Imagery Rescripting for depression: Recent advances and future directions

 Depression is a common and recurrent mental disorder and one of the main causes of disability. A large number of depressed people report intrusive negative memories, however, there is no specific therapeutic strategy that specifically targets these memories. In this regard, imagery rescripting is a psychotherapeutic technique that addresses memories and previous experiences and aims to improve negative emotions by changing the inner representation of negative memories and images. Although the treatment was initially developed for traumatized individuals, several interventions have yielded promising results for people suffering from other psychological disorders as well. Also, it seems that the interest in and applications of imagery rescripting for depression are quickly increasing. In this direction, the purpose of this article is to review clinical studies assessing the effects of imagery rescripting on depression, as well as possible processes underlying imagery rescripting.

 The present study is a review article that has been collected through study of 37 articles in the field of imagery rescripting, rescripting, imagery, mental imagery, mental images، intrusive memories and depression.

 The review shows that imagery rescripting is associated with a reduction in cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms of depression and related distresses and is an effective intervention for depression, distress of aversive memories and other related variables.

 Overall, it seems that more research is needed to compare different imagery rescripting protocols, investigate mechanisms of change, evaluate modulating factors and therapeutic changes for more effectiveness. Therefore, based on the review, a future research agenda is proposed to provide a sketch for further research in Iranian society.