Jeanne Achterberg (8 April 1942 – 7 March 2012) was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

known for investigating the therapeutic application of

guided imagery Guided imagery (also known as guided affective imagery, or katathym-imaginative psychotherapy (KIP)) is a mind-body intervention by which a trained practitioner or teacher helps a participant or patient to evoke and generate mental images that si ...

and creative visualization.

Education and career

Achterberg received her Ph.D.in General

Experimental Psychology Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, in ...

from Texas Christian University, was a faculty member for 11 years at

Southwestern Medical School The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 18,800 employees, more than 2,900 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient vis ...

, and Professor of Psychology at

Saybrook Institute Saybrook University is a private university in Pasadena, California. It was founded in 1971 by Eleanor Camp Criswell and others. It offers postgraduate education with a focus on humanistic psychology. It features low residency, master's, and ...

, San Francisco. She co-chaired the Mind–body interventions ad hoc advisory panel and the Research Technologies Conference of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), and was a member of the Advisory Board, Unconventional Cancer Treatments Study Group, Office of Technology Assessment, United States Congress, president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, and senior editor for the

Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine The ''Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering alternative medicine published by Mary Ann Liebert. It was established in 1995 and is the official journal of the Society for Acupuncture ...

Collaboration with Simonton and subsequent research

Achterberg was originally influenced by her collaboration with

O. Carl Simonton O. Carl Simonton (born 29 June 1942 in Los Angeles, died 18 June 2009 in Agoura Hills) was a specialist in radiology and oncology most notable for his unproven cancer treatment methods. Career He founded and directed the Simonton Cancer Center ( ...

, a specialist in radiology and oncology, and a pioneer of psycho-oncology. Simonton worked with cancer patients to develop strategies by which they could reduce the stress and distress precipitated by diagnosis and treatment, and enhance the capacity to perceive therapeutic interventions, including

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

, as a progressive process toward a successful outcome. Among Simonton's methods was the use of creative visualization,

and

guided meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

; and he observed an alleged correlation between patients' positive images of and thoughts about treatment, and its successful course and outcome. Hamatsa shaman2

Achterberg subsequently researched the similarities and differences between the potential use of

imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as psychotherapy. Forms There are five major types of sensory ima ...

as an intervention

adjuvant In pharmacology, an adjuvant is a drug or other substance, or a combination of substances, that is used to increase the efficacy or potency of certain drugs. Specifically, the term can refer to: * Adjuvant therapy in cancer management * Analgesic ...

to contemporary medicine, and its use in ancient indigenous healing rituals, particularly those she identified as part of a shamanic tradition, which she described in her book Imagery in Healing.

Death

She died of metastatic breast cancer on 7 March 2012.

Selected works

;Books * Achterberg, J., Imagery in healing: Shamanism and modern medicine. Shambhala Publications, 2013. * Achterberg, J, Woman as healer. Shambhala Publications, 2013. * Achterberg, J., Rituals of healing: Using imagery for health and wellness. Bantam, 1994. ;Articles * Achterberg J, Cooke K, Richards T, Standish LJ, Kozak L, Lake J. Evidence for correlations between distant intentionality and brain function in recipients: a functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis. J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Dec;11(6):965-71. * Achterberg, J., Matthews-Simonton, S., and Simonton, O. C., Psychology of the exceptional cancer patient: A description of patients who outlive predicted life expectancies. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, Vol. 14, No. 4, 1977, p416. * Rider, Mark S., and Jeanne Achterberg. "Effect of music-assisted imagery on neutrophils and lymphocytes." Biofeedback and Self-regulation, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1989, pp247–257. * Achterberg, Jeanne. "The psychological dimensions of arthritis." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 50, No. 6, 1982, p984. * Gibbs, Harriett W., and Achterberg, J., Spiritual values and death anxiety: Implications for counseling with terminal cancer patients." Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol. 25, No. 6, 1978, p563. * Achterberg, J., G. Lawlis, F., O. Carl Simonton, and Matthews-Simonton, S., Psychological factors and blood chemistries as disease outcome predictors for cancer patients. Multivariate Experimental Clinical Research, 1977.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achterberg, Jeanne 1942 births 2012 deaths Neoshamanism American women psychologists People in alternative medicine Texas Christian University alumni 21st-century American women