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I have been using imagery and imagination in therapy with my clients for many years (see my article: Using the Imagination as a Powerful Tool For Change).
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| Imagery and Imagination in Psychotherapy |
The Imaginal Realm: Working With Visual Mental Imagery
I recently attended an advanced AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) seminar called "Imaginal Realm: Working With Visual Mental Imagery in AEDP" which was a deep dive into using imagery and imagination (see my article: What is AEDP?).
When I refer to "imagery", I'm not only referring to visual imagery. Aside from visual imagery, many people get non-visual imagery in sessions.
For instance, some clients get mental representations through sound (hearing music in their mind), scents that can trigger old memories, kinesthetic experiences (feeling movement), tactile experiences, and an embodied or felt sense of conceptual/verbal imagery such as thinking of concepts or having an internal dialog.
During therapy sessions, I sometimes get visual images in my imagination or a song comes to mind. Over the years, I have learned to appreciate these experiences as messages from my unconscious mind because they often tell me what is going on for the client or what is going on between the client and me.
It's not unusual for me to have an image, song or a word in mind and then a few seconds later the client mentions the same image, song or word (see my articles: Synchronicities - Part 1 and Part 2).
Over time, I have learned that these experiences occur when I feel especially attuned to the client. Other therapists, especially therapists who are experiential therapists like me, have told me that they have similar experiences in therapy (see my article: The Psychotherapy Session: A Unique Intersubjective Experience).
The Use of Metaphors in Psychotherapy
Over the years, I have heard clients use many metaphors unprompted by me, including:
- "It's like searching for the Holy Grail."
- "I'm no longer jumping into the vortex of other people's drama."
- "I feel like I'm trapped in a cage."
- "I'm no longer putting up walls."
- "I walked on eggshells with my ex."
- "I'm drowning in paperwork."
- "I keep hitting my head against a wall."
- "He swept me off my feet."
- "A weight has been lifted off my shoulders."
- Enhance clients' communication by allowing them to express feelings they might otherwise have a hard time articulating
- Deepen insights that can lead to a reframing of a problem, a relationship or an idea
- Bypass rational defenses offering a way to talk about sensitive subjects and break rigid and unhealthy thought patterns
- Strengthen the therapeutic alliance between client and therapist
How Imagery and Imagination Enhance Psychotherapy
Imagery and imagination can enhance therapy by engaging the emotional brain. This allows clients to access and process unconscious emotions.
It also helps clients to make behavioral changes through mental rehearsal.
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| Imagery and Imagination in Psychotherapy |
An example of how to use mental rehearsal is a client who wants to become more confident to give presentations at work. This client can vividly imagine their "Future Self", who can exist at any time in the future. They can imagine a self who has all the confidence, qualities and skills they would like to have (see my article: Experiencing Your Future Self).
Using imagination in this way can strengthen neural pathways and prepare the brain for success.
Clients can also see and feel themselves walking into the presentation room feeling prepared and confident, speaking with passion and receiving applause after the presentation. They might even imagine their boss coming over and praising the presentation.
AEDP Portrayals
One of the main components in AEDP is doing "portrayals" in therapy sessions.
AEDP portrayals are active experiential and imaginative enactments in the therapy session.
To set up doing a portrayal an AEDP therapist prepares the client prior to doing the portrayal by:
- Establishing Safety and a Therapeutic Alliance: The therapist establishes an attuned connection with the client to ensure the client feels safe and to prevent them from feeling overwhelmed.
- Identifying the Core Material: In collaboration with the client, the therapist identifies a memory or a part of the client's self that still has an emotional charge.
- Inviting Immersion (The Setup): The therapist invites the client to slow down, close their eyes and visualize the scene using as many sensory details as possible (sight, sound, body sensations and so on).
- Role Playing (Doing the Portrayal): The therapist guides the client to talk to the imagined person or part of themself by expressing vulnerable or assertive feelings they couldn't express in the past. This might involve imagining talking to a frightened younger part of themself, talking to a parent in a memory from the past, confronting someone who abused them and so on.
There are different types of AEDP portrayals including:
- Reparative Portrayals: An example might be a client imagining a new outcome to a painful scene in their life. In this type of portrayal the client can offer themself what might have been needed and lacking in real life to repair emotional damage.
- Internal Parts Work (intra-relational portrayals): Having a dialog with different aspects of themself to resolve internal conflict (similar to Parts Work Therapy/IFS).
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| Imagery and Imagination: Internal Parts of Self |
- Relational Attachment Portrayals: Reenacting relationships to process emotions to attachment figures (e.g., parents, siblings, a ex-lover, etc).
- Feared Portrayals: Actively engaging with a threatening figure from real life or from a dream to process the emotional impact, reduce shame and anxiety, and to feel empowered.
- Longed-For Portrayals: The client imagines receiving the love, emotional support or validation they desired but never received from a significant person in their life.
- Moment-to-Moment Tracking: Moment-to-moment tracking is an essential part of AEDP whether the interaction involves a portrayal or a conversation between the client and the therapist in session. This involves the therapist staying closely attuned to the client's facial expressions, movements, emotions and defenses. The therapist also monitors her own mental, emotional, imaginal and bodily sensations.
- Metaprocessing After a Portrayal: The client and therapist process the experience together afterward to help the client to integrate the experience by building a bridge between the client's right brain and left brain. Among other things, the therapist explores with the client what it was like to do the portrayal and, specifically, what it was like for the client to do the portrayal with the therapist. The focus is on what might have changed for the client or what was transformative about the experience. Processing helps the client to hold onto and integrate positive experiences (see my article: How Are Emotions Processed in AEDP?).
Using Imagery and Imagination on Your Own
Aside from the use of imagery and imagination in therapy, athletes also use mental rehearsal, including visualization, to imagine a successful performance, including overcoming potential obstacles they might encounter. This can help them to build confidence, improve focus and enhance performance.
You can also use your imagination in creative ways on your own to have fun and, if you like, achieve goals. There are endless ways to use your imagination on your own including:
- Using Creative Visualization For a Hoped-For Outcome: This can involve imagining a hoped-for outcome in your personal life, career or in any other part of your life.
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| Imagery and Imagination: Hoped-For Outcome |
- Imagining "What If" Problem Solving: When you encounter an obstacle, including an internal obstacle, you can imagine "What if there were no limits?" and visualize different solutions, including solutions that might seem unattainable at first but might spark a new perspective.
- Using the "Lightstream" Technique: If you're dealing with stress, you can imagine a soothing, healing light flowing through your body to alleviate stress or physical discomfort.
Future Articles
Using imagery and imagination is one of my favorite topics, so I'll write more about it in future articles.
About Me
I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy), Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.
I have over 25 years of experience helping individual adults and couples.
To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.
To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.
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