This research study was designed to investigate the relationships of imagery, self-concept, anxiety, stress, subjective stress and seriousness of illness and to determine the potential of certain cognitive mediating variables, especially imagery and an interaction between self-concept and imagery, to significantly increase the efficiency of stress as a predictor of seriousness of illness. The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the efficiency of stress as a predictor of disease, (2) to determine if cognitive mediating variables will significantly increase the predictive efficiency between stress and disease, (3) to investigate selected correlations among the variables, (4) to provide a research base for current treatment procedures using imagery treating various illnesses.