Imagery Rescripting: A Defender Rewrites Childhood Memories to Relieve Fear of Failure

A three-arm randomized trial with 180 young adults found that imagery-based therapies—imagery exposure, standard imagery rescripting with a defender, and a delayed version—significantly reduced fear of failure and negative emotions, and dampened physiological stress when recalling harsh childhood memories, with effects lasting at least six months. Benefits were strongest when a prediction error or surprise occurred during rescripting; the delayed variant did not outperform standard Imagery Rescripting.