Clinical and Experimental Restricted Environmental Stimulation

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Ernest R. Hilgard

      Pages 1-2

3. New Theoretical Developments and Perspectives for Clinical Practice

   1. Stimulus and Theoretical Reductionism: What Underlies REST Effects?

      • Peter Suedfeld

      Pages 3-9

   2. A Neo-Dissociation Conceptualization of REST

      • Sean Mee

      Pages 11-19

   3. Bridging the Gap

      • Roderick Borrie

      Pages 21-27

   4. Temporal Patterns of Affect in an Isolated Group

      • Gary Steel, Peter Suedfeld

      Pages 29-39

4. Sensory Restriction and Hypnotizability

   1. Neo-Dissociation Accounts For Pain Relief and Hypnotic Susceptibility Findings: Flotation REST Elicits Hypnosis

      • Arreed Barabasz

      Pages 41-52

   2. REST and Hypnotic Phenomena: Some Similarities Observed in European Case Studies

      • Peter Migály

      Pages 53-58

   3. A Model of the Common “Active Ingredient” in Stress Reduction Techniques

      • Ian Wickramasekera

      Pages 59-73

   4. Age Regression Phenomena

      • Vladimir Raikov, Marianne Barabasz

      Pages 75-78

5. Enhancement of Performance

   1. Effects of Flotation REST and Visual Imagery on Athletic Performance: Tennis

      • Patrick McAleney, Arreed Barabasz

      Pages 79-85

   2. Flotation REST and Imagery in the Improvement of Collegiate Athletic Performance: Basketball

      • Jeffrey Wagaman, Arreed Barabasz

      Pages 87-92

   3. Short-Term Exposure to REST: Enhanced Performance on a Signal-Detection Task

      • Richard Atkinson

      Pages 93-100

6. Stress Management

   1. Slow REST or Fast Drugs: Meditation or Medication?

      • Charles Brownfield

      Pages 101-111

   2. Effects of Chamber REST, Flotation REST and Relaxation on Transient Mood State

      • Arreed Barabasz, Marianne Barabasz, Rebecca Dyer, Noël Rather

      Pages 113-120

7. Treatment of Habit Disorders

   1. REST: A Key Facilitator in the Treatment of Eating Disorders

      • Marianne Barabasz

      Pages 121-125

   2. Twenty-Four Hours of Chamber REST Produces Specific Food Aversions in Obese Females

      • Rebecca Dyer, Arreed Barabasz, Marianne Barabasz

      Pages 127-144

   3. Treatment of Trichotillomania and Smoking with Hypnosis and REST

      • Marianne Barabasz, Arreed Barabasz

      Pages 145-155

   4. Motivational Factors in Alcohol Consumption: Extending Hull’s Model

      • David DiRito

      Pages 157-162

   5. Chamber REST Reduces Alcohol Consumption: 3, 6, 12, and 24 Hour Sessions

      • Marianne Barabasz, Arreed Barabasz, Rebecca Dyer

      Pages 163-173

A dozen years ago, Peter Suedfeld introduced the world to the term "REST' to describe the modern technique or therapy involving Restricted Environmental Stimulation. At the time, REST was still equated with "sensory deprivation". Textbooks in psychology and psychiatry cited primarily the work of the 1950s and 60s which suggested that reduction of normal levels of stimulation was, in a sense, a form of torture producing severe psychological disturbances and subjugation of the hapless participant to the whims of an experimenter working in the service of a sinister government. In contrast to this perception, other psychologists and psychiatrists held the unsubstantiated belief that apparent REST effects were merely the result of awe inspiring experimental settings and subject expectancies. Suedfeld was not persuaded by either of these unscientific positions. He (Suedfeld, 1980) argued that REST, when stripped of anxiety producing melodrama, was simply a powerful way to positively alter a variety of psychological and behavioral processes. Research continued. More and more data were published and presented. Research scientists and clinicians began to correct misconceptions. The First International Conference on REST was held in 1983 and IRIS, the International REST Investigators Society, was founded that same year. REST has outlived misconstrued perceptions. The beneficial effects of the technique are now recognized in the majority of scientific texts.

• Experimente
• experiment
• experimental psychology
• motivation
• pain
• perception
• psychiatry
• psychological intervention
• psychology
• research
• smoking
• social psychology
• stress
• stress management
• therapy

• Attentional Processes Laboratory, Washington State University, Pullman, USA

  Arreed F. Barabasz, Marianne Barabasz

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