Students can manage anxiety through programme that helps them imagine positive outcomes

Researchers tested whether Functional Imagery Training had the potential to reduce student anxiety
Two men sitting in chairs talking during a Functional Imagery Training session
Students’ anxieties over participating in activities or completing tasks can be managed by increasing their motivation towards positive goals they want to achieve, a study has shown.
Researchers in the School of Psychology at the ùƵ found that Functional Imagery Training (FIT) , a technique that uses mental imagery to motivate change, was effective at reducing students’ anxiety levels around everyday tasks.
They found it calmed concerns about any perceived negatives a student might have regarding particular experiences, feelings which could normally result in them taking steps to avoid such situations completely.
In fact, it often had completely the opposite effect, fostering a sense of empowerment within individual students that they were in control and able to manage both their actions and emotions.
The researchers are now exploring ways to make FIT available to more young people, to help them learn skills for managing anxiety before it becomes a chronic problem.
The new study is published in the Behaviour Research and Therapy journal, and involved academics working in ùƵ and at the Queensland University of Technology.

The move from school to university is a time of people’s lives when they are vulnerable to developing pathological anxiety.

Finding effective ways to manage it is all about changing how you respond to potentially stressful moments, and we had always thought FIT had the potential to do that. This study has shown that FIT can be used to develop skills through which people can stay focused on their goals without anxiety getting in the way.

Jackie AndradeProfessor Jackie Andrade
Professor in Psychology

FIT is a unique approach to behaviour change that teaches people new ways of thinking about their immediate future to help them stay motivated as they achieve each small step towards their goals.
It was developed by researchers in ùƵ and Queensland based on two decades of research showing that mental imagery is more strongly emotionally charged than other types of thought.
FIT blends person-centred counselling with tailored imagery exercises to strengthen motivation, and it has been used over the years to help people lose weight, strengthen resilience, and combat cravings linked to diet and addiction.
The current study was one of a number exploring its potential benefits for those with anxiety.
The researchers measured the anxiety levels being experienced by undergraduate students before and after they participated in a 40-60 minute FIT session, which was delivered on a one-to-one basis.
They found the sessions strengthened the students’ motivation for engagement goals, thanks to the calming and empowering effects of imagery practice, and that the continued anxiety reduction was specifically due to FIT rather than the generic effect of taking part in a study.
As one of the study participants said, vividly imagining their end goal increased their motivation to achieve it. They said:
“It's just picturing it all done and the feeling of it all being done. It kind of makes you want to get to that feeling as soon as possible. So you try and do as much as you can, so you can feel happy and sorted.”

One of the main positives of FIT is that it’s centred around an individual, but we’re not saying it is a miracle cure for anxiety or any other issues. The same anxieties still exist within a person’s mind, but FIT means that when those issues try to take over, a person has the personal toolkit which helps them engage with anxiety-provoking activities and learn ways of coping. The aim is to help people think more about the positives than the negatives, imagining life in a less problematic way and enabling them to shift to a new way of thinking about the future.

Professor Jackie Andrade
  • The full study – Andrade and Bowditch: Early phase testing of functional imagery training as an intervention for anxiety – is published in Behaviour Research and Therapy, DOI: .
 
Jack using the functional imagery training equipment
 

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