Visualization is the process of imagining going through a future situation as if it were happening today. It's a great way to practice skills to prepare you to face an upcoming situation that you’ve been avoiding or have been anxious or worried about.
The visualizations in our app combine elements from several evidence-based techniques: 🖼️ guided imagery, 🧠 mental rehearsal, and 🙇 imaginal exposures. The common elements in all of these techniques are the use of vivid details of a past or future scenario that brings it to life in the moment.
Loop visualizations help you to prepare for upcoming social interactions by:
(1) Giving an illustration of how an effective social skill can be used in this situation to overcome obstacles.
(2) By including a moment of conflict, it likely brings up some of the stress that you may experience in the real world situation and helps you to get more used to that feeling, so that it is not as jarring in real life. It’s like practicing a speech with a friend before giving it to a larger group.
(3) Lastly, the visualization by default ends on a positive yet realistic note. Oftentimes we imagine the worst case scenario and so this helps us to step out of this type of thinking to imagine realistically positive alternatives.