Published : 30 Sep 2026, 12:36 AM
Updated : 30 Sep 2026, 12:35 AM
A specialised imagery-based psychotherapy may help people struggling with a persistent fear of failure, according to a recent study from the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience at SWPS University in Warsaw.
According to Psychology Today, the study involved 180 adults aged 18 to 35 who reported experiencing fear of failure.
Participants took part in two weeks of therapy sessions focused on childhood memories of harsh criticism.
Researchers divided them into three separate groups.
The first used Imagery Exposure (IE), in which participants recalled situations that had triggered fear or anxiety.
This acted as a control, allowing memories to be recalled without attempting to change them.
The second group used Imagery Rescripting (ImRs), an active technique intended to alter how distressing memories are experienced.
After recalling an upsetting childhood event, participants imagined a supportive person defending them, confronting the overly critical person and supporting their younger selves.
The third group also used ImRs, but with a 10-minute delay between recalling the memory and imagining the supportive intervention.
Assessments conducted after the sessions and again three and six months later found reductions in sadness, fear of failure and guilt across all three approaches.
Participants also showed reduced physical reactions when recalling the memories, with the effect still evident at three and six months.
The strongest effects came from ImRs when there was no delay, according to the article.
Researchers suggested that the element of surprise may help explain the result. Instead of allowing a painful memory to unfold as expected, the imagined intervention introduces a different outcome, potentially helping establish new cognitive pathways.
Psychology Today notes that fear of failure can have multiple causes, including perfectionism, an identity strongly tied to achievement and painful childhood experiences involving emotional abuse, harsh criticism or neglect.
The article suggests that people troubled by a particularly painful childhood memory could, as a gentle self-help exercise, imagine rewriting the event by introducing a supportive person who comes to their defence.
