Have you ever stopped to consider what your thoughts look like? When you think about something, do you tend to think in words or pictures? Or a mixture of the two?
What about other sensory information? Do your thoughts contain sounds, smells, tastes or physical sensations?
What comes to mind when you read the word ‘red’? Or the word ‘beach’?
Now try closing your eyes for a moment, and imagining that beach.
What did you notice? Did you see a picture of a beach in your mind’s eye? Maybe you heard the sound of the waves, or felt the warm sunshine or a cool sea breeze on your skin. Your image might have been crystal clear, or more hazy. Perhaps you remembered a specific beach you love, or had a more general impression of beaches you have visited in the past.
You may have found that imagining a beach felt more ‘real’ than just reading the word – if so, you are not alone. Research tells us that when we really imagine something, our brains respond in almost exactly the same way as they would do if we were actually having that experience. From a neurological point of view, there is very little difference between vividly imagining walking on a beach, and actually walking on a beach.
One of the consequences of this is that thoughts that come to us in the form of images tend to be more closely connected to emotion than other kinds of thoughts. You might have noticed some emotions coming up for you as you imagined your beach. If you like beaches, you might have started to feel a sense of relaxation. On the other hand, if you hate sand perhaps you noticed a feeling of irritation!
It is this close connection to emotion that makes it so important to pay attention to the role that images play in our mental health. Unpleasant or upsetting images can be very distressing – often much more so than verbal thoughts. For example, for people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) images of the traumatic event are often so vivid that it can feel like the trauma is happening again, right now. For those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), images of potential future catastrophes can feel so real and so anxiety-provoking that they might feel they have to go to great lengths to prevent these things from happening. And for many of us, images associated with difficult childhood experiences such as being bullied, or feeling vulnerable, or being told off by our caregivers, have a powerful impact on how we see ourselves even as adults.
But we can also use the link between images and emotions to our advantage – because images, often to a much greater extent than reality, can be changed. And while images have the potential to cause significant distress, they can also create positive emotions which are just as powerful.
If you would like to explore this further, or if you are struggling with distressing images or memories, please contact us at Lantern Psychotherapy to find out how we can help. In the meantime, you might like to experiment with using imagery to create your own personal ‘safe place’ which you can visit in times of stress:
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