ABSTRACT
Informal guided imagery, without induction and with the eyes open, is also useful. Patients are asked to describe a scene as if it was happening at that moment, again with the constraint of using the present tense and not reasoning about it. The therapist then draws their attention to their protective behaviour antecedents or, in the case of anger, to the cognitive/affective/somatic state experienced an instant before getting angry. To better understand what patients think and feel one can start with brief meditations. Body-scanning is precious for this purpose. Patients mindfully observe their body segments and the clinician asks them to take note of the types of thought and emotion surfacing. At this point in therapy patients have reported multiple detailed narrative episodes, the elements of inner experience have emerged, including an initial access to healthy parts and more benign self- and other-representations.
