the isolation tank was conducted by Peter Suedfeld and Roderick Borrie of the University of British Columbia. Suedfeld and Borrie primarily researched the therapeutic health benefits of the attenuation tank. They named their technique "Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy" (REST).
Stay tuned until next time when we talk about the theoretical boundaries of the human consciousness.
- Jordan Saward
