Imagery Rescripting of Early Traumatic Memories in Social Phobia

Negative self-images appear to play a role in the maintenance of social phobia and research suggests they are often linked to earlier memories of socially traumatic events. Imagery rescripting is a clinical intervention that aims to update such unpleasant or traumatic memories, and is increasingly being incorporated in cognitive behavioral therapy programs. In previous research, we have found that imagery rescripting was superior to a control condition in terms of its beneficial effects on negative beliefs, image and memory distress, fear of negative evaluation, and anxiety in social situations. In this article, we describe our imagery rescripting procedure. We consider the importance of updating negative imagery in social phobia, the theoretical basis for imagery rescripting, directions for future research, and how to conduct imagery rescripting, including potential problems and their solutions.