Visualizing

Discussion

When you want the person to enter a particular state it is typical to tell them to remember a time when they were experiencing that state. It is a tricky decision whether to just tell them to 'remember a time when...' or whether to add suggestions of the sorts of things they might have been doing. If you add suggestions when they are already accessing a memory, this might confuse them. On the other hand, they may be having problems remembering something and suggestions would be helpful.

An imagined experience that contains experiences and sensations that you want the person to feel will result in them feeling that way.

Visualizing is particularly useful when working with emotions because images evoke emotions. When you want a person to experience an emotion, get them to recall a time when they experienced the emotion.

One reason why visualization works is that it is all-consuming. When the person is imagining a picture, they get so engrossed in the detail and the experience, they forget to resist.

A good way of progressing a visualized situation, whether it is memory or imagination, is to ask the person to describe what they see and what happens next. This will engage them even further and make the visualization even more real for them. This progression may be done with open questions or by giving them a limited (and assumptive) choice.

Emotions are also one-at-a-time. If you want a person who is sad to feel happy, get them to visualize a time when they were happy and the happiness will tend to replace the sadness.

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