In two 2018 articles, Dr. Feinstein showed how promising floating can be as a treatment for reducing anxiety. In a randomized study, participants across the board showed a decrease in anxiety and stress and an increase in relaxation and serenity. You can watch Dr. Feinstein report on the results of the studies at the 2019 Float Conference, or read the articles themselves in Biological Psychiatry and PLOSone.

More recently, Dr. Sahib Khalsa, who now leads the float lab at LIBR, started delving into how floating can help those with anorexia nervosa and bulimia. After running a successful safety study (to make sure participants wouldn’t have any adverse effects from the tanks – which they did not) the roadwork was set for a clinical study. The clinical trial was a success: there appeared to be a reduction in anxiety as well in body-image dissatisfaction, meaning they had a more positive perception of their body image. Read the full research article here, and listen to Dr. Khalsa present on the results during the 2021 Float Conference.

The success of this initial trial allowed for a follow up, full-scale randomized efficacy study. By taking a group with severe anorexia nervosa, a direct comparison was done with floating versus the usual personalized treatment plan done as a treatment at LIBR. The two treatments were compared over the course of 8 sessions, and through multiple follow-ups over the course of a year afterwards.

While we’ll have to wait a little bit for the results of the long-term follow-up to be published, we did get a preview of the results at the 2022 Float Conference this August. The initial results show that the float group saw a greater reduction in both body image dissatisfaction and in anxiety. The effect of change was small in body image dissatisfaction, but still significant with a 4.9% reduction in the float group, while the anxiety effect was large with nearly a 20% reduction in anxiety in the float group, compared to only a 0.2% reduction in the usual care group.