Guided imagery in brief psychodynamic therapy: outcome and process

Twenty-one clients were assigned to three conditions in a four-month trial of once per week psychodynamic therapy. Clients in an imagery condition worked with subpersonalities elicited by psychosynthesis guided visual imagery. Clients in a non-imagery condition worked in a similar way, but without guided imagery. The third condition was a minimal contact control group in which clients had all assessments (at baseline, mid-point, outcome and follow-up) but no active therapy. Mean outcomes in imagery and non-imagery groups were significantly better than for the minimal contact group on target aims of therapy, and on self-acceptance, but there were no significant differences between the imagery and non-imagery groups. Repertory grids enabled the trajectory of each individual in therapy to be tracked in a conceptual space in which subpersonalties were related to people in the subjects' real lives. A case history of an imagery client who improved during the course of therapy is discussed to show these relationships and the utility of a combined nomothetic and idiographic research design.