Can My Developmentally Disabled Brother Use Guided Imagery?

Dear Belleruth,

I have a 22 year old brother with mental retardation/developmental disability. He lives in a group home and holds down a job at a local supermarket as a stock boy. Every now and then, he gets stressed, just like the rest of us. My question is this: can you use guided imagery with people like my brother? Would he be able to get something out of a guided imagery CD? I’d like to give him a pre-loaded iPod for Christmas.

Thank you in advance,

Martin T.

Dear Martin,
A great question from a great brother, who is planning a great gift! The answer is absolutely yes!!

Guided imagery mainly accesses the more primitive, survival-based areas of the brain, with soothing voice tone and music. As a result, it is not dependent on fancy cognitive abilities to do its job. In fact, this is why it can be used with small children; puppies and other pets; patients with Alzheimers and other forms of dementia; and people with various levels of developmental disability. It’s also why it reduces the symptoms of people with PTSD – most of those symptoms are lodged in the midbrain and brain stem, where “upscale” talking and thinking can’t reach.

So, by all means, get the iPod for your brother. He’s a lucky guy to have you in his corner!

Happy holidays,

Belleruth

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written by Tom Willmon, December 30, 2008

"... it can be used with ... puppies and other pets."

Please, tell me more. A friend is nursing a flock of sick cats (I suspect from a moldy house, and she is sick too), and some help would be welcome.

Thanks

Tom Willmon
[mid] New Mexico

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written by BR, January 01, 2009

Tom,
We have years of anecdotal evidence that pets indeed do chill out to the soothing sounds of guided imagery & music, along with their humans. A friend, Kerry Scott, sells soothing music specifically for pets, including Cat Dreams, at her Gooddoggoods.com site: http://www.gooddoggoods.com/sh...thaCD.asp/ .
But, bottom line, she's gotta get rid of that mold!!! (But you knew that!)
BR

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written by Margie, January 03, 2009

I have a husband who had a severe stroke 7 years ago, he has made remarkable progress with accupuncture but has a hard time speaking and following directions. By all rights he should have not survived in leiu of the magnitude of the stroke. Can you recommend a tape that would help him ?

Margie

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written by BR, January 04, 2009

Our Stroke imagery is the most appropriate but, unless he's made recent improvements, it's not so likely to have much of an impact on his functioning seven years after the stroke. Then again, you never really know, and it could help his mood, so it may be worth a try. Most improvements come within the first 6 months to a year and that's when we strongly encourage people to use the imagery too.

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written by cynthia, April 13, 2009

Minnesota drug intervention is basically here to give an individual suitable resources to get a person struggling with an addiction that doesn't think he requires it into a drug or alcohol rehabilitation treatment

Cynthia Kurtz
Drug Intervention Minnesota

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written by cynthia, April 14, 2009

It can be difficult for an individual to figure out when it is the right time to perform an alcohol or drug intervention. It gets a lot less difficult when the individual has the wisdom to be able to notice the signs.

Cynthia Kurtz
Drug Intervention Michigan

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