Imagery and Altered States in the Treatment of Child Abuse Survivors: A Commentary on Therapist Influence

ABSTRACT

Guided imagery, role-play, dramatic enactment, and similar techniques are widely used by psychotherapists in the treatment of child abuse survivors. These methods invite clients to enter an altered state in which they relax critical judgment and attend closely to internally generated sensory experience. Recently some researchers have criticized these interventions on the grounds that they may create false memories. This article surveys the variety of therapeutic goals served by altered state methods and justifies their use in the framework of an information-processing model of trauma and dissociation. The author places the controversy in the context of a larger issue-the misuse of therapist suggestion-and argues that respect for a client's experience, rather than specific procedures, ensures safety in the psychotherapy relationship.

KEYWORDS:

• Child abuse survivors
• guided imagery
• altered states
• false memory debate