ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the relationship of self-care and professional care, reviews the range of uses of imagery in health care, discusses some models that may help explain the usefulness of imagery in the area, and presents the rationale and format of our learning program. It shows that the human imagination, perhaps the most subjective of all our therapeutic tools, is potentially one of the most useful in teaching people how to take better care of themselves. The chapter also discusses imagery has a valuable role to play in health care even if it were unaccompanied by physiologic change. In addition, the cultural view of health and illness implicitly communicated through our predominantly biomedical approach is a factor which encourages somatization and medical presentation of psychosocial complaints. Once people can relax with some confidence and imagine themselves in a quiet place, they are encouraged to invite into their awareness an image which represents the qualities of great wisdom and caring.
