Imagery (Psychotherapy)

Positive affect and optimism play an important role in healthy ageing and are associated with improved physical and cognitive health outcomes. This study investigated whether it is possible to boost positive affect and associated positive biases in this age group using cognitive training. The effect of computerised imagery-based cognitive bias modification on positive affect, vividness of positive prospective imagery and interpretation biases in older adults was measured. 77 older adults received 4 weeks (12 sessions) of imagery cognitive bias modification or a control condition.

The healing process of the Best Self Visualization Method (BSM) is described within the framework of meditation, neuroscience, and psychodynamic theory. Cases are drawn from the treatment of high-risk youth, who have histories of poverty, survival of sexual and physical abuse, and/or current risk for perpetrating abuse. Clinical use of BSM is demonstrated in two case illustrations, one of group psychotherapy and another of individual therapy.

Transpersonal theory proposes that there are developmental stages beyond the adult ego, which involve experiences of connectedness with phenomena considered outside the boundaries of the ego. In healthy individuals, these developmental stages can engender the highest human qualities, including altruism, creativity, and intuitive wisdom. For persons lacking healthy ego development, however, such experiences can lead to psychosis. Superficially, transpersonal states look similar to psychosis.

Unique mental abilities have been crucial for evolutionary success of Homo sapiens and for the development of his complex social organization. However, these abilities have also become a target for mental disorders which often result in a reduced fitness and in conflicts between the individual and the conventions of society. To account for this evolutionary maladaptation, we advance a new concept: that of "mis-exaptation", derived from SJ Gould and E Vrba's concept of exaptation.

Scuba diving is a high-risk sport; it is estimated that 3 to 9 deaths per 100,000 divers occur annually in the US alone, in addition to increasing numbers of cases of decompression illness each year. However, there has been a tendency within the diving community to de-emphasise the risks associated with scuba diving. While there are numerous factors responsible for the injuries and fatalities occurring in this sport, there is general consensus that many of these cases are caused by panic.

Increasing interest in mind-body medicine has spawned numerous methods that demonstrate the power of imagery and belief to favorably influence the course of disease. Few methods, however, link the occurrence of a healing response with a demonstrated, specific, targeted body chemical. Even hypnosis and biofeedback, which direct their effects at targeted body systems, have been hypothesized to work by means of general relaxation. Research from China has demonstrated that neuroelectric acupuncture with stimulation at specific frequencies releases neuropeptides in human cerebrospinal fluid.

Hypnosis, guided imagery, and relaxation have been shown to improve the postoperative course of adult surgical patients. Children have successfully used hypnosis/guided imagery to significantly reduce the pain associated with invasive procedures and to improve selected medical conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of hypnosis/guided imagery on the postoperative course of pediatric surgical patients. Fifty-two children (matched for sex, age, and diagnosis) were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group.

A survey was taken of graduates of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics' (SDBP) Pediatric Hypnosis Course to describe the impact of the course on participants' practical knowledge of self-regulation and hypnosis, the acquisition through direct experience of a realistic understanding of hypnosis, their estimation of the value of the course to their practice of pediatrics, their use of techniques learned, what they would communicate to peers in pediatrics about training in this area, and their beliefs concerning barriers to professional interest in learning hypnot

The purposes of this research study were: (1) to determine whether changes in cardiac rate, skin temperature, and/or electrodermal activity occur as children change mental imagery and (2) to determine whether such changes are related to age, sex, or other variables. Children who were evaluated in this study had no previous experience with hypnosis or biofeedback training and were in good health with no learning disabilities. Thirty-eight boys and 38 girls ranging in age from 5 to 15 years were studied in a comfortable setting with a constant room temperature and biofeedback equipment.

Trichotillomania in children is regularly described as analogous to a habit disorder. As such, it is thought at times to be benign in a manner analogous to habits such as thumb sucking and nail biting. It is also considered by some to be an obsessive-compulsive disorder, to be more recalcitrant to intervention, and to be more socially disabling than simple habits, particularly when persistence and intensity eventuate in obvious alopecia.