Imagery rescripting in the treatment of prolonged grief disorder: Insights, examples, and future directions

Background

Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) has received increasing attention in the past decades. It proved to be effective in reducing symptoms associated with aversive memories in a range of mental disorders, including anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Given its proposed working mechanisms, ImRs may also be a relevant treatment strategy for prolonged grief disorder (PGD), where negative appraisals, helplessness, and unmet needs play a key role as maintaining factors.

Objective

We aimed to illustrate how ImRs may be used in the treatment of PGD.

Method

We present examples of clinical cases for several central themes in PGD: (1) Unfulfilled responsibilities, self-blame, and guilt; (2) Third-party failures, other-blame, and anger; (3) Unfinished businesses, troubled minds, and regrets; (4) Unsatisfactory goodbyes; (5) Emotional loneliness; 6) Shattered self-identity and reduced self-clarity.

Results

Based on the case examples, we illustrate how ImRs may be applied for each theme.

Conclusion

We hope to inspire clinicians to apply and researchers to investigate ImRs as a treatment strategy for PGD.