Interactive guided imagery

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Martin L. Rossman, David Bresler · 1970

What it is

What it is: IGI is a service-marked, client-led way of working with mental imagery. Physician Martin Rossman and pain specialist David Bresler developed it from the 1970s and formalised it through the Academy for Guided Imagery, whose copyright dates from 1988. Most secondary accounts give 1989 as…

Format

• Typical session format (secondary source; 40–70 min):
• Phase 0: Assessment, screening, consent (session 1)

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• The sources give no fixed phases or session counts. AGI case material refers only to "a series of sessions". The phase structure below orders the content in two ways: the Rossman script sequence and the AGI training sequence. The training sequence runs Basic Imagery → Inner Advisor → Evocative Imagery → Grounding → Dialoguing with Symptoms, then Resistance/Parts → Children → Adult Survivors → Illness → Loss →…
• Goals: obtain the medical diagnosis and confirm medical care is in place for any physical complaint; screen for contraindications (§4.1); agree goals; explain imagery and client control. AGI's foundation course lists "diagnostic and prognostic assessments", but their content is not drawn on here.
• Rossman scripts: Your Healing Imagery; Meeting Your Inner Advisor; Symptoms are Symbols. AGI Basic Certification and Preceptorship 1 cover Inner Advisor, Dialoguing With Symptoms and Evocative Imagery.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• whether adding imagery interweaves changes standard EMDR fidelity. Follow the current EMDR protocol and your EMDR training.
• fear of losing control, beliefs that imagery is "mind control", magical expectations of a cure. Correct these before starting.
• framing that blames the client. Keep it curious. It is working when the plan becomes more realistic and follow-through improves.
• recalled "good" memories that turn painful. Switch to an imagined or symbolic source. It is working when the felt state rises and the client can call it up on cue.
• lingering drowsiness, spaciness or distress. Extend grounding (feet on the floor, naming objects, cold water) and do not end the session until the client is oriented.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.