It was at night when her pain got the worst. Diane Bilyeu of Jacksonville, suffering from peripheral neuropathy, had only her pain meds to help her. After six years of it, she wanted something more.

Referred by her physician, she found it in guided imagery, which sounded almost too good — and too simple — to be true.

"It did wonderful things. I'm overcoming the pain, mentally. It puts you in another mental cycle, where you're happy and content, doing something you really enjoy," says Bilyeu, 63, who (visually) goes to Hawaii and relaxes on the beach in sessions at Asante's Triune Integrative Medicine Center.

Part of the "mind-body medicine" movement in the treatment of pain, disease, stress and improved athletic performance, guided visualization sessions involve deep relaxation of the body, followed by verbal instructions and suggestions by a psychologist, says Dr. Robin Miller, the director of Triune, who used it for her own hysterectomy in December.

"It made a huge difference. There was virtually no bleeding, which is what I asked for in the guided imagery. I wasn't anxious at all and I was out of the hospital in two days," says Miller.

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Guided imagery is effective because the mind can't tell the difference between reality and visualized images, so it accepts suggested scenes and states of health as "real," something called the placebo effect, says Dean Shrock, who runs the sessions at Triune and makes tapes or CDs for patients to use at home.

"You imagine the most relaxed setting, usually on the beach on vacation. The brain doesn't differentiate between fact and fantasy, as proven by an electromyogram (electric energy in muscles), so if you have visualizations and suggestions about low blood pressure, little or no pain or bleeding and rapid healing, the mind accepts that."

Personal trainer Carol Lee Rogers of Ashland used guided visualization and positive suggestions when she twice cycled in the Tour de France — and encourages clients to use guided image CDs for getting in shape and competing.

"You visualize the race you're about to do. You see yourself winning. You see yourself taking the lead, going into the corner, smoothly climbing the mountains and — that's what's going to happen," says Rogers.

Why? Because the body and mind are not two different things, but very much overlapping and integrated, she says, so "rehearsing, using all your senses, helps bring it about. You see it, hear it, smell it and feel your body doing it."

Warmup time, she adds, is a good opportunity to do guided imagery and suggestions "and to calm that nagging, negative voice that says you can't do it. Images are powerful in weakening that voice and creating the change you desire."

Shrock's "script" for imagery guides patients by suggesting they go to a warm, sunny beach, relax and let muscle fibers lengthen, with enhanced blood flow. It suggests nutrients and blood quickly heal the afflicted area, stomach and intestines work normally — and they see themselves quickly recovered and enjoying favorite activities. He even has patients visualize that they, family and friends praying and that the prayers work.

Bilyeu got her husband, Clyde Bilyeu to try guided imagery for carotid artery surgery, a procedure that in earlier surgeries caused him substantial bleeding.

"I'll be honest, I was skeptical. But the way I know it worked is because the doctors said they had a hard time stopping the bleeding last time but this time they said there was no bleeding. I had visualized the blood being controlled and not a problem," said Clyde Bilyeu.

"I was amazed. I have to admit it worked. It also took away the anxiety of surgery. I went in with the attitude it was going to be all right and the doctor knows his job. I was totally relaxed."

Miller acknowledges that visualization is often considered unscientific and goes against the grain of the medical profession, but more and more physicians are warming to it, as an adjunct to normal treatments.

Guided imagery always suggests healing and health, working against what Miller calls "medical hexing" — telling patients they'll have this much pain and that much time to live. Although physicians are legally required to be candid about normal symptoms, procedures and outcomes, she notes, "a lot of them are not really sensitive" and many patients who literally set their minds to it can improve on what's normal.

"The power of your mind is phenomenal," says Diane Bilyeu, who has significantly reduced her use of pain medications. "The medical industry is realizing its true benefits."

Another Miller patient, "Jenny," who asked that her name not be used, used imagery for shoulder surgery, reporting it "worked well" in the operation and its recovery. "It's your own thought that creates positive energy."

Shrock, a PhD in psychology and author of "Doctor's Orders: Go Fishing," (2000), led healing imagery on a circuit of 40 cancer treatment centers in Pennsylvania, trying to increase the will to live and quality of life, noting "people who are busy doing what they like not only tend to forget their aches and pains but experience a positive effect on quality and length of life."

Shrock co-authored a study of patients with breast and prostate cancer, finding that those getting "psychosocial factors," including social support, expression of emotions and learning of coping skills, including visualization, had half the deaths four and seven years later, compared to a group without these.

He adds, "It is potentially healing as anything else when people feel they are being supported, listened to and that they have genuine connection with others."

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.