S is for . . .

Image courtesy: Gioia De Antoniis

Sensory deprivation.

These words can be linked to an isolation bath where people float nude in salt water to relieve stress and pain. Hmmm. Anyone remember the movie Altered States starring William Hurt? Somehow I'd rather stay home and sprinkle bath salts in my own tub. Not that that will ever happen. Two kids, two cats--need I say more?

Sensory deprivation can also be a form of torture (beyond paying big bucks to bob about naked in salt water). White torture involves putting the prisoner in all white clothes in a white cell with no windows. Meals are white rice on white paper plates. The prisoner must not speak and the guards even wear special shoes that make no sound. Creepy, very creepy.

Sensory deprivation--an upscale stress therapy and one of the most devasting forms of torture. How strange is that?