mental images are reported as being the most frequently experienced by people ordinarily, in controlled experiments, and when participating in guided imagery, with visual images remaining the most extensively researched and documented in scientific literature. All mental imagery, including the visual images generated through creative visualization, can precipitate or be associated with strong emotions or feelings. Therapeutic application The therapeutic application of creative visualization aims to educate the patient in altering mental imagery, which in turn contributes to emotional change. Specifically, the process facilitates the patient in replacing images that aggravate physical pain, exacerbate psychological pain, reaffirm debilitation, recollect and reconstruct distressing events, or intensify disturbing feelings such as hopelessness and anxiety, with imagery that emphasizes and precipitates physical comfort, cognitive clarity, and emotional equanimity. This process may be facilitated by a practitioner or teacher in person to an individual or a group. Alternatively, the participants or patients may follow guidance provided by a sound recording, video, or audiovisual media comprising spoken instruction that may be accompanied by music or sound. Whether provided in person, or delivered via media, the verbal instruction consists of words, often pre-scripted, intended to direct the participant's attention to intentionally generated visual mental images that precipitate a positive psychologic and physiologic response, incorporating increased mental and physical relaxation and decreased mental and physical stress. Stages According to the computational theory of imagery, which derives from experimental psychology, the process of creative visualization comprises four stages: Stage 1 is image generation, which involves generating mental imagery from memory, fantasy, or a combination. Stage 2 is image maintenance—the intentional sustaining or maintaining of imagery, without which a mental image is subject to rapid decay and does not remain for sufficient duration to proceed to the next stages. Stage 3 is image inspection. In this stage, once generated and maintained, a mental image is inspected and explored, elaborated in detail, and interpreted in relation to the participant. This often involves a scanning process, by which the participant directs attention across and around an image, simulating shifts in perceptual perspective. Stage 4 is image transformation, in which the participant transforms, modifies, or alters the content of generated mental imagery, into substitute images that provoke negative feelings, indicate suffering, and exacerbate psychological pain—or that reaffirm disability or debilitation for those that elicit positive emotion, and are suggestive of autonomy, ability to cope, and an increased degree of mental aptitude and