Is This The Real Life, Is This Just Fantasy?: The Role of Fantasy Proneness in Imagery Rescripting of Distressing Life Events

Abstract

Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) is a technique focused on changing the meaning of distressing memories where clients are instructed to imagine a desired outcome. Although the interest in this technique is growing rapidly, research on ImRs is still in its infancy. Our study aimed to explore the individual differences that could create an advantage in ImRs effectiveness. Fantasy Proneness, a personality trait characterized by an enhanced vividness of mental imagery and stronger immersion to imagination, was hypothesized to enable greater reduction in distress after ImRs through the mediating role of vividness. Moreover, the role of different ImRs conditions (Experimenter-Guided vs. Participant-Guided) on distress reduction was explored by investigating whether they moderate the relationship between fantasy proneness and vividness, while vividness mediates the relationship between fantasy proneness and distress. 44 participants who experienced a distressing event withing the past 2 years were recruited. Our study consisted of 2 sessions. First session involved a detailed discussion of participants’ memories, and a questionnaire that assesses their fantasy proneness and baseline distress levels. Second session focused on ImRs based on the randomly assigned condition. Distress levels and the vividness of imagery were assessed followed by ImRs. The results revealed no significant relationships to confirm our hypotheses.