Facilitating Guided Imagery and Music: What Therapists Intend, Experience, and Do
Abbott, Elaine A. - Volume: 11
The published literature on the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM) provides revealing but inconsistent descriptions of therapists’ experiences during BMGIM sessions. In order to learn more about them, six therapists were videotaped while guiding a client through a BMGIM session. They were then interviewed about their moment-to-moment actions, experiences, and rationales for their actions and experiences while they watched the videotape. Narratives of the
therapists’ interviews were analyzed using phenomenological research techniques. Thematic clinical intentions were identified, as well as the interplays of action and experience in which the therapists were involved relative to those intentions. The findings of this qualitative study reveal that the therapists’ clinical intentions gave form and purpose to, but did not define the client’s therapeutic work. It was concluded that the therapists’ clinical intentions were key to their skillful use of their experiences and actions to guide a client through a BMGIM session.