ABSTRACT
The first chapter of this book provided a definition of imagery, discussed why imagery is important in psychopathology, and proposed that there are important links between imagery and self-representations. The second chapter described theories of the self and illustrated some of the ways in which images can represent the self in psychological disorders. This chapter focuses specifically on how imagery is currently used in cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). I am using the term CBT in its widest possible sense to cover the family of therapies that have been developed over the past 30 years. The importance of imagery has been recognised in cognitive therapy from the start, but early conceptualisations saw images as functional equivalents of thoughts (e.g. Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979) that could be tackled using the same cognitive therapy techniques, such as thought challenging. In the early days of cognitive therapy, there was no attempt to focus on the unique qualities of images or to develop specific interventions for them.
