OBJECTIVE: Intrusive mental imagery is associated with anxiety in bipolar disorder (BD) and presents a novel treatment target. Imagery-based treatments show promise in targeting anxiety and improving mood instability. This qualitative study explored experiences of receiving up to 12 sessions of a brief structured psychological intervention: Image-Based Emotion Regulation (IBER), which targets maladaptive mental imagery in the context of BD with an aim to modify the emotional impact of these images.
METHODS: A qualitative study embedded within the Image Based Emotion Regulation (IBER) feasibility randomised controlled trial.
METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants in the treatment arm of the trial who received IBER + treatment as usual. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Despite some initial scepticism about imagery-focused treatment, all participants expressed broadly positive accounts of treatment experiences. High levels of engagement with imagery modification techniques, beneficial use of techniques post treatment and improvements in anxiety management and agency were described by some. Three sub-groups were identified: those who reported a powerful transformative impact of treatment; those who embedded some new techniques into their daily lives, and those who felt they had techniques to use when needed. No participants reported overall negative experiences of the IBER treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study highlight the value for treatment recipients of modifying the underlying meanings associated with maladaptive imagery, and the personalised skills development to manage anxiety within bipolar disorders. Findings can inform treatment refinements and further trial-based evaluations.

This research aimed to examine the mediating effect of intrusive imagery and fear of negative evaluation on the connection between body dissatisfaction and smartphone addiction. 5,909 participants were included in the research, with 53.8% of the sample being female. The average age of the participants was 19.87 years, and their ages ranged from 18 to 32 years. All individuals who were recruited for the study successfully finished the Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction with Body Parts Scale, the Smartphone Addiction Scale, the Intrusive Imagery Scale, and the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. Mediational analysis indicated that, with age, gender and body mass index under control, body dissatisfaction was linked to smartphone addiction via (1) the mediating role of intrusive imagery, (2) the mediating role of fear of negative evaluation, and (3) the serial mediating role of intrusive imagery and fear of negative evaluation. Our study for the first time advanced our understanding that intrusive imagery and fear of negative evaluation could be serial mediators of the relationship between body dissatisfaction and smartphone addiction. However, the cross-sectional design prevented us from establishing causality between these variables, which could be better examined in future longitudinal studies.

Aphantasia is a condition characterized by a deficit of mental imagery. Since several psychopathologies are partially maintained by mental imagery, it may be illuminating to consider the condition against the background of psychological disorder. After outlining current findings and hypotheses regarding aphantasia and psychopathology, this paper suggests that some support for defining aphantasia as a lack of voluntary imagery may be found here. The paper then outlines potentially fruitful directions for future research into aphantasia in general and its relation to psychopathology in particular, including rethinking use of the SUIS to measure involuntary imagery, whether aphantasia offers protection against addiction, and whether hyperphantasia is a potential risk factor for maladaptive daydreaming, among others.

To investigate whether working with intrusive images and the use of imagery processes would be beneficial to treating depression, an imagery-based intervention (imagery rescripting, IR) was compared with a more commonly used verbal-based technique (cognitive restructuring, CR). The study aimed not only to test the efficacy of IR as a brief modular treatment for depression, but to explore whether such experiential use of imagery would alleviate the abstract-evaluative, verbal processes of rumination and worry.
Forty-one participants diagnosed with clinical depression and who also reported intrusive images underwent one assessment session of imagery properties before they were randomly assigned to an IR group or to an active control group of CR. They then received three weekly sessions of treatment, and outcomes were measured before and after treatment, as well as at two-month follow-up.
The results showed that IR was equally if not more effective than CR in alleviating depression. Significant differential reductions in rumination, worry and experiential avoidance between treatments added support to the technique\'s experiential nature, and possibly, a defusing out of an abstract-evaluative mode of processing.
Only self-report measures were used, with a small number of treatment sessions by one clinician.
The findings support the therapeutic potential of imagery modalities in the treatment of depression, which compared to cognitive restructuring, appear to bring about more significant emotional change with time (clinical trial registered at the Joint CUHK-NTEC CREC Ref. No. 2015.458).

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UNASSIGNED: Models of social anxiety suggest that intrusive images/memories are common in social anxiety and contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety.
UNASSIGNED: We examined the context and phenomenological features of intrusive social images using quantitative and qualitative measures across various levels of social anxiety.
UNASSIGNED: Undergraduate students (n = 191) completed measures of social anxiety (i.e. Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale) and wrote a description of an intrusive social image. Individuals who reported an intrusive social image (n = 77) rated the frequency, interference and phenomenological (e.g. vividness, emotional intensity) characteristics of the image. A content analysis of the intrusive image narratives was completed by independent raters.
UNASSIGNED: High social anxiety (HSA) increased the likelihood and frequency of experiencing intrusive images, and to some extent the interference caused by these images. However, the characteristics of these images with regard to their content and quality were similar across levels of social anxiety. Among participants who provided narratives, HSA individuals (n = 34) did not differ from low socially anxious (LSA) individuals (n = 28) in themes that reflect concerns about their own thoughts, actions and behaviours. However, HSA individuals reported greater concerns about how other individuals would react, and their intrusive images were often from an observer perspective when compared with LSA individuals.
UNASSIGNED: These results are interpreted in relation to cognitive models of emotion, memory and cognitive behavioural models of social anxiety.

暂无摘要。

BACKGROUND: Negative mental imagery is ubiquitous in cognitive models of social anxiety and in the social anxiety literature. Previous research has shown that it is causal of increased anxiety, lower social performance ratings and lower implicit self-esteem. Despite its prevalence, few studies have investigated this imagery directly.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the phenomenology of negative imagery experienced by socially anxious individuals, and to compare recurrent and intrusive images with images deliberately generated by participants during the study.
METHODS: Thirty-eight undergraduate students screened to be above average in social anxiety scores completed a computerized imagery questionnaire adapted from previous qualitative work.
RESULTS: Thematic analyses revealed four major image themes for intrusive images and three for deliberately generated images including interacting with others and anxiety symptoms. Most intrusive images were based on negative episodic memories and were experienced at least fortnightly. Images were primarily visual, auditory and somatic but could involve any sensory modality. Depression anxiety stress scale (DASS-21) scores were higher in participants who experienced intrusive imagery and increased with the frequency of intrusions. Emotionality was generally higher in intrusive images than generated images.
CONCLUSIONS: The phenomenology of negative imagery experienced by socially anxious individuals is idiosyncratic and may be inherently different from images generated for use in experimental research. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Mental imagery is an experience like perception in the absence of a percept. It is a ubiquitous feature of human cognition, yet it has been relatively neglected in the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of depression. Imagery abnormalities in depression include an excess of intrusive negative mental imagery; impoverished positive imagery; bias for observer perspective imagery; and overgeneral memory, in which specific imagery is lacking. We consider the contribution of imagery dysfunctions to depressive psychopathology and implications for cognitive behavioral interventions. Treatment advances capitalizing on the representational format of imagery (as opposed to its content) are reviewed, including imagery rescripting, positive imagery generation, and memory specificity training. Consideration of mental imagery can contribute to clinical assessment and imagery-focused psychological therapeutic techniques and promote investigation of underlying mechanisms for treatment innovation. Research into mental imagery in depression is at an early stage. Work that bridges clinical psychology and neuroscience in the investigation of imagery-related mechanisms is recommended.

Emotional mental imagery occurs across anxiety disorders, yet is neglected in bipolar disorder despite high anxiety comorbidity. Furthermore, a heightened susceptibility to developing intrusive mental images of stressful events in bipolar disorder and people vulnerable to it (with hypomanic experience) has been suggested. The current study assessed, prospectively, whether significant hypomanic experience (contrasting groups scoring high vs. low on the Mood Disorder Questionnaire, MDQ) places individuals at increased risk of visual reexperiencing after experimental stress. A total of 110 young adults watched a trauma film and recorded film-related intrusive images for 6 days. Compared to the low MDQ group, the high MDQ group experienced approximately twice as many intrusive images, substantiated by convergent measures. Findings suggest hypomanic experience is associated with developing more frequent intrusive imagery of a stressor. Because mental imagery powerfully affects emotion, such imagery may contribute to bipolar mood instability and offer a cognitive treatment target.