This study examined the effects of mental imagery in the solution-focused
approach by evaluating the impact of positive self-image about the future on
emotional states using the time machine question (which is a questioning
technique used in the solution-focused approach). We compared the change in the
emotional state of 270 participants, using the Japanese version of the Positive
and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), before and after the intervention. The
intervention conditions included: verbal description of one’s positive future
on a worksheet (the language description condition), and imagining one’s positive
future (the imagery condition). The results of the experiment showed that after
the intervention, the scores of the imagery group on the positive and negative
affect scales of the PANAS were significantly higher and lower, respectively,
than those of the language description group. We also found that the amount of
change in the scores of the positive and negative affect scales of the PANAS
was significantly larger in the imagery group as compared to the language
description group. These results indicate that interventions involving the
imagining of one’s future via the time machine question of the solution-focused
approach have a more direct impact on emotional states than interventions using
a language description. This suggests that mental imagery plays an important
role in interventions carried out within the framework of the solution-focused
approach.
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