Guided mental imagery can build psychological armor against online hostility

Evidence

In psychoand trauma therapy one often uses inner images to better process events, to activate resources and to better deal with fears. One of these images is the magic cloak. Imagine you go to a magic workshop and have a magic cloak sewn to protect you from attacks and a hostile environment. What color, what material, what cut do you choose? In your imagination, put the cloak on. How does it feel to wear it? What do you hear when you move? What does it smell like? Imagine what happens to attacks directed at you: Do they bounce off the coat, are they thrown back, is the energy of the attack absorbed? What effect does the coat have on the inside? Does it give you composure, courage, self-confidence? You could imagine, before you start reading comments or emails, to put on this coat. The more often you use this image, the more familiar it is to you, the better it can develop a protective function for you. You can also develop other images that help you build up a certain distance and protect yourself, for example, the image of a zoo: each comment corresponds to an animal that expresses itself in a friendly or hostile way, silently or loudly. — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 354

Categorization

• FICTION: A magic-cloak visualization protocol would work beautifully as a literal device in a fantasy or SF story — a character literally implants a coat that deflects attacks.