Emotional and non-emotional mental imagery and auditory verbal hallucinations (hearing voices): A systematic review of imagery assessment tools

Hella Janssen; Karin C van den Berg; Georgie Paulik; Katherine Newman-Taylor; Christopher D J Taylor; Craig Steel; Ger P J Keijsers; Machteld C Marcelis

doi:10.1002/cpp.2920

Emotional and non-emotional mental imagery and auditory verbal hallucinations (hearing voices): A systematic review of imagery assessment tools

Clin Psychol Psychother. 2023 Oct 31. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2920. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Hella Janssen^{1

2}, Karin C van den Berg^{1

3}, Georgie Paulik^{4

5

6}, Katherine Newman-Taylor^{7

8}, Christopher D J Taylor^{9

10}, Craig Steel^{11

12}, Ger P J Keijsers^{3

13}, Machteld C Marcelis^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Medical Psychiatric Research Group, Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg Eindhoven (GGzE), Eindhoven, Netherlands.
² Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, MHeNs Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
³ Department of Clinical Psychological Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
⁴ Perth Voices Clinic, Murdoch, Australia.
⁵ School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
⁶ School of Psychology and Exercise Science, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.
⁷ Psychology Department, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
⁸ Psychology Department, College Keep, Southern Health NHSF Trust, Southampton, UK.
⁹ Secondary Care Psychological Therapies Service, Pennine Care National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, Lancashire, UK.
¹⁰ Division of Psychology and Mental Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
¹¹ Oxford Centre for Psychological Health, Oxford, UK.
¹² Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research, Oxford, UK.
¹³ Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

PMID: 37905563
DOI: 10.1002/cpp.2920

Abstract

It is unknown to what extent mental imagery and auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are related. Trials evaluating this issue used both emotional and non-emotional mental imagery tools, thereby complicating outcomes comparisons. Therefore, the present study aimed to systematically review the literature on mental imagery in individuals with AVHs to (1) inventory imagery assessment tools used in this population, (2) to collect information on the relation between emotional and non-emotional mental imagery in all sensory domains and AVHs and (3) to integrate the outcomes of this systematic review in a model of different mental imagery domains and related assessment tools. We conducted a systematic literature search in the PubMed Database. After full-text screening, 17 papers were included. Findings showed that a variety of assessment methods have been used to assess various aspects of mental imagery in people with AVHs, suggesting that there is a lack of agreed theoretical conceptualization of mental imagery and AVHs. In addition, the studies confirmed as was expected that non-emotional mental imagery seemed unrelated to AVHs whereas emotional mental imagery was related to AVHs. Lastly, we proposed a model of mental imagery domains and corresponding assessment methods distinguishing between emotional and non-emotional mental imagery.

Keywords: auditory verbal hallucinations; imagery assessment tools; mental imagery; voice hearing.

Publication types

Review