Imagery Interview for Juvenile Delinquents

Abstract

In imagery interview as kind of meditative psychotherapy, the clients asked to close eyes and to develope and express his free imagery as if he were dreaming. In this situation, deep emotional process is freed and strengthened minimizing the ego defence and untherapeutic reasoning, which promotes the psychotherapeutic process.

In this article, effectiveness for Juvenile delinquents treated by imagery interview therapy was studied by analyzing the 14 clinical cases. Rapid development of awareness of his depth, extraordinary effective catharsis, experience of emotional growth, some other positive therapeutic progress were observed in imagery interview especially in maladjusted delinquents (so called unsocialized delinquents).

It seems that the imagery emotional process stimulates the therapeutic regression and / or reorganization, and afterwards the insight on reality level makes it fixed.

Clients (maladjutsed delinquents) who were not successful in the ordinary interview psychotherapy often developed rapid emotional outburst or release.

In some cases, specific positive feeling is uncovered as a result of imagery proceess. For example, a maladjusted delinquent boy experienced a serious affective feeling toward his mother, which recovered his feeling of guilt. This method is, therefore, especially pronounced in the cases of emotionally disturbed delinquents who show some difficulty in verbal conceptual communication.

Therapist’s empathic response in the world of imagery seems to be the most important in this process. But, when the imagery-emotional process is often radical, the client sometimes falls into anxiety attack, which increases his resistance and defence. (author’s abstract)