Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
It’s easy to look at some of the research that comes from floating or look at special programs for veterans with PTSD and think about how float tanks should be paired with psychotherapy.
Graham and Ashkahn have met several therapists who use float tanks in conjunction with their sessions, sometimes exclusively. They also know that it’s important to recognize that they are trained professionals who are providing a treatment for difficult to treat psychological issues in some cases. Knowing when to leave the work to the experts is a valuable part of providing a service like this one with so many broad uses.
Show Resources
Justin Feinstein’s Study – Examining the short-term anxiolytic and antidepressant effect of Floatation-REST
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question is: “have you heard of any people using the float tank as a tool for psychotherapy? I am curious about using the tank to work through PTSD. How do you think it could work? I think a float session to open up and then a therapy session to follow.” Boom 21.
Ashkahn: Yeah there are people out there using float tanks with therapy sessions.
Graham: I think that 21 at the end is supposed to be an exclamation point. I think that the way our questions come in it reformatted it.
Ashkahn: Oh I see. Okay. I thought you were just saying that.
Graham: So it’s just a “boom!” is what it ends with at the end.
No I don’t editorialize these.
What were you saying?
Ashkahn: Yeah I was trying to answer the question here.
So there are people out there – there are float centers out there, not many, but there are float centers out there that do therapy sessions with people. And they do them with therapy before float, therapy after float, and sometimes therapy during a float. They have an intercom system set up actually in the float tank and can talk to people through that.
Graham: And I know of at least one therapist whose entire therapy is just the float. They have an intercom in there and they say, “Hey are you ready to start your therapy session?” And the client says yes, and then they turn off the intercom. And then when it’s about time to get out, they’re like, “Okay your session’s done,” and they view that as their therapy.
Ashkahn: And I’ve heard people with this setup being able to bill insurance because they’re billing for a therapy session and the float’s just kinda part of that. So that’s an extra perk.
Graham: Yeah. And we’re neither therapists nor insurance agents.
Ashkahn: But we are people!
Graham: So definitely check this out on your own.
Ashkahn: And I think it should also be noted that it seems like float tanks do benefit people with PTSD. With Justin Feinstein’s new research coming out, at least short term, immediate relief from a variety of anxiety including PTSD. So there’s a lot of positive in here, and I guess all of this in my mind comes with a giant warning, which is if you’re not a therapist, you should probably be careful about entering into this stuff too deeply.
Graham: Right. Yeah, getting someone who’s actually certified and in the case of billing insurance, obviously, someone who’s a clinical psychologist or a psychotherapist is pretty necessary.
Ashkahn: So yeah, I would be nervous myself to just jump in to start doing…to me it feels like doing surgery or something. Yeah, I bet I could just do knee surgery. I’m sure I could figure that out. I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know what I’m saying, and you’re dealing with people who are in a much more fragile state than a normal customer just coming in to enjoy themselves while they’re floating. They might have an adverse reaction to this, it might trigger some sort of very stressful response in them. There is so much that can happen that you might be unprepared for if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Graham: Right. So there’s a little bit of uncertainty in the nature of the question. If the question is “Should I provide unlicensed psychotherapy?” the answer is probably not.
Ashkahn: Are you a therapist or a psychiatrist or a psychologist?
Graham: Are you talking to me or the audience?
Ashkahn: No this is just a general editorial sort of view. If you have a degree, or this is what you’re currently doing, then the float tank does seem to be a good tool to aid with that. They certainly pair well together, and certainly from what we have been hearing from the people who have been doing a little bit of that and the research that has been coming out, it seems to me to say that this is a good idea.
Graham: Also there’s this really interesting phenomenon where a lot of different types of therapies and practices end up seeing a big boost from therapy at the same time. Even something like taking antidepressants, SSRIs, or something like that, in conjunction with psychotherapy winds up showing a much bigger range of benefits. And I think that there is something to that just in general, when you’re going through any practice, if you also have that aid of being able to talk through it and think through it with someone who’s good at steering those conversations and knows when to back out of the way and let you draw your own conclusions, I think that just boosts whatever effect you’re seeing across a lot of different disciplines.
Ashkahn: So I guess if you’re a therapist, this sounds great. If you’re not a therapist, this sounds like a real bad idea to me.
Graham: And I would say this: as far as the before, after, during, we just don’t have the data to back that up. I could see it being useful in all of those cases, having time to think about something after you’ve processed through it. During some recent talks, Justin Feinstein was talking about how, with his anxiety patients, they really opened up in a way that it’s hard to get anxiety patients to open up to a therapist, after their float session. So in that sense, people who are a little more reticent to talk about their feelings or really get into things, I could see therapy being incredibly beneficial actually after a float, as opposed to before as well.
Ashkahn: So yeah, it sounds cool. And you should do it, if you know what you’re doing. That seems to be the summary here.
If you guys have other questions that you want us to answer, you can hop over to floattanksolutions.com/podcast. Send them over our way and we will talk to you tomorrow. Bye, everyone.
Recent Podcast Episodes
How Marketing Strategies Evolve – DSP 230
Graham and Ashkahn wax nostalgic in this episode tracing back the history of Float On to its origins. They were younger, bright eyed and the world felt full of possibility. How they advertised floating was a whole different beast back then, too. Part of it was how different the industry was, part of it was how different awareness in Portland was, and parts of it were just about Float On still being a young business.
The guys share their successes, lessons, and bold faced mistakes they made along the way in learning how to deal with the idea of filling tanks, as well as some of the constants that have remained throughout the years.
Future Proofing Float Tanks – DSP 229
Float Tanks are expensive. Purchasing tanks can easily end up being half of your opening costs when starting out, so it makes sense to want to purchase tanks that have a long lifespan.
Thinking about which float tank manufacturers might last the longest, though, is probably not the way to think about this issue. For one, it’s impossible to tell what manufacturer is going to be around the longest. What’s more, if anything does break, the vast majority of the time you don’t need to go to the manufacturer to get it fixed in the first place.
Ashkahn and Graham share their thoughts on proper float tank care and the steps any float center owner should take when considering a tank.
How to Run Experiments with Floaters – DSP 228
It’s important to acknowledge that float center owners without a scientific background probably shouldn’t be running experiments on floaters willy nilly. It should also be noted that Graham and Ashkahn aren’t scientists, despite being huge fans of self-experimentation.
There has been a lot of talk recently, however, of float centers collaborating with student researchers to help run experiments, though. Graham and Ashkahn discuss (with a fair amount of levity) what it might take to properly run experiments in a float tank, which they understand is no easy task.
What are Good Plants to Have in a Float Center? – DSP 227
Plants give life, both aesthetically and literally, to any room they’re placed in. The environment inside a float center, however, can be the absolute worst place for certain plants, even ones that would normally be considered fine for your local area.
Graham and Ashkahn pull in Jordan to talk about different plants that thrive in a humid float center environment and some tips on how to take care of them.
Getting Salty With Speakers: Roy Vore – DSP 226
With the Float Conference coming up, Graham and Ashkahn are talking with lots of really smart people who will be presenting this year. It’s not every day that they get to ask molecular biologists questions about float tank sanitation, so they decided to take the opportunity to ask the experts the questions that the industry needs answers to.
Today Roy Vore is taking time to share some of his knowledge about microbiology and water sanitation, along with his work in the pool and spa industry.
Latest Blog Posts
Choosing a Water Heater for Your Center
You may not be surprised to hear that a Float Center is a business which has a hefty water requirement. You may, however, be surprised to hear that the majority of the water demand you’ll be facing day-to-day is going to be in the form of showers and (if you’re doing any laundry on-site) a washing machine.
The factors of energy usage and cost over time should also be taken into consideration when deciding upon your water heater…
Float Fund – NSF Magnesium Sulfate Test Results
I’m happy to announce to first results from the Float Fund testing. This experiment, run through the NSF, was to see how salt water, with no other form of disinfection, actually effected harmful organisms. We ran tests with two different microorganisms, and in this post we’ll talk about how one (Pseudomonas) got its ass kicked by salt-water and how the other one (Enterococcus) didn’t seem phased in the slightest.
If you want to skip straight to the test results, you can download them in their entirety. Since they have a lot of fancy laboratory lingo, we’ll spend the rest of this post breaking down the different aspects of the testing.
Float Memberships and Packages
Customers are great, but getting those customers to commit to returning on a regular basis is even better. There are a few different schools of thought in regards to encouraging return customers, but they’ll generally fall into two main categories, Memberships and Packages.
We’re going to provide a little insight into how to utilize each of them at your center.
Marketing is all About Relationships
Marketing is one of those words that has a lot of different meanings from one person to the next. Personally, I’ve studied marketing in one way or another for the past 20 years. I suppose you can say I’m a marketing nerd (I’ll wear that badge proudly). I even annually budget myself a different marketing conference to go to… for fun.
