" Don't use wishful thinking as an adjunct for  THERAPY"

                                                                                  USE

                GUIDED IMAGERY for CANCER and  RELATED DISEASES 

 (it is useful only as an adjunct for therapy not a substitute for medical treatment)

                     Therapeutic Support for the Future

                          Guided Imagery  - What is it?

• It is a process that invokes the power of imagination to stimulate the  on set  of mental attitude to promote healing.

• It involves all the senses, Hearing, touch, tasting, smelling and touch.

• Term used to induce Mental and Physical Relaxation

.   Background:

Early Christian and Non- Christian Religious Traditions that involved the supernatural and spiritual planes such as ancient rituals – dreams or dances Invoking a higher god or mystical being to invoke healing or health and happiness Ancient practices which still exist today in underdeveloped countries and cultures involving Shaman and Which Doctors to provide guidance for sickness and healing. Modern practices based on psycho-therapeutic traditions invoked by Desoille  of France and later by Carl Jung  who believed that Patients could use their active imagination  to help eliminate disease on the belief that healing is accessible from within.

Types of Imagery

Relaxation and Stress Reduction

This type is amenable to reduce simple anxiety and promote relaxation in which the client can visualize a visit to a beach or mountain while experiencing the sensory pleasure of the area. 

Effective in Anxieties associated with upcoming surgeries, visits toDentists, pain reduction, insomnia or fears

  Directed Guided Imagery 

Most often associated with Hypnosis utilizing pictures  or metaphors to  involve the imagination thus stimulating the powers of the mind to relieve symptoms and promote healing responses  For example,  relieving migraine headaches, Directed imagery uses the imagination and metaphors to instigate a solution to a problem or illness such as a retroactive tv set to revisit the past and bring events into present day awareness and then cutting the cord thus eliminating the recurrences of the past event.  Or a patient may visualize a healing presence in the form of a cold wind and the heat of the sun to induce a cure.

  Interactive Guided Imagery;

This type of imagery relies on hypnotically induced sequences and contains a longer induction ( Relaxation Phase) and then interactive visualizations of physiological effects induced by metaphorical or anatomically corrective processes to induce healing.  Alternatively it may invoke a guide or shaman to provide a dialogue to help uncover a problem or to provide counsel to their thoughts  Useful in disease states such as cancer, infectious disease, Psoriasis, fibromyalgia or menstrual disorders.

  Guided imageries are not simply exercises to increase coping skills but are useful in connecting the patient with the unconscious mind to obtain new views. They often have startling physiological as well as psychological effects.

The last two entities are more often used by those having a medical or psychological background and are more often associated with clinical Hypnotherapy

  CONDITIONS TREATABLE BY MENTAL IMAGERY

  Emotional Conditions:

• Anxiety

• Self esteem

• Stress

• Panic disorder

• Depression

2. Insomnia

3. Chronic Illness and Resulting Complications

•  Asthma   

•   Cardiovascular problem

• Pain and Discomfort

    4.  Erectile Dysfunction and other sexual dysfunctions

     5.  Severe life threatening diseases or intractable disease states

• Cancer

• Infectious diseases

• Psoriasis

• Fibro-myalgia

                                                            The Center for Mind Body Therapy
                                    The Terraces :: 8660 College Pkwy, Suite 230 Fort Myers, Florida 33919
                                                   239 - 239-433-1403 :: bodytalkbevilacqua@comcast.net