Resources

A video description of a Bonny Method experience (Abrams)

This is a fine example of a Bonny Method experience recounted by GIM Fellow Brian Abrams. It illustrates the power of the method and gives a sense of how the music is central to the experience which is yet very much the client's own. The music comes from one of the first GIM music programmes created by Helen Bonny.

Video extract: Invited by Music (Clark)

Marilyn Clark was one of the first people to be trained by Helen Bonny and here describes her first GIM experience.

Music and Imagery Association of Australia (MIAA): Video Gallery

What is Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Therapy? (Denise Grocke)

Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Therapy – Individual Sessions (Carolyn Van Dort)

Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Therapy – Anxiety Resolution (Rachael Martin)

Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Therapy – Grief Resolution (Denise Grocke)

Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Therapy – Group sessions (Carolyn Van Dort)

The GIM Process (Pat Hamilton)

Short articles and posters

What is The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM)?

This article describes the core elements of the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM)

What does 'guiding' involve in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music?

People often aren't sure what guiding means in GIM, and it may not be what it is assumed to be. Most especially, the therapist does not tell the client what to imagine. This article explains more about it.

What is 'imagery' in GIM?

This article outlines the range of imagery experiences that clients can experience in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM). Most especially imagery refers to far more than visual imaging alone. It can include experiences in all the sensory modalities, body-based experiences and the experience of the music itself; the interplay of music, emotion and image being central to the process in GIM.

Guided Imagery and Music (GIM): The Spectrum of Contemporary Practice

This article outlines the contemporary spectrum of practice in GIM based on a poster presented at the 2016 British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) conference.

Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) and the rise of imagery based practice and research in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

This article discusses recent findings from empirical research in CBT where work involving mental imagery is a current 'hot topic' in CBT. The research affirms much of what is already known in GIM, whilst also bringing fresh perspectives to bear.

The Importance of Listening - Just Listening….

This poster was created by Liz Coombes for the 2017 Nordoff Robbins 'Exploring the Spiritual in Music Conference'. It is about the use of GIM techniques with trainee music therapists.

Research

Database on GIM Literature

This is a comprehensive database of GIM literature up to January 2016. It is a good place to start searches for literature e.g. for trainees, clinicians and researchers.

Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy - Special Issue 9 (2) 2017: “Guided Imagery and Music: Contemporary European perspectives and developments” (free to download)

Editorial

Celebrating Guided Imagery and Music developments in Europe
Evangelia Papanikolaou & Bolette Daniels Beck

Articles

Trauma-focused group music and imagery with women suffering from PTSD/complex PTSD: A feasibility study (Gabriella Rudstam, Ulf Elofsson, Hans Peter Søndergaard, Lars Ole Bonde & Bolette Daniels Beck)
The Redescriptive Technique: An adaptation of the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM) to bring tacit knowledge into awareness (Gabriella Giordanella Perilli )
Perspectives on Music Imagery and complex chronic pain (llan Sanfi & Erik Christensen)
Combining Schema Therapy and Guided Imagery and Music (Gert Tuinmann)
Guided Imagery and Music (GIM): Reflections on supervision in training and therapy (Isabelle Frohne-Hagemann)
The Process of Surrender: A psychotherapist’s homecoming (Katarina Mårtenson Blom)
Music as dynamic experience of unfolding wholeness in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM): A psychoanalytic, musical, transpersonal and trans-scientific paradigm (Martin Lawes)
The future of the Bonny Method: A perspective on Danish practice with a forecast to the future (Lars Ole Bonde)
Fairy tale composing as an alternative creative processing in group GIM (Evdokia Smirnioti, Sofia Trifonopoulou & Eleni Tsolka)
Searching for the unknown: A case study with a young woman suffering from music performance anxiety (Alice Pehk)
Aging into childhood through loss, emptiness, and recognition: A GIM case study (Katarina Mårtenson Blom)
‘Soundscapes’: A Norwegian music programme in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) elucidated through individual GIM therapy (Gro Trondalen)
‘New Blood’: A contemporary GIM programme (Svein Fuglestad)

Interview

In search of the lost grail: An interview with Torben Moe (Torben Moe & Steen Teis Lund)

Conference report

12th European Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Conference ‘European perspectives on Guided Imagery and Music: Visions, challenges and crossroads’ (Maria Samara)

Book review

Variations in Guided Imagery and Music: Taking a Closer Look (Bryan Muller) (Reviewed by Martin Lawes)

An Overview of Research in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (free to download)

An overview by Denise Grocke published in 2010:

Parallel with the development of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM), Helen Bonny was also involved in research studies at the Baltimore Psychiatric Research Centre. This article follows the development of research studies in the Bonny Method of GIM from the 1970s to the present day. Some studies, particularly those focussing on medical conditions, utilize a quantitative framework in which measurement of variables is the cornerstone. Other studies have focussed on a qualitative paradigm where the focus is on the experience of participants receiving the Bonny Method of GIM. Further, many studies now use adaptations of the original form, either because the client group requires shorter programs, or different music, or because the therapist modifies GIM to provide a different experience to that of the individual 1.5+ hour session. These adaptations are also addressed in this article. Finally, researchers have explored the music used in the Bonny Method of GIM from different perspectives, either by analyzing the structure of the music, or measuring how the music effects imagery creation, or physiological measures of the body. What is evident from this overview of research is that many studies are done at Master’s and PhD level, or conducted by a team of researchers. There is great diversity in what has been researched to date, indicating that research will continue to be an important aspect of GIM practice.

PhD dissertations on GIM from Aalborg University (free to download)

Aalborg University has a PhD program where music therapy clinicians from all over the world do research in diverse clinical areas. A number of dissertations/theses are on GIM-based or -related projects:

Beck, Bolette (2012): Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) with adults on sick leave suffering from work-related stress – a mixed methods experimental study
Blom, Katarina Mårtenson (2014): Experiences of Transcendence and the Process of Surrender in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) - Development of New Understanding through Theories of Intersubjectivity and Change in Psychotherapy
Bonde, Lars Ole (2005): The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM) with Cancer Survivors. A Psychological Study with focus on the Influence of BMGIM on Mood and Quality of Life.
Christensen, Erik (2012): Music Listening, Music Therapy, Phenomenology and Neuroscience
Hertrampf, Ruth (2017): “Keyboard of Life" Music therapy in Psycho-oncology - Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) in curative and early palliative treatment for women with breast cancer or gynaecological cancer - a mixed methods study.
Maack, Carola (2012): Outcomes and Processes of the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music and its Adaptations and Psychodynamic Imaginative Trauma Therapy for Women with Complex PTSD
Moe, Torben (2001): Restituerende faktorer i gruppeterapi med psykiatriske patienter - baseret på en modifikation af Guided Imagery and Music (GIM).
Story, Maya (2018): GIM with Military Women with Trauma: A Continuum Approach to Music and Healing
Summer, Lisa (2009): Client Perspectives on the Music in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM)
Torres, Esperanza (2015): Effectiveness of group MI with Fibromyalgia patients

Research Symposium Proceedings: 24th International Association for Music & Imagery Conference June 14-17, 2017 (free to download)

Supportive Music and Imagery: PhD (free to download)

Paik-Maier, S. (2018): An exploratory study of the processes of Supportive Music and Imagery therapy conducted in South Korea

Pivotal moments in GIM: PhD (free to download)

Grocke, D. (1999). A Phenomenological Study of Pivotal Moments in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Therapy. PhD, University of Melbourne

Barcelona Publishers GIM literature and resources

Bonny and Savary (1973 & 1990). Music and Your Mind: Listening with a New Consciousness
Bonny, ed. Summer (2002). Music and Consciousness: The Evolution of Guided Imagery and Music
ed. Bruscia and Grocke (2002). Guided Imagery and Music: The Bonny Method and Beyond. A revised version is currently in press.
Bruscia (2015). Notes on the Practice of Guided Imagery and Music
Digital Compilations of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Programs
Bruscia (2015). Discography of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Programs
ed Bruscia (2010). Case Examples of Guided Imagery and Music
Clarkson (2018). Spiritual Dimensions of Guided Imagery and Music
Muller (2014). Variations In Guided Imagery and Music: Taking a Closer Look.
Perilli (2017). Assessment and Evaluation of Narratives in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM).

Other publications from Barcelona Publishers featuring GIM Case Studies

Bruscia, K. (1991). Case Studies in Music Therapy
Grocke, D. (2004). Healing an Inflamed Body: The Bonny Method of GIM in Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis. Case 20 in ed. Hadley, S. (2004). Psychodynamic Music Therapy: Case Studies. Barcelona Publishers
Meadows, A. (2011). Developments in Music Therapy Practice: Case Study Perspectives
Hibben, J. (1999). Inside Music Therapy: Client Perspectives
Clements-Cortes, A., & Sara V. Klinck, S. V. Voices of the Dying and Bereaved: Music Therapy Narratives

GIM texts from Qualitative inquires in music therapy: a monograph series. Barcelona Publishers (free to download)

Volume 2 (2005):

Volume 3 (2008):

Bonde, L. O., Imagery, Metaphor, and Perceived Outcome in Six Cancer Survivors’ BMGIM Therapy, pp. 132-164

Volume 4 (2007):

Monograph 2: Zanders, M., Metaphors Clients Use to Describe their Experiences in BMGIM, pp. 45-68

Volume 6 (2011):

Monograph 2: Summer, L., Client Perspectives on the Music in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM), pp. 34-74

Volume 7 (2012)

Volume 11 (2016):

Monograph 4: Gross, R., A Schenkerian analysis of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro from the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music

Association for Music and Imagery (AMI) Journal & DVDs

Journal of the Association for Music & Imagery: "The mission of the Journal of the Association for Music and Imagery is to promote knowledge and understanding of the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music for those trained in the method and for related professionals. To this end, the Journal publishes original research that advances knowledge of theory, applications, and outcomes of the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) and related methods. Articles may reflect any form of research, including quantitative, qualitative, theoretical, philosophical, and case studies. The Journal is published biennially and all manuscripts submitted to the Journal are subject to a masked peer review." AMI Journal contents

Nordic Journal of Music Therapy GIM research articles

Bonde, L. O. (2009): Music Analysis and Image Potentials in Classical Music
Bonny, H. (2009): Body Listening: A New Way to Review the GIM Tapes
Brooks, D. (2009): A Holistic Description of Beginning Trainee Experiences in Live Observation GIM Supervision
Grocke, D. (2009): Re-Imaging in GIM Supervision
Körlin, D & Wrangsjö, B (2009): Treatment Effects of GIM Therapy
Körlin, D & Wrangsjö, B (2009): Gender Differences in Outcome of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Therapy
Meadows, A. (2009): Gender Implications in Therapists' Constructs of Their Clients
Moe, T., Roesen, A. & Raben, H. (2009): Restitutional Factors In Group Music Therapy With Psychiatric Patients Based On a Modification of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM)
Moe, T. (2009): Restitutional Factors in Receptive Group Music Therapy Inspired by GIM: The Relationship Between Self–Objects, Psychological Defence Maneouvres and Restitutional Factors: Towards a Theory
Ruud, E. (2009): “Burning Scripts”: Self Psychology, Affect Consciousness, Script Theory and the BMGIM
Thöni, M. (2009): Guided Imagery and Music in Fifty Minute Sessions. A Challenge for Both Patient and Therapist
Short, A., Gibb, H. & Holmes, C. (2010): Integrating words, images, and text in BMGIM: Finding connections through semiotic intertextuality
Abrams, B. (2015): Development and evaluation of the Transpersonal Depth-Guided Imagery and Music (TD-GIM) inventory
Trondalen, G. (2015): Resource-oriented Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (R-oGIM) as a creative health resource for musicians
Honig, T. (2015): Heterotopia: A tool for understanding therapeutic space
Beck, B. D., Messel, C., Meyer, S. L., Torben, T. O., Søgaard, U., Simonsen, E. & Moe, T. (2017): Feasibility of trauma-focused Guided Imagery and Music with adult refugees diagnosed with PTSD: A pilot study
Petra, J & Marita, H (2020): Exploring Guided Imagery and Music as a well-being intervention: A systematic literature review, Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, DOI: 10.1080/08098131.2020.1737185