Spiritual concerns & imagery
In this case study, clinicians from the Department of Social Work at The College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel, Israel, feeling that spiritual concerns play a huge part among those who have attempted suicide, yet are poorly addressed, if addressed at all, by their psychotherapists, tested an innovative group format that made use of techniques that helped their clients tap into spiritual sources.
A therapeutic group/workshop for suicide survivors was designed to incorporate relaxation and mindfulness meditation, along with guided imagery to access inner wisdom.
Many of the participants reported a significant positive experience, including connection to knowledge that was highly relevant to them in their current state of life.
The authors conclude that whether such insights were experienced as coming from within (a deeper part of the self) or from an external source (a guiding figure or divine presence), guided meditation appears to be a powerful resource for therapists and their clients, suicidal and otherwise.
Citation: Birnbaum L, Birnbaum A. In search of inner wisdom: guided mindfulness meditation in the context of suicide. ScientificWorldJournal
Guided ImageryOver the past 25 years, the effectiveness of guided imagery has been increasingly established by research findings that demonstrate its positive impact on health, creativity and performance. We now know that in many instances even 10 minutes of imagery can reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol and glucose levels in the blood, and heighten short- term immune cell activity. It can considerably reduce blood loss during surgery and morphine use after it. It lessens headaches and pain. It can increase skill at skiing, skating, tennis, writing, acting and singing; it accelerates weight loss and reduces anxiety; and it has been shown, again and again, to reduce the aversive effects of chemotherapy, especially nausea, depression and fatigue.
Because it is a right-brained activity, engaging in it will often be accompanied by other functions that reside in that vicinity: emotion, laughter, sensitivity to music, openness to spirituality, intuition, abstract thinking and empathy.
And because it mobilizes unconscious and pre-conscious processes to assist with conscious goals, it can bring to bear much more of a person's strength and motivation to accomplish a desired end. So, subtle and gentle as this technique is, it can be very powerful, and more and more so over time.
One of the most appealing and forgiving features about imagery is that almost anyone can use it. Although children and women probably have a slight, natural advantage, imagery skips across the barriers of education, class, race, gender and age – a truly equal opportunity intervention.
Even though it can be considered a kind of meditation, it is easier for most westerners to use than traditional meditation, as it requires less time and discipline to develop a high level of skill. This is because it seduces the mind with appealing sensory images that have their own natural pull. And because it results in a kind of natural trance state, it can be considered a form of hypnosis as well.
People can invent their own imagery, or they can listen to imagery that's been created for them. Either way, their own imaginations will sooner or later take over, because, even when listening to imagery that's been created in advance, the mind will automatically edit, skip, change or substitute what's being offered for what is needed. So even a tape, CD or written script will become a kind of internal launching pad for the genius of each person's unique imagination.
© Naparstek 2000
© Staying Well with Guided Imagery, 1994
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