How FIT beats cravings

Powerful, positive, multisensory imagery lies at the heart of functional imagery training. Why? Because imagery is the most emotional and motivating form of thinking we have. We need it to beat cravings and temptations that stand in the way of achieving our goals. 

Cravings and temptations are driven by imagery. Sara’s experience of living with gambling disorder shows how powerful it can be. Interviewed by Viktor Månsson [1] at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, she describes the almost-physical sensations of imagining gambling: “when you see these big wins, it is like a heart attack. You get happy at the same time, but the heart is pounding”. Maria’s experience shows how different senses combine into an irresistible image of winning: “I see myself in front of the computer and the wheels end up just right, so I hit the jackpot, the big win... And everything is ringing and blinking.’ For Henry, it was imagining the “taste of wine” and the “sweet feeling” of drinking that pulled him towards alcohol. 

Participants in Månsson’s study thought about quitting but these thoughts tended to lack imagery and were weaker because of it. Margaret describes how she “had conferences with myself, tried to talk sense to myself, I have cursed, I have praised, and I have cautioned.” All to no avail: Margaret continued drinking because her self-talk about abstinence lacked the emotional power of alcohol craving that, once triggered, “started to crawl in my body”. 

Functional imagery training (FIT) tackles cravings by helping the person create powerful, multisensory imagery of succeeding in their abstinence goals. It is important that these images are linked to the person’s values, so they compete emotionally with cravings as well as sucking mental energy away from craving images. That is why FIT uses the empathic communication style of motivational interviewing, to elicit imagery that really matters to the person. 

Even neutral images – picturing a rose garden for example – can reduce craving. Research by our team showed how smokers’ cravings were weakened by spending a few minutes imagining everyday scenes [2]. Multisensory goal images are more effective because there is a much stronger incentive to bring them to mind – they matter at a deep, personal level. These functional images help generate the motivation that people need to ‘take back control’ [3] from alcohol, by:

• Allowing the person to feel what it would like for them to achieve a positive future
• Making the future more concrete and attainable, harder to put off until tomorrow
• Blocking the craving imagery that makes temptations so hard to resist. 

If you are interested in how functional imagery training can empower your clients to take back control, please contact us at functionalimagerytraining@plymouth.ac.uk.

[1] Månsson, V., Andrade, J., Jayaram-Lindström, N., & Berman, A. H. (2023). “I see myself”: Craving imagery among individuals with addictive disorders. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 41(1), 64-77.

[2] May, J., Andrade, J., Panabokke, N., & Kavanagh, D. (2010). Visuospatial tasks suppress craving for cigarettes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48(6), 476-485

[3] Dhanda, A., Andrade, J., Allende, H., Allgar, V., Bailey, M., Callaghan, L., ... & Creanor, E. S. (2024). Mental Imagery to Reduce Alcohol-related harm in patients with alcohol use disorder and alcohol-related liver damaGE: the MIRAGE randomised pilot trial results. BMJ Open Gastroenterology, 11(1), e001267