Imagery has a long and varied history in the healing traditions of mankind.
The long standing knowledge that imagery is a critical component of all healing experiences is distinguished when we consider the vital roles played by placebos, suggestion, and positive expectant faith. This process is capable of bringing about profound psychological and physiological change, as it simultaneously empowers and educates the patients. For example, a client can be asked to close her eyes and allow her mind to prompt a picture that symbolizes her problem. Using IGI techniques, the client may then be guided in an imaginary dialogue with this image to explore and reveal its meaning and relevance to her problem or issue. These images can provide important information about the problem, as well as the client's beliefs, expectations, fears, resources and solutions.