Sensory deprivation
This article is about a method of interrogation. For therapeutic uses, see Isolation tankSensory deprivation is the deliberate reduction or removal of
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 (heat-sense), and 'gravity'. Sensory deprivation has been used in various
alternative medicines and in
psychological experiments (e.g., see
Isolation tank), and for
torture or
punishment.
Though short periods of sensory deprivation can be
relaxing, extended deprivation can result in extreme
anxiety,
hallucinations, bizarre thoughts,
depression, and
antisocial behavior.
[[1](PDF)]
* [2]
* [3]
* [4]
* [5]
* [6]The five techniques of
wall-standing; hooding; subjection to noise; deprivation of sleep; deprivation of food and drink were used by the security forces in
Northern Ireland in the early 1970s. After the Parker Report of 1972 these techniques were formally abandoned by the United Kingdom as aids to the
interrogation of paramilatary suspects.
The Irish Government on behalf of the men who had been subject to the five methods took a case to the European Commission on Human Rights (Ireland v. United Kingdom, 1976 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on Hum. Rts. 512, 748, 788-94 (Eur. Comm'n of Hum. Rts.)). The Commission stated that it
"considered the combined use of the five methods to amount to torture"
[Security Detainees/Enemy Combatants: U.S. Law Prohibits Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Footnote 16][David Weissbrodt materials on torture and other ill-treatment: 3. European Court of Human Rights (doc) html: Ireland v. United Kingdom, 1976 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on Hum. Rts. 512, 748, 788-94 (Eur. Comm'n of Hum. Rts.)].This consideration was overturned on appeal. In
1978 in the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) trial "
Ireland v. the
United Kingdom" ruled that the five techniques
"did not occasion suffering of the particular intensity and cruelty implied by the word torture ... [but] amounted to a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment", in breach of the
European Convention on Human Rights.
It is on record in the ECHR judgement
[Ireland v. the United Kingdom Paragraph 96] that:
*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
*(a) 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";
*(b) hooding: putting a black or navy coloured bag over the detainees' heads and, at least initially, keeping it there all the time except during interrogation;
*(c) subjection to noise: pending their interrogations, holding the detainees in a room where there was a continuous loud and hissing noise;
*(d) deprivation of sleep: pending their interrogations, depriving the detainees of sleep;*(e) deprivation of food and drink: subjecting the detainees to a reduced diet during their stay at the centre and pending interrogations.
In 1986
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture listed
"sensory deprivation" among the techniques constituting torture
[[7](PDF)]. Other groups, such as the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights
[Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights], for example, lists sensory deprivation as a type of
"mental torture"[[8]].
Modern methods and tools for applying the 5 basic techniques have changed somewhat since their original inception.
*
Acoustic earmuffs are sometimes placed on a subject which are then used to isolate the subject from outside sounds. Often this is done with the production of loud music, ringing or static noises, or anything that estranges the subject from the sounds in their environment.
*Sometimes an isolation chamber is used. A subject is sometimes locked in a room with no windows. The source of light in the room is turned on, or off, at either regular, but abnormal intervals, or for random periods of time. The intent is to eliminate the subject's accurate perception of day and night, remove the subject from social interaction, and disrupt regular biological patterns such as sleep. This method is often accompanied by meals being presented at unusual times of day, and at abnormal intervals to further the effect.
*
Altered States starring
William Hurt,
Blair Brown and
Bob Balaban. Based on the novel by
Paddy Chayefsky.
* The
Ipcress File (starring
Michael Caine) featured a variation on sensory deprivation in the final scene.
* In the
television series
24 government agents have used sensory deprivation as a method of interrogation.
* The
Tom Clancy novel
The Cardinal of the Kremlin features the descriptive use of a sensory deprivation device by the
KGB in brainwashing techniques for counterintelligence purposes.
* The 1960's television show
The Twilight Zone featured an episode in which an astronaut spent weeks in a secluded chamber in order to simulate a trip to the moon, leading to hallucinations.
* In the television series
Alias starring
Jennifer Garner sensory deprivation was used on
CIA agent
Sydney Bristow by
The Covenant in order for them to brainwash her into thinking she was someone she was not.
* In the
television series,
The Simpsons, Lisa and Homer go to an alternative medicine specialist that recommends they spend time in sensory deprivation tanks.
* In the famous book by
George Orwell,
Nineteen Eighty-four, sensory deprivation and its possibly mind-twisting effects are very well described in the second half of the story.
*
Isolation tank*
Asceticism*
Altered state of consciousness*
Ganzfeld experiment*
Altered States*
John C. Lilly*
Feral child*
Richard Feynman, a famous physicist, writes about his experiences with sensory deprivation in a floatation tank in one of his popular books,
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!.
*
European Court of Human Rights and in a landmark judgement "Ireland v. the United Kingdom" January 18, 1978
*
Break Them Down: Systematic Use of Psychological Torture by US Forces a report of
Physicians for Human Rights
