Imagery involves the use of the imagination for healing. Images involving all the senses (sight, sound, taste, smell and kinesthetic bodily sensations) can be directed to specific healing and life goals.

Imagery as a healing tool has been used throughout the ages and in all parts of the world. Achterberg has documented how evidence of shamanism, a folk method of healing with the imagination, is at least 20,000 years old and occurred in Asia, Australia, the Americas and Europe. Early Greek medicine as practiced by Aesclepius, Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen utilized imagination and dream content for healing purposes.

Early modern application of imagery in medicine, as developed by H.H. Schultz and Wolfgang Luthe in the 1920’s, was called “autogenic training”. In their clinical work they documented the healing effect of imagery for a variety of acute and chronic diseases including asthma, headaches, back pain and arthritis as well as its specific effect on various physiological functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, brain waves, skin temperature and blood sugar levels. Edmund Jacobson created a technique called “Progressive Muscle Relaxation” in the 1920’s based on his experimental research with visualization. Later examples of research were done by Chlomo Breznitz at Hebrew University and Nicholas Hall at George Washington Medical Center demonstrating the effect of imagination on the immune system. Imagery has been furthered by a number of disciplines. The use of imagery is involved in biofeedback (with early work done by Erik Peper and Stoya and Budzynski) and hypnosis (utilized in the work of Milton Erickson and studies by Howard Hall, et al in the 1980’s). Nursing practice and research have been instrumental in the integration of guided imagery into health care practice. In the 1970’s the Simontons introduced the use of imagery into cancer treatment along with standard medical treatment, psychotherapy and lifestyle change. Many physicians and psychologists pioneered the use of imagery and incorporated it into their practices. These include Irving Oyle, Michael Samuels, Dean Ornish, Tom Ferguson, Bernard Siegel, Norman Shealy, Larry Dossey, and Bella Naparstek among many others.

Content last modified on Mar 24, 2003