Researchers from SWPS University and the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology studied 180 young adults aged 18 to 35 who experienced fear of failure.
The participants took part in four therapy sessions over two weeks, focusing on difficult childhood experiences involving criticism.
The researchers tested different imagery based techniques. One group recalled situations that had caused fear or anxiety.
Another used a technique called Imagery Rescripting, in which participants recalled a painful childhood experience and imagined a supportive defender entering the situation, confronting the person who was criticizing them and protecting the child.
A third group received a similar treatment but included a 10 minute delay designed to strengthen the intervention’s effect.
The researchers found that all the imagery based approaches led to significant and lasting reductions in fear of failure.
Participants also experienced lower levels of sadness and guilt. Their physical stress responses when recalling childhood criticism also decreased.
Importantly, the improvements were still visible three and six months after the therapy sessions, suggesting that the effects were not temporary.
The researchers also discovered that imagery rescripting appeared to work particularly well when participants experienced a moment of surprise.
They explained that this may happen when what a person expects differs from what actually happens in the new imagined experience.
This mismatch, known as prediction error, may help the brain loosen established emotional patterns and create new responses to painful memories.
The researchers say the findings suggest that difficult childhood memories do not necessarily have to remain emotionally painful forever.
By creating safer and more supportive endings to distressing experiences, therapy may help people respond differently to challenges in their lives.
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