In this systematic review, we aimed to synthesise existing research on the phenomenology of mental imagery among high worriers compared to healthy individuals, and to characterise the nature and effectiveness of existing imagery-related interventions in treatment of worry. PsycInfo, CENTRAL, EMBASE, Medline, Medline Epub, and PubMed were searched for studies examining the relationship between worry/GAD and mental imagery, or interventions using imagery in treatment of worry/GAD. We assessed study quality and used qualitative narrative synthesis to comprehensively map study results. The search yielded 2589 abstracts that were assessed for eligibility independently by two authors. From this, 183 full texts were screened and 50 qualitatively synthesised. Twenty-seven reported an association between worry/GAD and an aspect of mental imagery. Here, overactive negative and worry imagery, and diminished positive future imagining, were associated with worry/GAD. Twenty-three studies reported an intervention. This literature suggested mixed findings regarding efficacy, including for imaginal exposure as an independent technique for GAD. Findings support dysfunctional negative imagining and diminished positive prospective imagery in GAD. General imagining abilities remain intact, which is promising for efforts to utilise imagery in treatment. Further research is warranted to develop innovative clinical applications of imagery in treatment of GAD.

中文翻译：

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忧虑心理意象的基本过程和临床应用：系统评价


在这篇系统综述中，我们的目的是综合现有关于高度忧虑者与健康人心理意象现象学的研究，并描述现有与意象相关的忧虑治疗干预措施的性质和有效性。检索了 PsycInfo、CENTRAL、EMBASE、Medline、Medline Epub 和 PubMed，以查找研究忧虑/广泛性焦虑症与心理意象之间关系的研究，或使用意象治疗忧虑/广泛性焦虑症的干预措施。我们评估了研究质量并使用定性叙述综合来全面绘制研究结果。检索产生了 2589 份摘要，由两位作者独立评估其资格。由此筛选出 183 篇全文，并定性综合了 50 篇。 27 人报告了担忧/广泛性焦虑症与心理意象的某个方面之间的关联。在这里，过度活跃的消极和担忧意象，以及对未来积极想象的减少，与担忧/广泛性焦虑症有关。二十三项研究报告了干预措施。该文献提出了关于功效的混合结果，包括将想象暴露作为广泛性焦虑症的独立技术。研究结果支持广泛性焦虑症中消极想象功能失调和积极预期想象减少。一般的想象能力保持完好，这对于在治疗中利用意象的努力来说是有希望的。需要进一步研究来开发图像在广泛性焦虑症治疗中的创新临床应用。