Navigating Chronic Illness: The Empowering Role of Guided Visualization
Those with chronic illnesses often struggle with managing their pain, stress, anxiety, and depression. Furthermore, it can take a long time for them to find the correct care management plan that addresses all these symptoms of chronic illness, and in some cases, they may feel as though they can never find complete relief with only pharmacological products.
Guided visualization has deep historical roots, scientific interest, and modern-day applications in helping people cope with pain, anxiety, and depression. These same effects can benefit those with various chronic conditions, whether used individually or as part of a treatment plan.
Detailed below are five summaries from scientific reports detailing the benefits of guided visualization in managing the pain, stress, and mental burden of chronic illnesses, offering a way for chronically ill people to improve their quality of life.
Table of Contents
1. Guided Visualization Reduces Stress in Chronic Renal Failure Patients
2. Those with Chronic Headaches Get a Reprieve With Guided Visualization
3. Guided Visualization Reduces Pain and Depression in Patients with Fibromyalgia
4. Managing Sickle Cell Disease-Associated Pain in Young Children with Guided Visualization
5. Guided Imagery Addresses Key Concerns Of Those With Arthritis
1. Guided Visualization Reduces Stress in Chronic Renal Failure Patients
The number of individuals with chronic renal failure is growing. This progressive loss of the kidney’s function brings along illness- and treatment-related burdens, yet the patient’s physical and psychological well-being depends on their ability to cope and adapt to the life-changing nature of their disease. If they let their stress run unchecked, chronic conditions that are amplified by stress can interfere with the body’s ability to cope with the illness, making its complications more severe.
Through guided visualization, people can imagine an overall feeling of health and well-being, which can then manifest in the literal sense. This was exemplified in an India-based study where 100 chronic renal failure patients were evenly divided into a control or experimental group, with the experimental group receiving training for guided imagery.
The findings showed a significant decline in stress when patients completed guided visualization, demonstrating the physical power of this easy-to-implement practice.
2. Those with Chronic Headaches Get a Reprieve With Guided Visualization
Those with chronic headaches experience a significant decline in their quality of life. Even more, chronic tension-type headaches are notoriously difficult to treat—monotherapy and combination drug therapies can be ineffective, expensive, and accompanied by unpleasant side effects. Because of this, alternative medicine has been an appealing avenue for those with chronic headaches to explore.
Mannix et al. conducted a self-reported study in which 129 patients participated. The participants completed the Headache Disability Inventory and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36) initially and then one month after the visit, during which time they listened to guided imagery tapes daily as an add-on to their individualized headache therapy.
The study’s results showed that more patients who received guided imagery in addition to their individualized treatment reported their headaches as being better compared to patients who did not undergo guided visualization (21.7% to 7.6%, respectively).
Guided imagery also improved bodily pain, vitality, and mental health in the experimental group, showing that guided visualization is an effective addition to the treatment plans of those with chronic tension-type headaches.
3. Guided Visualization Reduces Pain and Depression in Patients with Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a chronic disease affecting all areas of a patient’s life—personal, social, and professional. People describe the pain as affecting their general state, and it is as much a psychological suffering as it is physical. There is also a two-way connection between depression and fibromyalgia, with one making the other worse and vice-versa.
Traditional pharmacological treatment for fibromyalgia is only symptomatic and does not fully resolve the illness, necessitating a need for long-term interventions, such as guided visualization, that provide relief for both pain and mental health concerns without adverse effects.
In a study by Onieva-Zafra et al., 60 patients were randomly assigned to a control group or a group receiving guided visualization. Pain scores and depression scores were examined initially, at four weeks, and at eight weeks.
After just four weeks of intervention, the group receiving guided visualization reported significantly lower scores in both areas, and these benefits continued at the eight-week mark.
4. Managing Sickle Cell Disease-Associated Pain in Young Children with Guided Visualization
There are currently between 90,000 and 100,000 people in the United States with sickle cell disease, which is an inherited blood disorder that causes those affected to experience acute and chronic pain syndrome. The acute pain has a severity described as being comparable to cancer-related pain, yet this pain arises unpredictably and often has no apparent triggering factor, leaving those affected unprepared against it.
A previously completed study on sickle cell disease pain revealed that patients have an average of 0.4 to 1 pain episodes per year, although 5% of the participants had 5 to 10 episodes yearly. Some episodes can be intensely painful and require emergency department visits, hospitalization, and opioid treatment. These painful episodes often begin at an early age, with children and youths with sickle cell disease experiencing pain episodes on a biweekly to monthly basis.
Since pain is a lifelong side-effect of sickle cell disease, pain management strategies can help make these acute pain episodes more manageable, lessening the need for hospitalization or opioid painkillers.
A study conducted in New York City examined the possibility of guided visualization as a pain management strategy for children with sickle cell disease. They included 20 children between the ages of 6 and 11 who had been treated for sickle cell disease for at least a year. The children completed pain diaries daily for two months, revealing that participants reported significant reductions in pain intensity after completing training for guided imagery. The children also felt they had more control over their bodies and could better manage their pain on their own, thanks to guided imagery. This was reflected in the decreased use of analgesics.
With prescription medications offering only temporary pain relief, accompanied by adverse effects, this research into guided visualization offers a gentler pain management strategy for children with sickle cell disease that also increases their confidence in treating themselves.
5. Guided Imagery Addresses Key Concerns Of Those With Arthritis
Treatment for arthritis and other rheumatic diseases (AORD) supplements pharmacologic treatments with psychosocial interventions to create a multifaceted approach to pain management. These psychosocial interventions are often in response to the side effects, financial burdens, risks, and dissatisfaction with common pharmacological treatments.
Guided visualization is one type of psychosocial intervention that shows promise in those with AORD. Not only has it been shown to reduce pain and medication usage, but it also increases function and mobility.
With over 50 million individuals in the United States suffering from these disabling diseases, the easy application of guided visualization can be a powerful tool that offers millions a reprieve from pain.
Guided Visualization Eases Life with a Chronic Illness
Guided visualization shows powerful applications for those with chronic illnesses. With those suffering from these conditions often feeling helpless to the pain, discomfort, life-altering diagnosis, and long-term care commitments, which can then lead to anxiety and depression, guided visualization allows them to regain control of their well-being.
With studies showing the benefits of guided visualization for those with chronic renal failure, chronic headaches, fibromyalgia, sickle cell disease, and arthritis, it’s clear that those with chronic illness can find great value in adding guided visualization to your pain management treatment plan.
Read more in our series highlighting recent research on guided visualization’s effect on health and well-being below:
The Healing Power of Guided Visualization: A Journey to Shorter Recovery Times
Harnessing the Calming Power of Guided Visualization: Research on Reducing Anxiety and Stress
Strengthening Immunity: The Science Behind Guided Visualization
Elevating Well-Being: The Transformative Power of Guided Visualization
References
Sateesh Biradar, and Ashwini Patil. “Effectiveness of guided imagery technique in reduction of stress level among chronic renal failure patients.” Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, vol. 15, no. 3, 17 May 2021, pp. 4105–4111, https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v15i3.15938
Mannix, L. K., Chandurkar, R. S., Rybicki, L. A., Tusek, D. L., & Solomon, G. D. (1999). Effect of Guided Imagery on Quality of Life for Patients With Chronic Tension‐Type Headache. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 39(5), 326–334. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1526-4610.1999.3905326.x
María Dolores Onieva-Zafra, Laura Hernandez García, & Valle, del. (2015). Effectiveness of Guided Imagery Relaxation on Levels of Pain and Depression in Patients Diagnosed With Fibromyalgia. Holistic Nursing Practice, 29(1), 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1097/hnp.0000000000000062
Cassandra Elaine Dobson, & Mary Woods Byrne. (2014). Original Research. American Journal of Nursing, 114(4), 26–26. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.naj.0000445680.06812.6a
Giacobbi, P. R., Jr, Stabler, M. E., Stewart, J., Jaeschke, A. M., Siebert, J. L., & Kelley, G. A. (2015). Guided Imagery for Arthritis and Other Rheumatic Diseases: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. Pain management nursing: official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses, 16(5), 792–803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2015.01.003
