Mervin Smucker. A conceptual framework for imagery rescripting.

The concurrent presence of chronic PTSD symptoms, maladaptive traumagenic beliefs and schemas in survivors of childhood trauma suggests the need for a therapeutic approach that simultaneously addresses these different levels of pathology. Imagery rescripting was developed as an expanded information-processing, schema-focused model in which the recurring, intrusive traumatic memories are conceptualized both within a PTSD framework and as part of one’s core schemata. An extension of Beck’s cognitive therapy model and Foa’s extinction model, the procedure employs imagery and verbal interventions to activate the entire trauma memory (visual, affective, sensory and cognitive components), as well as to identify, challenge, and modify the recurring traumatic imagery along with the trauma-related beliefs and schemas. The use of imagery enables the traumagenic schemas (e.g., powerlessness, unlovability, mistrust, abandonment) to be visually activated through the eyes of the traumatized child, and challenged, modified, and reprocessed through the eyes of the empowered adult.

Mervin R. Smucker