Imagery-based therapy reduces adult fear of failure linked to childhood criticism

A team from SWPS University’s Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience and the Nencki Institute’s Laboratory of Brain Imaging conducted a multi-arm randomized controlled trial involving 180 young adults who reported a fear of failure rooted in childhood criticism. Participants attended four two-week sessions employing either Imagery Exposure, Imagery Rescripting with a supportive figure, or a delayed-rescripting variant designed to disrupt the original memory trace.

Across all conditions, participants experienced significant and durable reductions in fear of failure, guilt, sadness, and physiological stress responses, with these gains maintained at three- and six-month assessments. The study highlighted that the rescripting approach worked best when it generated a surprise, leveraging prediction-error mechanisms to reshape emotional memory. Co-authors Julia Bączek and Stanisław Karkosz emphasized that such techniques can rewrite the emotional impact of adverse childhood experiences, offering a flexible route to improved mental health.