MovieChat Forums > Altered States (1980) Discussion > Would you try out the sensory deprivatio...

Would you try out the sensory deprivation tank?


I certainly would! Becoming a monkey wouldn't stop me. Would anyone else on this board try one of these puppies, or have they ever?

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I would too. My dad spent a few hours in an isolation tank in the early 80s (now that I think about it, it was probably because of this film) and he said it was pretty cool, though nothing nearly as exciting as what happened to Dr. Jessup happened to him. My dad was lacking the key ingredient though: "Messican" mushrooms.

Oh yes! Disconnect with extreme prejudice!!!

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I'd try it.

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in a heart beat

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sure why not?

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I'd try it in a heartbeat!!

"The only person to celebrate Valentines Day the right way was Al Capone!". John Becker, M.D.

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[deleted]

where did you do this? is there a resource for finding locations?

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[deleted]

check this out: http://www.floatation.com/

haven't tried it, or contacted any of these people, so i dunno about how reliable it is, but its a start

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you can find sens dep boxes various places around. Sometimes they are recommended for relaxation therapy, have been used occasionally with some success in psycho-therapy, and have been used with a lot more success in various brain washing techniques, as several hours of dep tend to make the subject very susceptible to suggestion.

And no, I would NOT want to take the chance of being the one that goes psychotic in complete deprivation.

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Sensory deprivation tank sober? Piece of cake. Mix in psychedlics though and you've got something entirely different. Even mushrooms (the baby psychedlic)could be scary in that environment. Just imagine a bad trip in a sensory deprivation tank!

"To be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is to apply it."

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i wouldn't. it would scare the crap out of me.

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Lots of research has been done on dep tanks, and from the results I wouldn't want to try it without a LOT of trusted people on the outside. You can get very suggestible after a few hours. It has been used as a technique to aid brainwashing and reprogramming sometimes.

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I've also tried it, and had an rather interesting experience. I couldn't get amanitas at the time, but settled on psilocybe cubensis. The trip was nowhere near as intense as "Dr. Jessup's," but it was certainly amazing, nonetheless.

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[deleted]

I've done it. However I was clear-headed and not under the influence of psychedlics. It was more of a relaxing, meditative experience than anything else. It's definately a different experience than, say, meditating in a quiet room in your house, but I wouldn't say that I found it trippy. As far as getting in one after taking an hallucinogen...I'd have to put that on my list of things that I think would probably be incredible to try but won't for fear of winding up in a padded room for the rest of my life.

As far as where to find an isolation tank: I went in one in Portland, OR about 7 years ago. As I recall, there were 3 or 4 different places that offered time in isolation tanks for public use. I would think that any kind of progressive city with a sizeable alternative population would have at least one place that offered them. In Portland I found them in the yellow pages.

-D

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see"
-John Lennon

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I definatly would try it, you only live once

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Try doing a search on John C Lilly at wikipedia. He was the pioneer of the sense deprivation tanks in the fifties and sixties; infact i read somewhere that he actually invented the technique. He (John C Lilly experimented with LSD
many times while in the 'SD' tank until it was outlawed by the government.
He works with dolphins at his institute these days and does international circuit tours and lectures for the science community.

Whether I would try going in one of these tanks im not sure. Probably not.Becasue of too much isolation.I once saw an episode of 'The Rockford Files' where Jim Rockford visits a new age cult in the counrtyside, and the members of this cult used the 'SD' tanks there aswell.

Is it true that the peole who have done this type of thing are like really overly peaceful people? I compare it to the type of people who spend alot of time out on the ocean for months and months; or in the wilderness.

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[deleted]

Try doing a search on John C Lilly at wikipedia. He was the pioneer of the sense deprivation tanks in the fifties and sixties; infact i read somewhere that he actually invented the technique. He (John C Lilly experimented with LSD
many times while in the 'SD' tank until it was outlawed by the government.
He works with dolphins at his institute these days and does international circuit tours and lectures for the science community.

Whether I would try going in one of these tanks im not sure. Probably not.Becasue of too much isolation.I once saw an episode of 'The Rockford Files' where Jim Rockford visits a new age cult in the counrtyside, and the members of this cult used the 'SD' tanks there aswell.

Is it true that the peole who have done this type of thing are like really overly peaceful people? I compare it to the type of people who spend alot of time out on the ocean for months and months; or in the wilderness.


THX for the information man

THE DUDE

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yeah ive actually read 'the scientist' a novel autobiography by lilly. ive had an interest in the idea and lilly long before i saw this movie. what you need to take in an isolation tank is ketamine, or even just lying in bed. im sure you are all familiar with k. though k in submersive water is a drowning hazard, prime example DM Turner. do a search, pretty interesting guy too.

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"[Are] people who have done this type of thing are like really overly peaceful people?"

That's an interesting concept, considering how far the war industry has gone in taking over US foreign policy. "Overly peaceful" - not even sure what that could mean anymore.

It is true that John Lilly, who tried for years to communicate directly with dolphins and made some remarkable discoveries about them in the process, seems to be a peaceable person. The few people I've known who experimented with sensory deprivation also have been fairly serene.

I never got around to trying an SD tank but I'd certainly want to experiment with one clear-minded several times before trying it on acid or other psychedelics. Of course I'd travel to a less repressive country where such experimentation is legal to do so. Wouldn't anybody? I wonder if such a free place still exists anywhere.

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sure would, what is the worst thing that will happen, turn into a caveman style ape, masterbate and throw it at everyone, doesn't most the male race behave in such a way, i think when this film was first shown that would have been odd to see on the street not today, it is a Jerry Springer Standard, lol... Mineo

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Sensory deprivation is definitely pretty cool. The whole ape thing in the movie I thought was kind of stupid and took away from the really profound stuff. The sort of regression into naked thoughts of sensory deprivation opens a lot of doors of thinking. It can be explored with lucid dreaming as well, and psychaedellic drugs would only take it to new levels (maybe dangerous levels).

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maybe? ha, sure it would, taking those kinds of drugs do very weird things to a person thinking patterns, i know from first hand experience, i just wish i would have a tank to explore, lol, anyone know where i can find one, lol?

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" The whole ape thing in the movie I thought was kind of stupid and took away from the really profound stuff."

That's exactly what I thought when I saw that the film was going to go that way.

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I'm a little ambivalent about the things, givcen the only two times I've seen them used on film, they were used for unfortunate effect. In the 1968 pilot film HAWAII 5-0, the Red Chinese spymaster Wo Fat uses a sensory deprivation tank concealed in a tanker's hold to mentally break spies. He almost broke MacGarrett!

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