The client who seeks a psychotherapist is almost always suffering from the effects of a lack of imagination. If the client was able imaginatively to solve her problem she wouldn't come to us. It is true, that like the rest of the health industry, we have tended to oversell the value of mere contact with our industry, and in some cases seeing a therapist may be an imaginative response. Nonetheless, most clients are inhibited generally, and even if they are loud, vocal and physically active their ability to react sensitively and accurately to other people is inhibited. Salter called this inability to empathize an inhibiion of the orienting reflex.

It seems to me imperative to begin the reawakening of imagination as soon as possible. Lazarus (1978) states that when Wolpe began systematic desensitization he abandoned hypnosis because it created dependency and relaxation training was substituted (p.78).

Fears about hypnosis are common. However, they are entirely misguided. There is nothing dependency making in modern hypnosis, and a skilled operator never makes a direct suggestion at all. When the Pavlov's technique of association with early pleasures, triumphs, victories, and simple experiences is used relaxation is induced without suggestion, and imagination is unbraked. Milton Erickson brought this concept to a high art form - though doubtless he would be irritated to hear me attribute the method to Pavlov.

It is interesting that every tactic suggested by Lazarus in his book written for a popular audience, IN THE MIND'S EYE (op cit), was described by Salter. Lazarus even quotes Epictetus to the effect that growing up entails starting to blame oneself for ones troubles instead of blaming others. The same quotation is found in Salter. Since Lazarus was a graduate student of Wolpe's and Salter was a coeditor with Wolpe and Renya of a book on THE CONDITIONING THERAPIES we can be certain Lazarus is familiar with Salter's work. Salter's name does not occur in Lazarus' well referenced book. Yet, every single tactic of "modern" behavior therapy was used by Salter and his mentors. One might object that Wolpe is the author of systematic desensitization, or reciprocal inhibition therapy. A thoughtful reading of the authors in the table above and especially of Mary Cover Jones and her systematic exposure of traumatized children to increasingly strong doses of the phobic material will reveal very early use of the method.

The tactic is ancient and was regarded as new only to a generation of therapists recovering from the desert created by the "mad speculative nightmare" which was Freudian psychoanalytic thought.

Lazarus indicates that European therapists have been interested in guided mental imagery from about 1963 (stet!). He fails to note that "hypnosis" as taught by Pavlovians is exactly the technique he recommends as "guided mental imagery". Hypnotherapy does not need the stage trappings of the swinging pocket watch, the hypnotic stare, the incessant repetition, the direct suggestion or the demand for concentration.

There follows four hypnosis scripts which alternate with more interactive sessions in the 13 session multimodal brief therapy. In addition there is a page of comment on the six concepts the hypnotist tries to get over to the client (taken from Joseph Barber, Ph.D. - the Erickson family states that Barber enjoys closest approximation to the master's touch of all his followers and students). There is also a partial script of Erickson's famous indirect induction of hypnosis whilst talking about the development of a tomato seed.

These scripts use guided visual imagery in associations to permit a return to a learning set, an exploration set and to activate imagination.

Lazarus provides a systematic review of images which have widely and successfully been used. Just don't take seriously the notion that these tactics were delivered freshly minted in the late 1960's.

Relaxation, per se; memory search for nonverbal experiences, per se; imagined practice, per se; imagined role playing; imagined scripts for interactions; simply attending to what the mind produces when the client seeks to recall a time when she was cold, hot,light, heavy, all have value in and of themselves. These tactics have the advantage that they can be directed, and that the imagination of the therapist can be engaged in reconstruction.

Alternating more interactive and rational sessions with these sessions using relaxation and guided mental imagery will enhance learning and consolidate the value of homework, accelerating the therapy.

The thoughtful, feeling therapist will realize that you don't read the scripts to the patient (although even a clumsy reader will get surprisingly good results). Despite the fact that the client is resting, reclining with eyes closed, the sessions are highly interactive as the therapist attunes herself in rapport with the client and observes and reacts to the client's rhythm and needs.

Husbands and wives often notice that the exact same script is different when made for one or the other of them, and will respond better to their own tape recording.