Guided imagery

Guided Imagery is a technique used by many natural or alternative medicine practitioners as well as some physicians and psychologists for aiding clients and patients to use mental imagery to help with anything from healing their bodies with Cancer guided imagery to solving problems or reducing stress.

Guided Imagery is not limited to physical problems or health issues and is commonly used for emotional healing or psychological issues. Guided Imagery is sometimes considered a form of hypnotherapy. Simple imagery suggestions are given to a client by a trained practitioner typically in a one-on-one fashion, however, it is sometimes done in group sessions. The offering of a series of image suggestions depends upon the needs of the individual. The image suggestions given to a client often involve effective breathing and relaxing techniques at the start of the session, and then progresses further through the main course of the patient's problem by providing a direction toward the solution.

Medical uses

Guided imagery is often used to treat pain and anxiety, and there is evidence that it can reduce side effects of chemotherapy. Some studies have also investigated its effectiveness in treating cancer pain, with mixed results.[1] The evidence does not support claims that guided imagery can influence the progress of cancer.[2]

A 2011 systematic review of the literature found that there were not enough rigorous trials of guided imagery to assess its effectiveness for musculoskeletal pain.[3] Another 2011 review found that, due to methodological limitations in guided imagery trials, it could not be recommended for the treatment of fibromyalgia.[4] A 2012 systematic review found supportive evidence of effectiveness in the treatment of non-musculoskeletal pain, but noted that many of the included trials were of low quality.[5]

Guided affective imagery

Guided affective imagery (GAI; also known as katathym imaginative psychotherapy) is a method of psychotherapy. It is a therapeutic technique in which a facilitator uses descriptive language intended to psychologically benefit mental imagery, often involving several or all senses, in the mind of the listener. In this method, the imagination plays an important role together with discussions with the client. It was developed by German psychiatrist Hanscarl Leuner, based on his research in guided mental imagery, "catathymic influences" (the interaction of mental contents and emotional processes), dreams and daydreams.

Guided Imagery and Music

Helen Lindquist Bonny (1921 – May 25, 2010) was a music therapist who developed "Guided Imagery and Music" often referred to as "GIM". Music therapist Kenneth Bruscia uses the following definition to describe Guided Imagery and Music:

"(GIM) refers to all forms of music-imaging in an expanded state of consciousness, including not only the specific individual and group forms that Bonny developed, but also all variations and modifications in those forms created by her followers."

Helen Bonny studied with E. Thayer Gaston at the University of Kansas in the early 1960s, where she received her bachelor's degree in music education, with a major in music therapy. She continued on to receive a master's degree in music education with an emphasis in research.[6] After completing her PhD in the late 1960s, she began researching the effects of music on imagination, and in 1973 authored a book, co-written with Louis Savary, entitled "Music and Your Mind: Listening with a New Consciousness"[7]

Although Guided Imagery and Music draws from various schools of psychology, Helen Bonny has cited as its main influences the humanistic and the transpersonal psychology of Carl Rogers, and Abraham Maslow. Bonny was also profoundly influenced by the work of Carl Jung.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ King, K. (15 November 2010). "A Review of the Effects of Guided Imagery on Cancer Patients with Pain". Complementary Health Practice Review 15 (2): 98–107. doi:10.1177/1533210110388113.
  2. ↑ "Imagery". American Cancer Society. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  3. ↑ Posadzki, P; Ernst, E (September 2011). "Guided imagery for musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review.". The Clinical journal of pain 27 (7): 648–53. doi:10.1097/AJP.0b013e31821124a5. PMID 21430523.
  4. ↑ Bernardy, K; Füber, N; Klose, P; Häuser, W (15 June 2011). "Efficacy of hypnosis/guided imagery in fibromyalgia syndrome--a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled trials.". BMC musculoskeletal disorders 12: 133. doi:10.1186/1471-2474-12-133. PMID 21676255.
  5. ↑ Posadzki, P; Lewandowski, W; Terry, R; Ernst, E; Stearns, A (July 2012). "Guided imagery for non-musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials.". Journal of pain and symptom management 44 (1): 95–104. doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2011.07.014. PMID 22672919.
  6. ↑ Music Consciousness: The Evolution of Guided Imagery and Music, by Helen Bonny, ed. by Lisa Summer (2002), p. 7
  7. ↑ "Pickett, E. A History of the Literature of Guided Imagery of Music. From Guided Imagery and Music ed. by Bruscia, K. & Grocke, D. (2002). pp. xv-xvi
  8. ↑ Music Consciousness: The Evolution of Guided Imagery (2002), p. 12

External links