Those that say graphic imagery does not work are not correct. Those that say it always does are not correct. I don't know how many different ways I can say it but different things work on different people. Deborah is right, graphic imagery has not stopped me from smoking. It has stopped my daughters from sticking their faces in snake tubs. Over the years they had only learned the nice side of my animals. They play with them like they are the trusted family dog. They are at the age where I have decided they can start helping me feed but no amount of talking could convince them that their "toys" could so drastically change behavior. Unknown to them I set up a situation with one of their most trusted animals who is pretty large for a ball while they watched me feed. I basically set it up so that it appeared that the animal spontaneously launched itself half way out of the tub at my face. I made sure that they could see the speed of the strike with the mouth wide open. I of course knew the animal was coming and how far it could go. This was a wake-up call for them. They saw a trusted animal suddenly act like something dangerous. They no longer stick their faces over snake tubs at any time, and are now super careful when dinner is served. If this had failed to convince them I was prepared to go ahead and take a bite and hopefully bleed a little bit. I didn't though. The shock factor of the behavior change was a good enough.