Stabilization Techniques

Guided Affective Imagery in Deep Emotional Work

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Introduction

Guided Affective Imagery is often described as though it were a script: close your eyes, picture a safe place, and notice what you see. That description leaves out almost everything that determines the quality of the work.

Within Deep Emotional Work (DEW), Guided Affective Imagery (GAI) can be facilitated by a practitioner or self-applied. In facilitated practice, the practitioner provides structure, pacing, and support. In self-application, the person guides the exercise independently, from memory or with suitable recorded guidance. In either form, the person remains the primary source and decision-maker for the imagery. Inner Safe Place is one example.

The central questions are practical: what is being guided, who determines the content, how the exercise is adapted, and what the published evidence supports.

Terminology

Guided Affective Imagery (GAI) is also described in DEWA materials as Guided Affective Imagination Techniques (GAIT). For brevity, GAI is used throughout.

It is important to distinguish between an imagery technique and a complete therapeutic method. DEW uses selected GAI techniques. Katathym Imaginative Psychotherapy (KIP) is a wider psychotherapy in which imagery is embedded in an ongoing psychodynamic process.

Definition

Guided Affective Imagery works with internally generated experience across one or more sensory modalities. The material may be recalled from memory, newly imagined, or a combination of both. Guidance may come from a practitioner, a recording, or the person's own learned sequence. It gives the experience a purpose and direction without deciding every detail in advance.

Some people form vivid inner pictures. Others notice a bodily feeling, a sense of space, a sound, a temperature, a movement, a word, or simply an atmosphere. All of these can be part of imagery.

Imagery and imagination

Imagination is the broader human capacity to form something that is not currently present to the senses. Imagery is the experience that takes shape through one or more inner senses. In practice, the two overlap. DEW does not require a cinematic inner picture.

Guidance, spontaneous imagery, and participant choice

DEW works between two extremes: leaving whatever arises entirely unstructured, and scripting every detail in advance. In facilitated practice, the practitioner gives the exercise a purpose and a starting point. The participant notices what appears, decides what fits, and may change direction at any time.

A Resource Work invitation might begin with a remembered moment of deep ease. The person, not the practitioner, determines which memory appears and which sensory details matter. The practitioner checks whether the experience still serves the intended resource, helps adjust it if needed, and closes the exercise deliberately.

The same basic structure can be self-applied. The person chooses or recalls the starting point, guides attention through the experience, adjusts or stops when needed, and ends with deliberate reorientation to the present environment. A recording can support this process, but another person does not have to be present.

Later practice may return to the same experience without requiring it to remain identical. New details or small positive changes can become part of the imagery. The aim is continuity without rigidity.

Variants

Audio-guided and fixed forms

A recording can support self-application by providing a sequence and pacing that a person can follow independently. The same sequence is usually offered to everyone, however, so it is necessarily less responsive to the individual. A beach, forest, closed door, particular colour, or instruction to close the eyes may feel inviting to one person and unhelpful to another.

Live facilitation or flexible learned practice leaves more room for personal imagery and can adapt to what happens in the moment. The person can change the scene, reject a suggestion, work with only a faint impression, keep their eyes open, or stop. The point is not to produce the "right" image. It is to find an inner experience that fits the person and the purpose of the exercise.

Inner Safe Place

Inner Safe Place invites a person to develop an internal place connected with safety, comfort, protection, or ease. It may be remembered, imagined, symbolic, realistic, or very simple. What matters is not how impressive it looks, but whether it becomes a supportive experience the person can recognize and return to.

The name is not a command to feel safe. Some people cannot readily find such a place. For others, imagined safety may sharpen the contrast with an unsafe present situation. That is not a failure of imagination. It is information. The practice can be simplified, changed, or stopped.

Within DEW, Inner Safe Place is used as resource-oriented imagery. It is not presented as trauma processing or as a treatment for traumatic memories.

Guided imagery within psychotherapy

In psychotherapy, imagery can be used in a much wider way: to explore symbols, relationships, conflict, defence, memory, and meaning. The image then belongs to a continuing therapeutic process rather than to a single stabilization exercise.

Relationship to KIP and PITT

DEW does not claim to have invented guided imagery. Its contribution lies in how selected practices are refined, combined, sequenced, and taught within a wider emotional-work system.

GAI has a direct historical relationship with Hanscarl Leuner's Katathymes Bilderleben, which developed into Katathym Imaginative Psychotherapy (KIP). In KIP, a therapist proposes a motif, the person describes the imagery as it unfolds, and both remain in dialogue. The experience may later be drawn, discussed, and connected with the person's life and therapeutic process (Leuner, 1969; German Society for Katathym Imaginative Psychotherapy, n.d.).

KIP is a complete psychodynamic psychotherapy. DEW uses selected imagery practices and does not present them as KIP.

Luise Reddemann's Psychodynamisch Imaginative Traumatherapie (PITT) is another important influence. PITT combines the therapeutic relationship, psychoeducation, resource and ego-state work, imagery, selected trauma confrontation, and integration. Inner Safe Place is one element within that larger model, not the model itself.

Several DEW stabilization practices draw partly on Reddemann's work, primarily through Matthias Behrends's training with his teacher and mentor Dr. med. Charlotte Baltrusch (ret.). Luise Reddemann has not endorsed DEW or its adaptations.

Effects

Within DEW, GAI is used mainly to help a person access and develop an Emotional Resource: an inner experience connected with support, ease, protection, strength, connection, or another helpful quality. The imagery can give that experience sensory form and make it easier to recognize, describe, and revisit.

Imagery may also bring unexpected associations or a shift in perspective. These are possible functions of the work, not guaranteed outcomes. Memory reconsolidation, neurological remapping, and movement from implicit to explicit memory have been proposed as explanations, but the present evidence does not establish those mechanisms for DEW's GAI procedure. They remain hypotheses and research questions.

Application and evidence

GAI can be self-applied as a learned practice or with audio guidance. It also appears in non-clinical emotional work, professional education, and psychotherapy. These settings are not interchangeable. The purpose, level of support, participant needs, practitioner qualifications, and wider method all change what is actually being done.

The research is useful but limited. Guided imagery has a long clinical tradition, yet very few studies test the precise intervention described on this page. The sources below were selected to clarify the method and its limits; the search was focused rather than exhaustive.

1. The exact DEW practice has not been tested in a controlled trial

Published research does not currently provide controlled clinical evidence for DEW's GAI procedure or isolate Inner Safe Place from breathing, body awareness, psychoeducation, facilitator contact, or a wider treatment.

The closest controlled study enrolled 32 refugees with elevated post-traumatic stress symptoms; 24 completed it. Participants learned three practices: mindful breathing, body scan, and Inner Safe Place. They received audio recordings for four weeks, together with psychoeducation, initial guided practice, and a follow-up contact.

Use of the recordings was low, and the programme did not outperform a waiting list on the measured post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, stress, or emotional-state outcomes. Because the intervention bundled several elements, the effect of Inner Safe Place remains unanswered (Rzepka et al., 2024).

2. There are modest signals for short-term emotional effects

In a study of 54 healthy participants, a safe-place exercise improved positive affect more than a rumination task after recall of a sad memory. It did not produce a greater reduction in negative affect (Drujan et al., 2023).

Another healthy-participant study found that a detachment strategy reduced anticipatory anxiety, including subjective and physiological responses. It did not test trauma treatment or DEW (Kalisch et al., 2005).

These findings make short-term emotional effects plausible. They do not demonstrate recovery from traumatization or lasting clinical benefit.

In uncontrolled and qualitative refugee studies, some participants described relaxation, pleasant feelings, and help with recurrent thoughts. Others reported concentration problems, distressing thoughts or memories, discomfort with closed eyes, or sadness when imagined safety contrasted with their living conditions.

The studies are valuable because they show what delivery can feel like in the real world. They cannot establish efficacy, and the 2018 and 2019 reports concern the same group programme rather than independent replications (Zehetmair et al., 2018; Zehetmair et al., 2019; Zehetmair et al., 2020).

A small pilot in the Leuner tradition followed 15 adolescents who had experienced sexual or physical abuse. They received 10 to 35 sessions of Symboldrama, with therapist-proposed motifs, live dialogue, later discussion or drawing, and psychoeducation for a non-offending parent.

Participants' symptom scores decreased from before to after treatment, but there was no comparison group. The study therefore supports feasibility, not a claim that one imagery element caused the change (Nilsson & Wadsby, 2010).

4. Evidence for KIP or PITT cannot be transferred to Inner Safe Place

Naturalistic KIP studies report improvement during complete psychodynamic treatments. PITT studies examine whole psychotherapies or inpatient programmes. In both cases, imagery is embedded in a therapeutic relationship and accompanied by other interventions. These studies may tell us about a whole approach, but not which component produced an outcome (Sell et al., 2018; Lampe et al., 2008; Bebermeier, 2014).

German method and practice literature

Controlled trials answer whether an intervention changed a measured outcome under specified conditions. Books, manuals, and edited volumes can answer a different question: what did the practitioner actually do?

This matters especially in guided imagery, where a label rarely reveals the intervention. Reddemann's books describe an inner place of safety, helpful figures, containment, inner observation, self-compassion, and the separation of resource work from later trauma confrontation. KIP literature adds detailed accounts of motif selection, dialogue, pacing, reorientation, and integration (Reddemann, 2024; Reddemann, 2021).

These sources are indispensable for understanding method and lineage. They are not substitutes for outcome research.

A qualitative study of 15 experienced psychodynamic imagery therapists illustrates the same distinction. The therapists described shorter, more directive, resource-focused work for unstable post-traumatic stress presentations, sometimes with the person sitting and keeping their eyes open. They also described situations in which they would change or avoid imagery. This is expert-practice knowledge, not a safety or efficacy trial (Bauckhage & Sell, 2021).

Safety guidelines

Clinical decisions and non-clinical observation are different responsibilities. Non-clinical practitioners do not diagnose a condition or decide whether someone is clinically suitable for imagery. They remain within their role and respond to what they can actually observe.

Pause or end the exercise when imagery brings marked distress, disorientation, loss of contact with the present environment, confusion between imagery and present reality, involuntary traumatic material, strong agitation, or a clear loss of choice. In facilitated practice, help the person return attention to the room, follow the applicable support or emergency procedure, document material concerns, and consult the appropriate supervisor or qualified professional.

Within DEW, self-application is intended for familiar, resource-oriented and stabilizing practices. Stop the exercise and reorient to the surroundings if the experience becomes destabilizing or difficult to contain. Self-applied GAI is not an instruction to deliberately enter or process traumatic memories without appropriate professional support. Seek appropriate support if marked distress, disorientation, or involuntary traumatic material persists.

Imagery work in the context of psychosis, acute intoxication, significant alterations in consciousness, severe instability, or dissociation requires case-specific assessment and decisions by appropriately qualified clinicians.

GAI as part of the Deep Emotional Work System

Within DEW, it is useful to distinguish between techniques in which GAI is the main principle of action and techniques in which imagery is only one element in the mix.

GAI as the main principle: Inner Safe Place and the imagery component of Resource Work.
GAI in the mix: selected breathing, grounding, or containment practices may include imagery without becoming GAI techniques in their own right.

Bilateral stimulation and deliberate emotional processing belong to their own method categories rather than being classified as GAI merely because imagery may be present.

Application principles within DEW

Purpose comes first. The image is chosen for a reason. Within DEW, that reason is usually resource access and stabilization.
GAI can be self-applied. Once the structure is understood, a person may guide the practice independently or use suitable recorded guidance. Guided does not mean that another person must always be present.
The participant remains the primary source and decision-maker. Guidance offers direction without taking over the content.
Personal fit matters more than vividness. A faint bodily sense may be more useful than an elaborate picture.
Pacing remains responsive. The person can reduce immersion, keep their eyes open, change direction, pause, or stop.
The ending is part of the method. Attention returns deliberately to the present environment.
Claims remain attached to the actual intervention. Evidence for KIP, PITT, or a bundled programme is not presented as proof of DEW or Inner Safe Place.

That combination of participant choice, precise guidance, responsive pacing, and clear scope is the substance of the DEW approach. The value does not lie in a proprietary image or a claim of novelty. It lies in the quality of application.

Neuropsychological framework

A practical DEW hypothesis is that emotional change can precede conscious cognitive change. In practice, a person may first notice that something feels different and only afterwards find new words, explanations, or decisions that fit the changed emotional perspective.

A shift in one emotionally connected experience may also influence related narratives and expectations. This could help explain why a carefully developed resource sometimes feels relevant beyond the exact scene used to evoke it. This is a working framework derived from practice, not an established causal mechanism or a promise of broad change.

Neurophysiological basis

Mental imagery involves distributed perceptual, emotional, memory, and self-referential processes. The default mode network and neurological restructuring have been discussed as possible explanations. Direct neurophysiological or neuroimaging research on the exact DEW procedure is lacking, however.

Claims that GAI produces neurological remapping, memory reconsolidation, or a shift from implicit to explicit memory therefore remain hypotheses. They should guide research questions, not be presented as demonstrated effects.

GAI is not presented here as an independently proven treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder or other consequences of traumatization. Matthias Behrends is not a licensed psychotherapist or psychologist. Deep Emotional Work Academy (DEWA) provides professional education, not clinical assessment or treatment. Any clinical or patient-facing use requires appropriately qualified practitioners and the relevant institutional review, adaptation, approval, supervision, legal framework, emergency support, and safeguarding procedures.

Selected sources

Bauckhage, J., & Sell, C. (2021). When and for whom do psychodynamic therapists use guided imagery? Explicating practitioners' tacit knowledge. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome, 24(3), 306-319.
Bebermeier, A. (2014). Kurzfristige und langfristige Effekte der Psychodynamisch Imaginativen Traumatherapie und ihrer Bestandteile auf Ressourcenaktivierung und Symptomreduktion [Doctoral dissertation, Bielefeld University].
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Katathym Imaginative Psychotherapie. (n.d.). Die Katathym Imaginative Psychotherapie. Accessed 13 August 2026.
Drujan, M., Fallgatter, A. J., Batra, A., & Fuhr, K. (2023). Imagining a safe place: Emotion regulation with detachment intervention. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 43(1), 42-57.
Kalisch, R., Wiech, K., Critchley, H. D., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J. P., Oakley, D. A., Allen, P., & Dolan, R. J. (2005). Anxiety reduction through detachment: Subjective, physiological, and neural effects. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17(6), 874-883.
Lampe, A., Mitmansgruber, H., Gast, U., Schüssler, G., & Reddemann, L. (2008). Therapieevaluation der Psychodynamisch Imaginativen Traumatherapie im stationären Setting. Neuropsychiatrie, 22(3), 189-197.
Leuner, H. (1969). Guided affective imagery: A method of intensive psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 23(1), 4-21.
Nilsson, D., & Wadsby, M. (2010). Symboldrama, a psychotherapeutic method for adolescents with dissociative and PTSD symptoms: A pilot study. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 11(3), 308-321.
Reddemann, L. (2021). Psychodynamisch Imaginative Traumatherapie: PITT. Ein mitgefühls- und ressourcenorientierter Ansatz in der Psychotraumatologie (11th ed.). Klett-Cotta.
Reddemann, L. (2024). Imagination als heilsame Kraft: Ressourcen und Mitgefühl in der Behandlung von Traumafolgen (24th ed.). Klett-Cotta.
Rzepka, I., Zehetmair, C., Nagy, E., Friederich, H.-C., & Nikendei, C. (2024). Implementing a stabilizing intervention for traumatized refugees in temporary accommodations in South-West Germany: A randomized controlled pilot trial. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15, 1453957.
Sell, C., Möller, H., & Taubner, S. (2018). Effectiveness of integrative imagery- and trance-based psychodynamic therapies: Guided imagery psychotherapy and hypnopsychotherapy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 28(1), 90-113.
Zehetmair, C., et al. (2018). Psychotherapeutic group intervention for traumatized male refugees using imaginative stabilization techniques: A pilot study in a German reception center. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 533.
Zehetmair, C., Tegeler, I., Kaufmann, C., Klippel, A., Reddemann, L., Junne, F., Herpertz, S. C., Friederich, H.-C., & Nikendei, C. (2019). Stabilizing techniques and guided imagery for traumatized male refugees in a German state registration and reception center: A qualitative study on a psychotherapeutic group intervention. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(6), 894.
Zehetmair, C., Nagy, E., Leetz, C., Cranz, A., Kindermann, D., Reddemann, L., & Nikendei, C. (2020). Self-practice of stabilizing and guided imagery techniques for traumatized refugees via digital audio files: Qualitative study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(9), e17906.

Cite this article

Behrends, M. (2026). Guided Affective Imagery in Deep Emotional Work. Deep Emotional Work Academy. https://deepemotional.work/guided-affective-imagery/.