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“Guided imagery gives children confidence that they have some control over what’s going on in their bodies,” Rowan says. “Usually after just a couple sessions they feel comfortable enough practicing the techniques in their own homes.”

Rowan also works with children to record customized tapes that can guide them through the imagery process. She recounts stories of patients who have suffered from various conditions and been able to relax their bodies and lessen their discomfort. “I truly feel that practicing guided imagery is allowing me to use my nursing skills to help patients enjoy life to its fullest,” Rowan says.

Use your imagination

At Phoenix Children’s Hospital, nurses work in conjunction with child life specialists to teach their youngest patients guided imagery techniques.

“When we have children experiencing difficulty with pain control, we call on our child life specialists to teach the children guided imagery,” says Charlene Cowley, RN, CPNP, pain management nurse coordinator at Children’s Hospital. “We’ve found pain medications are much more effective when children use guided imagery and can become more relaxed and not as focused on the pain and stress of being in a hospital.”

Many of the nurses at Children’s also have taken courses in guided imagery and use their skills when their young patients become anxious. “If a child is having chronic pain, we immediately begin working with them on learning guided imagery,” Cowley says. “Often, we also train parents, so that they can continue doing guided imagery with the child after leaving the hospital.”

Cowley and other nursing staff have noted that guided imagery not only helps to relax children and increase the effectiveness of pain medications, but also elevates their immune functioning and lessens any anxiety and depression they may be experiencing.

Some children like to imagine they are visiting a favorite place such as a beach or an amusement park. They are encouraged to use all five senses to explore the place, and to realize they can return to their special place whenever they are in pain or feeling anxious.

Other children find that replacing pain with a familiar activity — such as imagining playing soccer, skating, or skiing — helps relieve discomfort. Another technique often used is to have children create a mental image of what the pain looks like and then to visualize another image of something else ending that pain.

“All of our treatment rooms feature hidden pictures in the wall murals,” Cowley says. “We’ll often use these as a way of helping a child imagine they are in a different place. Even with very young children, we can use pop-up books to help stimulate their imagination.”

In a recent Cincinnati Children’s Hospital news release, Huth notes the need for more nurses to receive training in guided imagery techniques or to work closely with their child life specialists to identify patients who might benefit from the practice.

“We need to get better at adequately dosing pain medications in conjunction with using distraction techniques,” Huth says. “Nurses are beginning to think differently about how they practice and how they can help patients and families with nontraditional methods of pain management.”

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