Jeanne Achterberg

Jeanne Achterberg (8 April 1942 - 7 March 2012) was an American psychologist known for investigating the therapeutic application of guided imagery and creative visualization.

Achterberg was originally influenced by her collaboration with O. Carl Simonton, a specialist in radiology and oncology, and a pioneer of psycho-oncology. Simonton worked with cancer patients to develop strategies by which they could reduce the stress and distress precipitated by diagnosis and treatment, and enhance the capacity to perceive therapeutic interventions, including radiotherapy, as a progressive process toward a successful outcome. Among Simonton's methods was the use of creative visualization, guided imagery and guided meditation; and he observed an alleged correlation between patients' positive images of and thoughts about treatment, and its successful course and outcome.

Influenced by her early collaboration with Simonton, Achterberg subsequently researched the similarities and differences between the potential use of imagery as an intervention adjuvant to contemporary medicine, and its use in ancient indigenous healing rituals, particularly those she identified as part of a shamanic tradition, which she described in her book Imagery in Healing.

Achterberg received her Ph.D.in General Experimental Psychology from Texas Christian University, was a faculty member for 11 years at Southwestern Medical School, and Professor of Psychology at Saybrook Institute, San Francisco. She co-chaired the Mind–body interventions ad hoc advisory panel and the Research Technologies Conference of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), and was a member of the Advisory Board, Unconventional Cancer Treatments Study Group, Office of Technology Assessment, United States Congress, president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, and senior editor for the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

...
Wikipedia