Using Imagery to Tap into the Emotional Part of the Mind

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Do you feel stuck in your present circumstances? Even though somewhere in the back of your mind you know that the situation is time-limited, you might find yourself thinking, “This will never get better." It just doesn’t feel like things will ever change. Maybe you have a seemingly unending project to complete. Or maybe it feels like your young child will never sleep through the night. Or maybe you need to live with an overbearing roommate until you can save up enough money to move. When you feel like your struggles are unending, you may experience frustration, hopelessness, anxiety, or despair.

In cognitive behavioral therapy, therapists use a process called Socratic questioning to help clients examine distressing or unhelpful thoughts and determine whether they are 100 percent true, 100 percent false, or somewhere in between. During the process of Socratic questioning, the therapist may start by asking, “Do you have any evidence that this thought is true?” Then they might ask, “Do you have any evidence that this thought isn’t true or isn't completely true?" Maybe after looking at the evidence for and against the thought, the client might be able to come up with a new, more accurate, or more helpful thought to replace the upsetting thought. Once people are able to think about the situations in their lives more accurately, they are usually better equipped to problem-solve. For example, the client who had the thought, “I’ll never finish this project,” may eventually come to think, “This project is really time-consuming. It will probably take me a few weeks, but eventually I’ll finish. I’ll break it down into smaller steps and check off each one as I go, so I can see that I’m making progress.”

But sometimes Socratic questioning isn’t enough to change how someone is feeling on an emotional level. The new parent whose baby wakes up many times each night may intellectually understand that almost all children eventually sleep through the night. But when it’s 3:00 AM, and they’re desperate for sleep, it certainly doesn’t feel that way. For this client, imagery may help them not only think, but also feel that their situation will eventually get better. When clients have both an intellectual and an emotional understanding that their negative thoughts are inaccurate, they tend to feel better.

Imagery May Help
I recently had a session with a client who had been hospitalized for a month. He was despondent about the prospect of an additional month in the hospital. I asked him to imagine that it was a month later and he had returned home the previous day. When he awoke the next morning and opened his eyes, what or whom did he see? How was he feeling? What was he thinking? What did he do next? What was good about that? What was he feeling? What did he do next? Was there anything good about that?

My client especially enjoyed the part of the image where he used his senses to imagine seeing, smelling, and tasting his favorite kind of coffee and his favorite meals. We continued the image until he got back into bed at night and closed his eyes. Throughout the exercise, he expressed how happy and grateful he was feeling that he was home, that his wife was there with him for the whole day, that he had peace and quiet, that he was feeling physically better, and that he had control over what he was doing and what was happening.

You can use this imagery exercise on your own if you’re feeling stuck, and need a little help convincing the emotional part of your mind that your situation will one day be better. Choose a day in the future, when things are likely to have improved. The new parent might imagine waking up one morning when their child is a few months older and is now sleeping through the night. The person with the overbearing roommate might imagine waking up after their first night in a new apartment.

Here are some questions to get you started:

1. How are you feeling when you wake up?
2. What or whom do you see? Hear?
3. What are you thinking?
4. What do you do next? After that? And after that?

Add as many details as you can, and try to engage your senses. If you imagine that you’re eating a meal, think about how it smells and tastes. Continuously reflect on the experience by asking yourself how you’re feeling and what’s good about each element of your image. The image should be realistically positive. In other words, things should be better than they are now, but still likely to happen. You don’t need to imagine that you’ve won the lottery, found your soulmate, and moved to a tropical island to get a positive feeling from this exercise.

To keep the feeling going, review your image at least once a day, in as much detail as you can, so that whenever you feel stuck, you can remember that better times are coming. If you can, tell your image to a friend or family member. It’s a good way to connect and you can ask them if they can think of any other positive activities to add to the image. They will probably feel good that they were able to help you.

Imagining the future in a positive way, in detail, and using the senses can really improve people’s moods when they are currently in an unfortunate situation that at some point will end. Reviewing the image regularly, and reflecting on it helps fortify their new perspective.