Abstract

Psychological experiences and complex emotions, which are challenging to express in language can be more effectively con veyed through imagery. However, there are currently limited tools available to measure the psychological experiences associ ated with pathological imagery phenomenon adequately. This study validates the Korean Impact of Future Event Scale (K IFES) and highlights the importance of considering mental imagery alongside linguistic aspects in mental health. The K-IF ES’s ability to identify emotional distress has practical implications, providing a reliable criterion for understanding cognitive vulnerability related to imagery. This was assessed by comparing emotional distress categories from self-reported Mini Inter national Neuropsychiatric patient health survey between 127 individuals and 73 healthy controls. Further, this study estab lishes the K-IFES as a reliable and valid tool particularly in assessing pathological imagery through the Rasch model, conver gent and discriminant validity analysis, and ROC analysis. It emphasizes the significance of measuring psychological experi ences related to pathological imagery and introduces a novel tool for assessing intrusive prospective imagery.