As I walked past a junkshop the other day, this big blue box of empty picture frames caught my eye and reminded me of the therapeutic art of ‘reframing’.

Have you been to a professional framer’s lately? It’s quite something to watch your painting or photograph transform before your eyes as different frames and coloured matts are placed around the edges. Just when you thought you knew your artwork, suddenly there are certain highlights or perspectives or even entire readings of it that you hadn’t noticed before. It has new meaning for you now.

And that’s what therapeutic framing’s about, too. It’s a way of taking an image or a thought or an experience and seeing it in a new way. Trying out some new ‘frames’ or ideas around it. Seeing what that does to it, whether it’s transformed in some way, and whether it’s now easier to live with that image on your internal walls.

So what about you?

Are there any thoughts or experiences or expectations that you might like to take a fresh look at?

And how does this reframing actually work?

Well, much like the professional framer, it can help to start by stepping back and taking a broader view of your ‘image’ and to know that it can have different layers of meaning, depending on how you want to work with it.

So you may want to take a moment to see what else there might be to notice about this ‘image’; what you haven’t seen in it yet; and which elements you might like to highlight in some way.

For instance, say there’s a thought about how hard life seems lately. That you feel like you’re just getting nowhere with some aspect of your life, no matter what you do. You’ve tried and tried and it all just feels like treading water.

One frame might highlight feelings of hopelessness and ‘why-bother-ness’.

Yet there’s also other things to see here. Other sides to this story. Additional perspectives and other potential ‘frames’ that can help you highlight them.

So maybe try taking that step back and just ponder the scene from a distance for a moment. What else is there to notice about it?

Perhaps you might notice that although things have felt hopeless, the very fact that you’ve kept putting one foot in front of the other has its own worth and meaning.

So maybe a statement (or frame) like: ‘…but I’ve kept on trying despite the odds’ might add another dimension.

Or something like ‘… and I’ve been resilient and strong in the face of it’.

Or ‘…and the qualities that help me through this experience are…’

Or ‘…and I’m learning what doesn’t work in this situation, so I might also be getting closer to figuring out what does’.

Even the smallest, seemingly plainest of frames can help. Something as straightforward as: ‘Right now, this is a really tough time’ itself acknowledges the level of challenge you’re facing, as well as the possibility of transience and that this hopelessness will eventually relent. It offers some hope to keep you going.

So, what areas of your life might you like to try a new frame on?

And what kind of frame could it be?

Which aspects of the situation, or of yourself, might you like to highlight?

The beauty of going to an actual framer’s is the vast number of frames they have to choose from, from the ornate gold gilt numbers to the rough-hewn wood. And you can try them all if you’d like to – to just experiment until you find the one that feels right for now.

I wonder if that spirit of experimentation might also help with your internal reframing, too?

Photo: Gabrielle Gawne-Kelnar

Gabrielle Gawne-Kelnar (Grad Dip Counselling & Psychotherapy) is a Sydney psychotherapist in private practice at One Life Counselling & Psychotherapy. Gabrielle also co-facilitates telephone support groups for people who are living with cancer, for their carers, and for people who have been bereaved through a cancer experience. She is the editor of a journal on counselling and psychotherapy and she provides regular therapeutic updates on facebook and Twitter @OneLifeTherapy.

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    Last reviewed: 17 Aug 2010