Is Anodyne like guided imagery?
Yes, Preferred Place is an Anodyne technique that is like guided imagery. However, Anodyne differs from guided imagery in that the person selects their own pleasant experience and the Anodyne practitioner merely helps the patient to focus on it and make it vivid. In guided imagery, the practitioner selects some predetermined pleasant place, usually someplace outdoors and “paints” a picture for the patient. Anodyne practitioners avoid this because it is our belief that we cannot intrinsically know what is going to be pleasant or not for another person. Another major difference between Anodyne and guided imagery is the very vivid inner experience the patient gets when the practitioner helps them to become fully associated there. The Anodyne technique involves all the senses, not just visualization. The more senses involved in the inner experience, the more associated the patient becomes in the experience. This makes it easier to stay in the experience, and to reenter it at will, empoweri
