The Use and Applications of Mental Imagery

Imagination can affect people in different ways. To put it simply, if I surveyed 100 people on the topic, “When does imagination overcome reason”, I would get 100 different answers. Everyone is unique, even if you share the same fear with someone else. It is how you handle that fear that will shape your actions and decisions. You would think that someone who is scared of heights will avoid them at all costs. But their are some people that have a fear of heights, yet love roller coasters as well. For example, in the book “The Fault in our Stars”, there are two characters that have cancer yet have different of of the world due to their disease. One believes she should cut herself off from everyone to limit the amount of people she hurts when she dies. While the other character believes that this is the time to live life before his time is up. As for the one that wants to live life, that is a positive outcome of when imagination overcomes reason. He doesn’t know when or even if his cancer will come back. But the fear of that cancer pushes him to do the things he

Imagination can overcome fear even when there is no reason to be frightened. As shown in the

Once the subject is relaxed, the therapist may invite them to use visualisation to visit a ‘special place’ where they feel safe and happy, and will usually give them permission to ‘stay’ there for some time. The special place can later be used as a trigger so that, once back to an alert state, the subject can use it whenever they need

Mental Imagery plays a role in our lives, it helps us plan for the future and make decisions. Although there are some people who never experience mental imagery. There are many

Another reason imagination takes over has something to do with experience and maturity. Many people believe that, “...if you’re too young to know monsters are fake, it can be quite traumatic..” (Ringo 92). This is more logical because many children don’t know when something is real or fake just for the simple fact that they’ve never been in that situation. When people experience something that they don’t understand, we imagine that there’s no other way the situation can go but bad instead of thinking it through.

As a psychology student with an extensive background in Fine Arts, I bring a unique perspective to the mental health field. My interest in psychology began with the curiosity regarding the relationship between art and mental health. South Korea, my birthplace, has some of the longest working hours of any country. While working in Korea, I witnessed the results of work-related stress such as depressive mood and anxiety. However, there existed stigma related to mental disorders due to cultural expectations. Rather than visiting professionals in the mental health industry, many ascribed mental instabilities to their lack of willpower. This phenomenon spurred me to consider artistic activities in dealing mental distress. Eventually, I was motivated to study Psychology at Ryerson University; I hope to keep my path toward Art Therapy at Concordia University.

One excellent example is, “Imagine that I’m a professor, you walk down, come though the doorway, sit down at a table…” (Gladwell, Primed for Action). Gladwell describes a character moving through a simple situation. Although this example may seem a bit vague, it provides an image within the reader’s mind of what that particular situation may look like. As Americans, we do this quite frequently, when we think of a certain event or social gathering we are planning on attending or even being forced to attend, we draw up and image within our minds. Sometimes said image may be a good image, with everything occurring exactly as you have thought those events would happen. Sadly, many times within our minds, not everything is pictured in a positive way. We may think of a social event where we may be shunned by everyone else attending the event because of one bad comment we spoke, or our taste in music or other entertainment. Another example of imagery within the book is the quote, “Predicting Divorce, like tracking Morse code operators, is pattern recognition.” (Gladwell, the Secrets of the Bedroom). This example, once again, gives us an image of this certain situation with the use of “Morse code operators” to provide some sort of image for our minds to

Technology throughout its existence has improved the overall quality of life for many people around the world. Its impact is evident in our generation, where many people rely on technology to gain information on current events, increase work efficiency and even helping us understand ourselves. “Advances in neuroscience, technology and research sophistication have greatly increased understanding of mental illnesses and improved the treatment of these disorders.” (Wahl, 2011). Despite our knowledge on various mental illnesses, many individuals stray away from professional assistance due to the stigma that is attached to the illness; many individuals do not opt for help because they do not want a label attached to them. Social media is a huge platform that influences many people and the slandering that many media platforms do when they discuss the topic of mental illness is slowly increasing and is an issue that must be discussed.

Perception is quite an important piece in real life as well. The power of perceptions is amazing how it can actually help one or bring one down. One has the power to determine the response from events. “Perceptions begin when the human brain receives data from the body’s five sense.” (Enayati, A., 2012, p.2). An example that demonstrates how perception is able to help is Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist who lived three years in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Frankl became aware that he had only one freedom during that time which was the freedom to determine his response for a sorrowful truth. To imagine is to have the power to decide the response to events. Frankl decided that he would image seeing his wife, teaching students about what happened during the Holocaust, and the lessons learned while being in camp.

Discuss the use of imagery in two stories of your choice. How do the various images work in a particular story to bring its subject matter into focus? Is there a central image? And how does this enhance or confuse or complicate the effect of the story?

Symbolic imagery is intended to use descriptive language to express an abstract idea in concrete form. Light and dark imagery creates a visual interpretation that contrasts a positive and a negative concept. The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand and the short film “More” by Mark Osborne both contain symbolism in the form of black and white imagery. In Anthem, it is shown through Equality’s invention of electricity and the council of scholars rejection of it and in “More”, it is portrayed by the bland everyday world compared to the exciting and colorful world through bliss goggles.

It is always an effective way to ask patients to imagine their body as an army to defending their body. Our creative imagination can also develop imagines that are most suitable for us. Besides through imagine our body, it can helps us focus on the certain part of the body. Using weight lifting as an example, trainers most of the time will ask us to imagine the specific part of muscles that we are working on, to allow us to focus more on that muscle and feel the body while doing exercise. We should always focus on images that will give us positive feedback and comfortable to us, the images that work for you may not apply to other people. In addition, visualization also allow the body to communicate itself and peaceful our

The question posed needs you look at the two different disciplines these the cognitive psychologist perceptive, and the other be biological psychologist. Both disciplines study the brain. It soon becomes apparent that both disciplines cross, join and merge at some point. Both use brain imagining techniques to study the brain and both research into what section of the brain is responsible for actions and behaviours. This essay is based on the loose discussion of what these techniques can tell researchers about the brain and memory. How brain imagery techniques are used to provide evidence on what area and part of that area of the brain are involved in the memory process. From both cognitive and biological perceptive.

Western traditions narrowly define art as a market-oriented specialized discipline (Levine & Levine, 2004). When art is used therapeutically, content and meaning take priority over mechanics and technicalities.

Smith (2001) defines psychology as the study of the mind. One major subset within the broad study of psychology is popularly known as cognitive psychology. According to Aukrust (2011), cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology that deals with the study of mental processes which includes how people or individuals think, perceive, learn and remember. As a part of the larger cognitive science field, this psychology branch is by means related to other disciplines such as neuroscience, linguistics and philosophy. Processes included in cognition are judging, thinking, remembering, knowing and problem solving.