Gerald N. Epstein, M.D. (1935–2019) was an American psychiatrist and pioneering authority in the therapeutic use of mental imagery for healing. Trained at New York Medical College and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, Epstein built a distinguished career as a clinical psychiatrist and professor at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. His trajectory changed profoundly in 1974 when he encountered Israeli healer Colette Aboulker-Muscat in Jerusalem, whose practice of "waking dream therapy" revealed to him the vast, untapped power of conscious imagery as a path to healing body, mind, and spirit. He studied under her guidance for nine years, ultimately setting aside his Freudian practice to dedicate himself entirely to imagery-based medicine.
In 1982, Epstein founded the American Institute for Mental Imagery (AIMI) — originally chartered by the New York State Regents as The Colette Aboulker-Muscat Center for Waking Dream Therapy — to train licensed mental health professionals and educate the general public in the practice of healing visualization. His landmark book Healing Visualizations: Creating Health Through Imagery (1989) sold over 100,000 copies and was translated into eleven languages, bringing mental imagery techniques to a global audience. His research, including NIH-funded studies on imagery and asthma management, demonstrated measurable clinical benefits, with imagery patients showing significantly greater reductions in medication dependency compared to control groups.
Across more than four decades of practice, teaching, and writing, Epstein authored over a dozen books and audio programs — including Healing Into Immortality, Kabbalah for Inner Peace, and The Natural Laws of Self-Healing — that bridge Western psychiatry with ancient healing traditions rooted in imagery, dream, and spiritual awareness. His work remains a touchstone for practitioners and seekers alike who recognize the mind's extraordinary capacity to restore health and wholeness.
