Bringing Imagery into the World of Visual Impairment

Abstract

The paper describes several processes of adaptation in work with both congenitally and adventitiously blind persons. The authors discuss imagery in terms of helping the client make psychosocial changes necessary to improve mental attitudes and to return to the mainstream. Two basic types of imagery are presented: 1) voluntary imagery—a conscious process, and 2) involuntary imagery, occurring spontaneously.

The Psychotherapeutic Use of Benign Hallucinations with Persons with Charles Bonnet Syndrome

“…Some clients with whom she had established good rapport reluctantly told her their experiences with strange images. At that time, Wagner-Lampl was contacted by Robert Taylor, a doctor of clinical psychology at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, in response to an article that she and a coauthor (Wagner-Lampl & Oliver, 1988) had written on the use of conscious imagery in psychotherapy with visually impaired clients. In this article, they also reported the occurrence of involuntary images by many of their clients.…”