ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a particular application that is closely aligned to the method’s psychotherapeutic roots, that is, imagery representing the creative capabilities of the self. It considers how mental imagery can be used to foster creative development and provide insights into difficulties experienced in creative processes. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is presented as a helpful generic framework for viewing creativity from a developmental perspective. The author argues that this theory can support the notion of an ‘inner artist’ that can then be represented as an image. Drawing on conceptual metaphor theory, a case is made for the selection of plant imagery as the most suitable symbolisation of the creative self. Detailed instructions and guidance are given for an imagery procedure to represent the ‘inner artist’ as a plant. The chapter deals in detail with a range of common issues that might arise in this work, all of which are copiously illustrated with case vignettes. The discussion includes the process of imagery interpretation and the type of insights it can deliver into the person’s creative development. Attention is paid throughout to the use of the Interactive Communicative model of mental imagery as a helpful framework for thinking about the various functions of mental imagery in the process. For example the processing function of imagery may come to the fore as the person experiences the rising up of personal material implicated in their creative self-expression. Along with examples of the receptive functions of imagery in action, diagnostic and processing, there are also illustrations of making directive rescripting interventions. A longer case vignette is given at the end that provides an illustration of the usefulness of the monitoring function over time. This vignette shows how the different imagery functions operate over a period of time within a dialogic process.
