Flotation therapy, inside a sensory deprivation tank, can reliably produce altered states of consciousness similar to those caused by psychedelic drugs, according to a study in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness.
Scientists have named this state aquahenosis, or unity with water, and it is described as part runner's high and part the sensation of disembodiment provoked by ketamine and psilocybin.
Study Findings on Flotation
Dr Nicco Reggente, a neuroscientist at the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies in California, said: "Flotation tanks and sensory deprivation are hyper-reliable elicitors of non-ordinary experiences."
Reggente and his colleagues analysed the experiences of 75 people with anxiety or depression who tried six sessions of Flotation-REST (reduced environmental stimulation therapy). The results suggest that floating can reliably produce some features of altered consciousness measured in studies of psychedelic drugs.
How Flotation Works
Developed in the 1950s, the technique floats people in extremely salty water kept close to skin temperature. Its buoyancy is supposed to remove the sensation of a boundary between the body and the external world.
One writer who tried the therapy described time distortion, a feeling of being ageless, and the ability to focus on breathing. Participants in the study used terms like "disembodiment", "experience of unity" and "oceanic boundlessness" to describe their mental states.
Potential Benefits and Risks
The study authors say flotation therapy could be the best way for non-drug takers to try some psychedelic transcendence. The study linked stronger feelings of oceanic boundlessness to improvements in positive mood and depression.
However, there is a possible dark side. Psychologists call the weakening of the boundary between self and non-self "ego-dissolution" and not everyone reacts well to it. "If you're trying to grasp and hold on to what you are and what you were, it's going to feel hellish," Reggente says.
Ketamine and psilocybin are being investigated as possible treatments for psychiatric conditions, and researchers want to understand how much of the benefit comes from the compounds themselves and how much from the strange mental states they produce. Floating offers a way to separate the two. Reggente says it could eventually be used in a similar way to psychedelic-assisted therapy.
