It's All In Your Head: How Aligning The Intention Of The Mind With The Body Can Impact Healing

By Amy Paturel

When 49-year-old Nancy Thompson was driving her daughter to a soccer match in May 2005, she felt a weird sensation in her neck and shoulders. Not wanting to interrupt the game, she shook it off. Several weeks later after relaying the incident to her doctor during a routine check-up, she underwent an MRI. The shocking news: she had suffered two strokes. “The neurologist was very frank,” said Thompson. “If I had another stroke, I could die. That’s when the panic attacks started.” Knowing she couldn’t just wait for the next event, Thompson researched alternatives. Then she remembered that an acquaintance from high school was a guided imagery therapist.

Thompson wanted to be an active participant in any alternative options. “Unlike hypnotherapy, which requires lying on a table and listening to a therapist, guided imagery involves the patient in the process,” says Donna Fremon-Powell, certified guided imagery therapist and certified hypnotherapist in La Habra, CA. So instead of telling Thompson what to see, Fremon-Powell asked her to notice any images that came to mind.

“Imagery is the language of the unconscious mind–it actually produces physiological changes in the body,” says Tracy Gaudet, M.D., director of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine and author of Consciously Female–How to Listen to Your Body and Your Soul for a Lifetime of Healthier Living. During guided imagery, an audio recording or trained therapist prompts the listener to mentally rehearse a desired outcome. A cancer patient, for example, might visualize chemotherapy eating away her cancerous cells while leaving healthy cells untouched. Guided imagery can also be interactive, where therapists guide patients into an alpha state–completely relaxed, but still alert and in control–so they can interact with any images that arise.

Nancy did both. After months of interactive guided imagery, which she supplemented by listening to a relaxing CD twice a day, she was able to change the negative patterns that were contributing to her condition. Nancy’s panic attacks are infrequent now, but when she has an episode, she knows how to control it rather than allowing it to dominate her.

“Whenever I got tense, I would think of releasing and relaxing,” she says. “My therapist trained me to use blue as a cue to relax. So when I was out, I would look at the sky. When I was home, I would close my eyes and visualize blue. In that way, I was able to transport myself into a healing state. Just thinking about the color blue soothed me.”

According to David Bresler, Ph.D., director of the Academy of Guided Imagery, it’s not just giving patients better images to imagine. “It’s connecting them with inner information that’s vital to healing,” he says. In fact, since imagery affects all of the systems in the body, including respiration, heart rate, blood pressure and immune response, one of Gaudet’s goals is to make guided imagery a routine part of medical care.

Here’s a guide to just some of the conditions for which guided imagery has been shown to be effective.

Pre-surgical. Studies show that relaxation with guided imagery before and during surgery can shorten procedures, diminish post-surgical pain and reduce the need for medication. Blue Shield conducted a study among 905 members scheduled for a hysterectomy and found that those who listened to a $13 guided imagery CD realized a cost savings of $2,003.09–mostly due to their reduced need for pain medications. Both Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield currently offer all patients scheduled for surgery a guided imagery CD free of charge. The CDs prompt listeners to undergo the surgery in their mind, imagining a specific desired outcome. “It’s my opinion that if you don’t give people imagery-based techniques to prepare them for surgery, it should be malpractice,” claims Bresler.

Cancer and Ensuing Side Effects. In one South Korean study, researchers administered questionnaires to 60 breast cancer patients asking about their experiences with nausea and vomiting as well as assessing quality of life. The 30 patients who received guided imagery and muscle relaxation training were significantly less anxious, depressed and angry than those who did not receive these adjunctive therapies. What’s more, the guided imagery group experienced less nausea and vomiting, and improved quality of life–even six months after treatment.

Heart disease and precursors to heart disease such as stress and hypertension. A pilot study conducted at Columbia University found that cardiac surgery patients who received complementary therapies, including guided imagery, experienced greater improvement in both physical and psychological functioning at both six weeks and six months after surgery. “Disease states are just a physical expression of how we live our lives–what we repetitively think, do and feel,” says Fremon-Powell. “Heart disease often develops from long-standing stress, which ultimately ‘hardens the heart.’ Guided imagery induces a relaxed state in which the body and mind can work together to kick start our natural healing abilities.”

Arthritis. As the most common chronic illness in the United States and the leading cause of disability, arthritis affects more than 70,000 Americans. Now, a new study conducted at Purdue University School of Nursing found that among 28 women with osteoarthritis, those who listened to a 10- to 15-minute guided imagery CD twice a day experienced significantly less pain and mobility difficulties after 12 weeks than the women who went without guided imagery.

Anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress. Duke researchers found that 15 female veterans with PTSD related to military sexual trauma experienced a reduction in symptoms after 12 weeks listening to self-administered guided imagery CDs (they also received two 50-minute sessions and weekly 10-minute ‘coaching calls’ during the 12-week period). In fact, the modality had the same beneficial effect on symptoms as traditional cognitive behavioral programs with professional therapists. [5, Why does it work? “Going into an alpha state (between awake and asleep) opens the door to the mind’s control room where you can easily implant a positive thought or change a setting for everything from your health to your self worth,” claims Fremon-Powell.

Amy Paturel, M.S., M.P.H., is a freelance writer based in Seal Beach, CA.

Find A Practitioner Near You

Both the Academy of Guided Imagery at 800-726-2070 or www.academyforguidedimagery.com and Integrative Imagery at www.integrativeimagery.com provide lists of certified guided imagery therapists.