Seeing is Believing: The Healing Power of Visualization

Therapy in modern treatment settings should do everything (ethically) possible to help patients improve. That mission may lead medical professionals to embrace unorthodox treatment methods, like guided imagery therapy.

Similar to meditation or grounding techniques for anxiety, guided image therapy calls for patients to imagine a safe and calming environment and place themselves in it. As they imagine fine details, they fully immerse themselves in the soothing atmosphere and let anxiety and stress fade away.

Visualization requires practice like any other skill. It empowers users to hone their abilities themselves rather than let their doctors manage their entire treatment program. It also works on diagnoses as disparate as chronic pain, high blood pressure, and substance use disorder. However, even people with no diagnoses can practice visual therapy to handle the stresses of everyday life.

Starting Visualization Therapy for Recovery and Relaxation

Beginners must remember to take their time and not expect quality results after their first few tries. Visualization takes practice but is not a rigorous regimen with strict goals. Instead, practitioners should try and iterate on the first few steps as they discover what works best for them.

Find a Comfortable Place

First, find a place without loud noises. The ideal place has a soft surface, like a bed or couch, to rest on.

Remove all distractions. Turn off cell phones and other electronics (unless using them to play helpful music or guides), close curtains, and shut out sound. Earplugs and noise-canceling headphones help create the necessary silence. For some people with tinnitus or auditory hallucinations, silence can do more harm than good. In such cases, consider videos that walk the listener through the visualization process or soft music.

Close Eyes

Imagery therapy requires visual as well as auditory isolation. Closed eyes let the imagination take over all visual perception. With no distractions, the meditator can fully immerse themself in their imagined scene.

Take Deep Breaths

With eyes closed and body relaxed on a soft, comfortable surface, take deep, slow breaths to relax. Deep breathing tells the body that it can afford to come down from high-alert states, which creates a feedback loop—the brain calms down as the body does.

Deep breathing is a beginner technique that guided imagery builds upon. People who struggle with detailed scene imagination can still benefit from these first three steps. If they struggle with subsequent steps, they can stop here and still benefit.

Visualize a Calm Place

With mind and body calm, imagine a peaceful scene without any stressors. Natural settings away from the hustle and bustle of civilization tend to work best:

Forests
Mountains
Beaches
Lakesides
Campsites

Everyone finds different places calming, so each practitioner should experiment to find the locales that suit them best.

This process is called “visualization” but also includes non-visual stimuli like sounds and smells.

Add More Details and Explore

With a theme in mind, add more auditory and visual details. Birds chirping, the sound of waves, the warmth of sunshine on your face, and the smell of rain or wildflowers are all options. These details help the scene feel more natural and the immersion absolute.

When completely immersed in the scene, wander through it. Imagine swimming in warm, shallow water near the beach or walking along a trail in the woods. Creating a sensation of movement takes more focus, so it helps users absorb their imaginary surroundings and distract them from the outside world.

Linger There for As Long As Necessary

Most people can’t manage more than a few minutes when they first try guided image therapy. Beginners shouldn’t try to cling to the scene as it naturally fades away. Instead, like every other part of the process, they should do what feels natural and find what works best. After they identify what is best for their experience, they should implement them during future attempts.

Open Your Eyes and Return to the Present

Whether by choice or through a natural end to the scene, return to the present. Resume natural breathing, open your eyes, and record the results in a journal. Include what went well, what could have gone better, and ideas to try next time.

Conditions Guided Imagery Therapy Helps Treat

Relaxation from visualization helps the body and mind unwind. The resulting relaxation treats the symptoms of many common chronic illnesses but is NOT a replacement for medical intervention. Practitioners with serious diseases should combine guided imagery therapy with other treatments, not skip them entirely.

Visualization therapy does, however, have a quantifiable impact on the health of patients suffering from:

Chronic pain and inflammation
Chronic stress
Anxiety and constant unwarranted fight or flight response
Substance use disorder and compulsive cravings
Depression and negative mental images
Insomnia and poor sleep, which are often associated with other conditions
Nausea, including vomiting
High blood pressure, which stress intensifies

The biological mechanisms behind these changes are not yet well understood. However, studies find quantifiable benefits from regular visualization therapy for people with each of these conditions.

Resources for Visual Therapy

People interested in guided imagery don’t have to start from scratch or need to find a therapist just to guide them through the process. They can use resources published by others to create the necessary mood and help them learn about visualization on their own.

Videos

Many videos on YouTube or other websites have videos with additional information or step-by-step instructions. New practitioners can pull up a video on their phone, set it somewhere within earshot but outside their reach (with notifications off), and listen.

Videos with high production value will include things like:

Soft music
A narrator who relays instructions in a soft voice
Sound effects from a selected environment

Each asset helps the listener better immerse themselves in the chosen setting.

Written Scripts

Written scripts do require open eyes and more active focus than ideal for typical guided imagery therapy. However, scripts that require reading aloud force the reader to move through each step with care and focus on nothing but the task at hand. This focus can help some readers who are easily distracted.

Journal

Self-written journals, or journals shared by others, are incredible resources for guided imagery. Writing down what went well and what could have gone better helps experimenters push themselves to the best possible visualization experience.

Practice!

Ultimately, no one will master visualization therapy on their first try. Practice and experience are resources that the people learning can only gather for themselves.

It also won’t cure all their problems. Guided imagery therapy is a supplement and a way to improve mindfulness. Patients with severe chronic illnesses should still seek additional help when necessary.

SoberMind Recovery: Experiment With Guided Imagery and Dual-Diagnosis Treatment

Los Angeles is home to the world’s finest sober living facilities, and SoberMind is proud to be one of them. SoberMind Recovery uses many dual-diagnosis treatments in its drug programs and sober living facilities. Highlights include specialized LGBTQ drug rehab, which comes highly recommended.

These programs understand the vital importance of mental health treatment and mindfulness for people in recovery, which helps them combat the co-occurrence between the two and reduce the chances of relapse. Visualization therapy is one more way SoberMind customers in outpatient programs can take control of their cravings when away from therapy. It empowers them as they recover.

SoberMind’s blog shares mental health resources for everyone, especially those who need it the most. Follow the blog for more emotional health resources and mental health education.

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