A phenomenological case study of the therapeutic impact of imagery: Rescripting of memories of a rape and episodes of childhood abuse and neglect
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Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
National Inquiry Services Centre (NISC)
Abstract
This is a systematic case study of the assessment and treatment of Anna (43), a woman presenting
with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a drug-facilitated sexual assault that
occurred over twenty years earlier. She was also diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder.
Treatment with cognitive therapy for PTSD and social phobia was supplemented by imagery
rescripting (IR) of memories of childhood trauma within a schema therapy approach. The study
documents how her intrusive memories of the rape were potentiated by early maladaptive schemas
that developed in response to abusive and neglectful parenting. Within a broader narrative, three
examples of IR are described which show how, as an emotion-focused intervention, this approach
discloses deeper memories and emotional states that are distressing and traumatic and allows
them to be transformed through a healing process that is organic and displays what Bohart and
Tallman (2010) call “self-organizing wisdom.”
Description
Keywords
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Sexual assault, Cognitive therapy, Social phobia, Imagery rescripting (IR)
Citation
Padmanabhanunni, A. & Edwards, D. (2014). A phenomenological case study of the therapeutic impact of imagery: Rescripting of memories of a rape and episodes of childhood abuse and neglect. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 14(1)