ABSTRACT
Imagery work has for long been forgotten by empirically supported therapies, being considered ancillary to work on cognition. However, in recent years many therapy models have been concentrating their actions on returning with the mind to core scenes and traumatic memories, visualising liveable future scenarios and getting patients to live them, pass through them and exit them while taking new directions. In a protected situation patients are asked to recall a traumatic memory, often several times, sometimes with the aim of extinguishing alert reactions, others to change the story. Many clinicians fear getting patients to relive memories in imagery. Done with the necessary caution, guided imagery is invaluable and its benefits greatly outweigh the risks. A therapist’s fears are about harming the patient or losing control of the session. In reality the biggest problem is the emotional involvement of therapists themselves. Passing from conversing to living often dramatic experiences triggers emotions and memories in therapists similar to the patients’.
