As I explained in “Finding Meaning In the Routine,” I spend a lot of time as a mom-taxi. My son and I took advantage of a recent car ride by listening to an interview with Michael Phelps. He and I share an interest in Phelps’ swimming history and I have taken an additional interest in his mental health advocacy
One of the topics Phelps touched on was his use of imagery in competition. I thought I was familiar with the use of imagery to enhance athletic performance, but he discussed using it in a different way. Phelps explained that before a race he uses three types of imagery. He imagines what he might do to make the race go poorly, he imagines different scenarios he might need to handle, and he visualizes the “perfect” race. He spends a lot of time visualizing.
I was surprised by his time spent visualizing the race going “wrong,” yet it is somewhat consistent with how I work with clients to use imagery for distress tolerance. The most well-known use of imagery is to experience a happy and safe place with all of your five senses. Not only can it distract you from distressing thoughts, but it is also soothing. Who knows, maybe Phelps uses this one too!
Often times we imagine something we are anxious about going poorly. This is not typically helpful. I can still remember my own imagery of walking down the aisle at my wedding, tripping and falling flat on my face. I continued to see this image over and over again. By the time I arrived on my wedding day, I was clutching my dad’s arm.
When these images pop into our heads, it can be helpful to distract from them. After all, we don’t know there will be a negative outcome, so why torture ourselves? Furthermore, when we imagine negative outcomes, we are inclined to behave in ways that bring those scenarios to reality. That was my initial reaction to Phelps’ explanation of his imagery. Wouldn’t imagining negative outcomes lead him to a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Then I remembered, distracting from those images is only one approach that can be helpful. It is primarily helpful when we are imagining situations we have no control over. However, with or without control in the outcome, there is a useful way to use worst-case imagery. We can imagine things going wrong and then handling them skillfully. I could have imagined myself tripping on my wedding day and handling it with grace and a smile.
Let’s be honest, the best-case scenario isn’t always likely to happen either. However, when we feel confident in our abilities to handle unfortunate situations, our anxiety can actually decrease. I would guess that Michael Phelps also uses worst case-scenario imagery as a way to prepare and feel confident. Unfortunately, I can’t exactly ask him.
The benefits of using imagery are definitely increased by using it in multiple ways. In addition to “happy-place” imagery, and imagery of skillful responses to worst-case scenario, we also want to use “mastery imagery.” Here we can picture ourselves handling a situation exactly as we hoped. By rehearsing that image in our minds, we are likely to behave in ways that support the outcome.
I should add that the use of the word “imagery” is slightly misleading. Yes, we want to conjure up a detailed visual picture. It is, however, even more helpful to experience that picture with all of our five senses.
So, next time you can’t rid yourself of that feared image of an upcoming event, channel your inner Michael Phelps. He has a lot of medals to show he is doing something right!
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