Guided Fantasy

The therapist leads the client through an imagined scene to activate feelings, resources, or inner conflicts. It differs from medical visualization in that the focus is on the process and the experience, not on reaching a goal. Used for meeting inner figures — a wise elder, an inner child, a frightening figure — and for accessing hidden self-knowledge.

Step-by-step guide

1. Preparation: the client sits comfortably, eyes closed by choice
2. Entering the scene: "Imagine yourself in a place of safety. Where is it?"
3. The therapist guides through sensory detail: "What color are the walls? What is the smell?"
4. Step-by-step deepening: meeting a figure, receiving a message
5. Dialogue inside the fantasy: "This person is in front of you. What do you say to them?"
6. Return: "Slowly come back here. Ground under your feet. Open your eyes."
7. Integration: a discussion of what happened

When to use

• The client is cut off from joy, playfulness — a meeting with the inner child
• A search for resource: "There is a wise one inside you. Meet them."
• Meeting a frightening figure in a contained space
• Dialogue with a body symptom: "Step into the pain. What lives there?"
• The client is stuck: fantasy opens what the mind does not acknowledge

Key phrases

Follow-up questions

Alternative phrasings