Imaginal Procedures

Description of the Strategy

Imaginal procedures are primarily used in exposure therapies for children with anxiety problems but are also often used to assist in the development of coping skills for a variety of child problems through the use of role plays or imagery in relaxation training or cognitive restructuring. With respect to exposure therapy, imaginal exposure requires the child to confront the feared stimuli in a way that typically produces less anxiety than an in vivo or real-life exposure. Children are asked to imagine themselves at various degrees of confrontation with the feared object or situation. Typically, anxious children focus on threat in their environment. The anxious child overestimates the likelihood of threat, overestimates the consequences of the threat, and underestimates their ...