Imagination
- Fiona Sridjaja
- Aug 18, 2022
- 2 min read
Is it possible for our imagination to come to life? Sometimes, good or bad, humans have the capacity to make unrealistic, fantastical situations feel real. They take experience and knowledge, and form mental images and representations without the use of the senses. It is commonly associated with creativity, because through imagination, we don’t limit ourselves with our knowledge. Our imagination naturally generates from within, unconsciously influenced by personal memories and feelings.
According to GoodTherapy, in psychology, imagination generally refers to the ability to mentally represent sensations that are not physically present. For example, when a person contemplates the smell and taste of a lemon without either seeing or tasting the fruit, he or she is engaging in imagination. Although seemingly simple, it is helpful to acquire experience and knowledge about the world around us, better understand people from their perspective (develop empathy), to create and interact with the different forms of art, and many more.
Even though our imagination is beneficial in many ways, such as providing comfort and new, innovative ideas, there are some that can harm us. For example, when our imagination is mistaken for perception. People can struggle with mentalisation, the ability to differentiate between what is real and what isn’t. As a result, it can lead to having an imagined, irrational fear or delusion. This creates frequent stress, anxiety and trauma and affects daily life negatively.
Young children are typically what comes to mind when we think of imaginative people. The extensive imaginative space they have is a part of their development. It can be used to teach empathy, where they put themselves in another person’s perspective and to anticipate the consequences of their actions. A child’s imagination is also helpful in play therapy, or when therapists guide their active imaginations to help them resolve conflicts or form coping strategies.
Imagination is significant in psychology. As many people use their imagination in a variety of different ways for their own purpose. This includes using imagination to deliberately imagine desired outcomes, manage difficult emotions and calm ourselves down through meditation. Therefore, trained psychologists may employ imagination through guided therapeutic imagery to help patients address their concerns including depression, grief, stress, anxiety, substance use problems, relationship concerns, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Furthermore, a term often used which actually also requires imagination is daydreaming. Daydreaming can boost creativity and self-control, it occurs when the executive attention network and the default mode network collaborate. Thus enabling people to shut out the external environment and focus on what’s inside their mind. Hence, daydreaming shouldn’t be taken as a completely negative behaviour or habit, unless it disrupts day to day activities significantly.
In summary, a vivid imagination can either light up our lives or bring us into darkness. It has many different applications and benefits, such as aiding in exposure therapy and bringing us to a world beyond our current knowledge to explore and discover.
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