The Role of Mental Events in Behavior Therapy

Mental imagery enhancement training in behavior therapy: Current status and future prospects.

“…For instance, a comparison of the work of Kazdin (1974Kazdin ( , 1975Kazdin ( , 1979 and Watson & Marks (1971) suggests the possibility that variables pertaining specifically to the control of imagery content may be more important in the processes of covert modeling than in those of flooding. House & Campbell (1981) provided a threefold classification of the functions of imagery therapies, which will be adopted here. In approaches which function primarily to expose the client to an object or situation in imagination, the importance of vividness and other molecular variables involved in the production of a complete and "realistic" image might be relatively high.…”

“…More systematic work concerning the relative importance of imagery variables in the efficacy of various imaginal functions, such as House & Campbell's (1981) exposure, rehearsal, and integration operations, would also be useful in evolving relevant imagery training programs. For instance, a battery of measures assessing a variety of imagery dimensions could be administered to a number of clients, following which each client could undergo an imagery therapy emphasizing one of the three functions.…”

“…House & Campbell (1981) provided a threefold classification of the functions of imagery therapies, which will be adopted here. In approaches which function primarily to expose the client to an object or situation in imagination, the importance of vividness and other molecular variables involved in the production of a complete and “realistic” image might be relatively high.…”

Spontaneous and directed visual imagery: Image failure and image substitution.

“…An autonomous flow of visual imagery presents obvious problems for instructed imagery-based therapies (House & Campbell, 1980;Wachtel, 1977), especially in view of its greater incidence in persons labeled as neurotic (Costello, 1957;Richardson, 1972). This association of autonomous visual im-This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

“…An autonomous flow of visual imagery presents obvious problems for instructed imagery-based therapies (House & Campbell, 1980; Wachtel, 1977), especially in view of its greater incidence in persons labeled as neurotic (Costello, 1957; Richardson, 1972). This association of autonomous visual imagery with psychopathology is reflected in Klinger's (1978) appellation of “degenerateness” when spontaneous visual imagery takes on characteristics, which Freud called regressive thinking.…”