Psychotherapeutic Imagery Techniques

The Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory was used to assess fear of failure. It is a 35-item questionnaire that measures the strength of subjective beliefs about the consequences of failure. The PFAI has five subscales: fear of experiencing shame and embarrassment; fear of devaluing one's self-esteem; fear of having an uncertain future; fear of important others losing interest, and fear of upsetting important others, with scores ranging 35-175.

Subjective ratings at the end of all sessions - participants were asked to evaluate each fragment of the presented scenarios according to several measures: immersion, focus, emotions (happiness, sadness, guilt, fear, anger, disgust) on a 9-point Likert scale (very low-very high), and valence (very negative-very positive), scores ranging 1-9 for each factor.

Skin conductance level (SCL) was collected during the audio-guided scenarios' imagery at pre-treatment, treatment, post-treatment, and follow-up sessions. SCL was acquired using Biopack MP160 EDA-MRI system, with a sampling frequency of 2000Hz. The signal was resampled into 1000Hz, then smoothed with median (100 samples), and filtered with a high-passed 1Hz filter. We calculated normalized change in SCL with equation 100✕(SCLStim-SCLbaseline/SCLbaseline), where SCLStim is the mean signal value during the stimulus and SCLbaseline is an SCL reaction during the baseline preceding the first part in each scenario (Sugimine et al., 2020). Our primary outcome was SCL during the imagery of different scenarios, separated for anticipation and hotspot parts.

Saliva samples were collected on pre- and post-treatment with cotton rolls. Samples were collected using cotton rolls that were chewed for 1 min and were later secured in sterile V-bottom tubes and stored at 4°C temperature upon analysis. Samples were coded and sent to the Institute of Human Genetics Polish Academy of Science where the level of alpha amylase was measured.

Beck Depression Inventory second edition (BDI-II) is a self-report scale using 21 items regarding the presence and strength of depression symptoms, with scores ranging 0-63.

Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive self-report severity scale Y-BOCS-SR a 10-item, self-report questionnaire created to evaluate OCD severity, scores ranging 0-40.

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test AUDIT is a self-reported tool containing 10 items used to assess recent alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence symptoms, and problems related to alcohol consumption, with scores ranging 0-40.

Drug Abuse Screen Test DAST 10 is a self-reported questionnaire to detect drug use disorders, scores ranging 0-10.

Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 SCID-5-PD is a semistructured clinical interview that evaluates DSM-5 personality disorders under three clusters of A, B, and C, and other specific personality disorders. Based on positive answers to questions clinician diagnose adequate personality disorders.

M.I.N.I. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview is a short structured interview for DSM IV and ICD 10 disorders, used to assess mental disorders: major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, suicidality, mania, panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, specific phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol dependence/abuse, drug dependence/abuse, antisocial personality disorder. Based on positive answers to questions clinician diagnose adequate disorders.

Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) is a 24-item scale to evaluate fear and avoidance in social situations such as social interaction, public speaking, being observed by others, eating and drinking in public, with scores ranging from 0 to 144.

Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS) is composed of 12 items, which measures three components of procrastination: decisional delay, implemental delay and delays in lateness/timeliness, with scores ranging 12-60.

Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale was used to assess overall perfectionism and its dimensions: Personal Standards, Organization, Concern Over Mistakes, Doubts About Actions, Parental Expectations, and Parental Criticism, with scores ranging 35-175.

Self-report dimensional scale for Social Anxiety Disorder based on DSM-5 criteria. The scale consists of 10 items measuring frequency of symptoms experienced in the last 7 days. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale (0 = never, 4 = all the time). Scores range 0-40, with higher scores indicating greater symptom severity.

Self-report dimensional scale for Agoraphobia based on DSM-5 criteria. The scale includes 10 items evaluating thoughts, feelings, and behaviors associated with agoraphobic avoidance in the past 7 days. Each item is scored on a 0-4 scale. Total score range: 0-40.

10-item self-rating questionnaire based on DSM-5 criteria for Panic Disorder. The scale assesses symptom frequency over the past 7 days using a 4-point Likert scale (0-4), with total scores ranging from 0 to 40.

A dimensional measure for Generalized Anxiety Disorder based on DSM-5, comprising 10 items. Participants indicate how frequently they experienced each symptom during the past 7 days. Scoring is on a 4-point Likert scale from 0 (never) to 4 (all the time), with total scores ranging 0-40.

Self-report scale assessing PTSD symptoms as defined by DSM-5 criteria. The instrument includes 10 items evaluating symptom frequency over the previous 7 days on a 0-4 Likert scale. Total scores range from 0 to 40.