guided imagery guided imagery guided imagery (also known as guided affective imagery, or katathym-imaginative psychotherapy) is a mind-body intervention by which a trained practitioner or teacher helps a participant or patient to evoke and generate mental images that simulate or recreate the sensory perception of sights, sounds, tastes, smells, movements, and images associated with touch, such as texture, temperature, and pressure, as well as imaginative or mental content that the participant or patient experiences as defying conventional sensory categories, and that may precipitate strong emotions or feelings in the absence of the stimuli to which correlating sensory receptors are receptive. the practitioner or teacher may facilitate this process in person to an individual or a group or you may do it with a virtual group. alternatively, the participant or patient may follow guidance provided by a sound recording, video, or audiovisual media comprising spoken instruction that may be accompanied by music or sound. mental imagery in everyday life there are two fundamental ways by which mental imagery is generated: voluntary and involuntary. the involuntary and spontaneous generation of mental images is integral to ordinary sensory perception, and cognition, and occurs without volitional intent. meanwhile, many different aspects of everyday problem solving, scientific reasoning, and creative activity involve the volitional and deliberate generation of mental images. involuntary the generation of involuntary mental imagery is created directly from present sensory stimulation and perceptual information, such as when someone sees an object, creates mental images of it, and maintains this imagery as they look away or close their eyes; or when someone hears a noise and maintains an auditory image of it, after the sound ceases or is no longer perceptible. voluntary voluntary mental imagery may resemble previous sensory perception and experience, recalled from memory; or the images may be entirely novel and the product of fantasy. technique the term guided imagery denotes the technique used in the second (voluntary) instance, by which images are recalled from long-term or short-term memory, or created from fantasy, or a combination of both, in response to guidance, instruction, or supervision. guided imagery is, therefore, the assisted simulation or re-creation of perceptual experience across sensory modalities. clinical investigation and scientific research mental imagery can result from both voluntary and involuntary processes, and it comprises simulation or recreation of perceptual experience across all sensory modalities, including olfactory imagery, gustatory imagery, haptic imagery, and motor imagery. nonetheless, visual and auditory mental images are reported as being the most frequently experienced by people ordinarily as well as in controlled experiments, with visual imagery remaining the most extensively researched and documented in scientific literature. in experimental and cognitive psychology, researchers have concentrated primarily on voluntary and deliberately generated imagery, which the participant or patient creates, inspects, and transforms, such as by evoking imagery of an intimidating social event, and transforming the images into those indicative of a pleasant and self-affirming experience. in psychopathology, clinicians have typically focused on involuntary imagery which "comes to mind" unbidden, such as in a depressed person's experience of intrusive unwelcome negative images indicative of sadness, hopelessness, and morbidity; or images that recapitulate previous distressing events that characterize posttraumatic stress disorder. in clinical practice and psychopathology, involuntary mental images are considered intrusive when they occur unwanted and unbidden, "hijacking attention" to some extent. the maintenance of, or "holding in mind" imagery, whether voluntary or involuntary, places considerable demands upon cognitive attentional resources, including working memory, redirecting them away from a specific cognitive task or general-purpose concentration and toward the imagery. in clinical practice, this process can be positively exploited therapeutically by training the participant or patient to focus attention on a significantly demanding task, which successfully competes for and directs attention away from the unbidden intrusive imagery, decreasing its intensity, vividness, and duration, and consequently alleviating distress or pain. mental imagery and ill health mental imagery, especially visual and auditory imagery, can exacerbate and aggravate a number of mental and physical conditions. this is because, according to the principles of psychophysiology and psychoneuroimmunology, the way an individual perceives his or her mental and physical condition in turn affects biological processes, including susceptibility to illness, infection, or disease; and that perception is derived significantly from mental imagery. that is to say that in some cases, the severity of an individual's mental and physical disability, disorder, or illness is partially determined by his or her images, including their content, vividness or intensity, clarity, and frequency with which they are experienced as intrusive and unbidden. an individual can aggravate the symptoms and intensify the pain or distress precipitated by many conditions through generating, often involuntarily, mental imagery that emphasizes its severity. for example, mental imagery has been shown to play a key role in contributing to, exacerbating, or intensifying the experience and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), compulsive cravings, eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, spastic hemiplegia, incapacitation following a stroke or cerebrovascular accident, restricted cognitive function and motor control due to multiple sclerosis, social anxiety or phobia, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and depression. example conditions aggravated by mental imagery the aforementioned challenges and difficulties are some of those for which there is evidence to show that an individual can aggravate the symptoms and intensify the pain or distress precipitated by the condition through generating mental imagery that emphasizes its severity. the following elaborates the way in which such mental imagery contributes to or aggravates four specific conditions: posttraumatic stress disorder social anxiety depression bipolar disorder posttraumatic stress disorder posttraumatic stress disorder often proceeds from experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event involving death, serious injury, or significant threat to others or oneself; and disturbing intrusive images, often described by the patient as 'flashbacks', are a common symptom of this condition across demographics of age, gender, and the nature of the precipitating traumatic event. this unbidden mental imagery is often highly vivid, and provokes memories of the original trauma, accompanied by heightened emotions or feelings and the subjective experience of danger and threat to safety in the present "here and now". social anxiety individuals with social anxiety have a higher than normal tendency to fear situations that involve public attention, such as speaking to an audience or being interviewed, meeting people with whom they are unfamiliar, and attending events of an unpredictable nature. as with posttraumatic stress disorder, vivid mental imagery is a common experience for those with social anxiety, and often comprises images that revive and replay a previously experienced stressful, intimidating or harrowing event that precipitated negative feelings, such as embarrassment, shame, or awkwardness. thereby, mental imagery contributes to the maintenance and persistence of social anxiety, as it does with posttraumatic stress disorder. in particular, the mental imagery commonly described by those suffering from social anxiety often comprises what cognitive psychologists describe as an "observer perspective". this consists of an image of themselves, as though from an observing person's perspective, in which those suffering from social anxiety perceive themselves negatively, as if from that observing person's point of view. such imagery is also common among those suffering from other types of anxiety, who often have depleted ability to generate neutral, positive, or pleasant imagery. depression the capacity to evoke pleasant and positively affirming imagery, either voluntarily or involuntarily, may be a critical requisite for precipitating and sustaining positive moods or feelings and optimism; and this ability is often impaired in those suffering from depression. depression consists of emotional distress and cognitive impairment that may include feelings of hopelessness, pervasive sadness, pessimism, lack of motivation, social withdrawal, difficulty in concentrating on mental or physical tasks, and disrupted sleep. whilst depression is frequently associated with negative rumination of verbal thought patterns manifested as unspoken inner speech, ninety percent of depressed patients reporting distressing intrusive mental imagery that often simulates and recollect previous negative experiences, and which the depressed person often interprets in a way that intensifies feelings of despair and hopelessness. in addition, people suffering from depression have difficulty in evoking prospective imagery indicative of a positive future. the prospective mental imagery experienced by depressed persons when at their most despairing commonly includes vivid and graphic images related to suicide, which some psychologists and psychiatrists refer to as "flash-forwards". bipolar disorder bipolar disorder is characterized by manic episodes interspersed with periods of depression; 90% of patients experience comorbid anxiety disorder at some stage; and there is a significant prevalence of suicide amongst sufferers. prospective mental imagery indicative of hyperactivity or mania and hopelessness contributes to the manic and depressive episodes respectively in bipolar disorder. principles the therapeutic use of guided imagery, as part of a multimodal treatment plan incorporating other suitable methods, such as guided meditation, receptive music therapy, and relaxation techniques, as well as physical medicine and rehabilitation, and psychotherapy, aims to educate the patient in altering their mental imagery, replacing images that compound pain, recollect and reconstruct distressing events, intensify feelings of hopelessness, or reaffirm debilitation, with those that emphasize physical comfort, functional capacity, mental equanimity, and optimism. whether the guided imagery is provided in person by a facilitator, or delivered via media, the verbal instruction consists of words, often pre-scripted, intended to direct the participant's attention to imagined visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory or olfactory sensations that precipitate a positive psychologic and physiologic response that incorporates increased mental and physical relaxation and decreased mental and physical stress. guided imagery is one of the means by which therapists, teachers, or practitioners seek to achieve this outcome, and involves encouraging patients or participants to imagine alternative perspectives, thoughts, and behaviors, mentally rehearsing strategies that they may subsequently actualize, thereby developing increased coping skills and ability. stages according to the computational theory of imagery, which is derived from experimental psychology, guided imagery comprises four phases: image generation image maintenance image inspection image transformation image generation image generation involves generating mental imagery, either directly from sensory data and perceptual experience, or from memory, or from fantasy. image maintenance image maintenance involves the volitional sustaining or maintaining of imagery, without which, a mental image is subject to rapid decay with an average duration of only 250 ms. this is because volitionally created mental images usually fade rapidly once generated in order to avoid disrupting or confusing the process of ordinary sensory perception. the natural brief duration of mental imagery means that the active maintenance stage of guided imagery, which is necessary for the subsequent stages of inspection and transformation, requires cognitive concentration of attention by the participant. this concentrative attentional ability can be improved with the practice of mental exercises, including those derived from guided meditation and supervised meditative praxis. even with such practice, some people can struggle to maintain a mental image "clearly in mind" for more than a few seconds; not only for imagery created through fantasy but also for mental images generated from both long-term memory and short-term memory. in addition, while the majority of the research literature has tended to focus on the maintenance of visual mental images, imagery in other sensory modalities also necessitates a volitional maintenance process in order for further inspection or transformation to be possible. the requisite for practice in sustaining attentional control, such that attention remains focused on maintaining generated imagery, is one of the reasons that guided meditation, which supports such concentration, is often integrated into the provision of guided imagery as part of the intervention. guided meditation assists participants in extending the duration for which generated mental images are maintained, providing time to inspect the imagery, and proceed to the final transformation stage of guided imagery. image inspection once generated and maintained, a mental image can be inspected to provide the basis for interpretation, and transformation. for visual imagery, inspection often involves a scanning process, by which the participant directs attention across and around an image, simulating shifts in perceptual perspective. inspection processes can be applied both to imagery created spontaneously, and to imagery generated in response to scripted or impromptu verbal descriptions provided by the facilitator. image transformation finally, with the assistance of verbal instruction from the guided imagery practitioner or teacher, the participant transforms, modifies, or alters the content of generated mental imagery, in such a way as to substitute images that provoke negative feelings, are indicative of suffering, or that reaffirm disability or debilitation for those that elicit positive emotion, and