Intervention 15 The art of reframing Purpose The way in which we look at our situations in life affects how we feel. This is very apt when we are working with people to help them better manage the different kinds of stress they may be experiencing. Reframing involves helping people to perceive their difficulties, and the context in which they take place, in a different way. A useful way of understanding this is to imagine that you have no knowledge of art or painting and to see the same picture literally in different frames. A Van Gogh, such as Pavement Cafe at Night, might look like a mess of blues and greens and oranges if viewed surrounded by a cheap white plastic frame. Putting the same painting in a polished mature redwood frame with gold edgings and gold-plated titling instantly makes the painting look more valuable simply by changing the frame it sits in. There are many ways to use reframing with people. Use your imagination with individuals and groups and experiment with different kinds of reframing to help them manage their stress in more effective ways. —
Materials • Sufficient copies of Handout 15.1, ‘Examples of reframing’. • Sufficient copies of Handout 15.2, ‘Reframing schedule’. • Paper and pens.
Technique 1. Explain to the individual or group that we view the problems and concerns in our lives through a particular frame of reference for each event. How we see, or frame, these events affects how we feel and whether or not we find the event stressful. 2. Make sure that they have understood what you mean by framing and link this to the analogy of how different picture frames influence how we see paintings, as well as how we think about them and the value we may put upon them. Tell the individual or group that, when we do this, we are reframing our experience. 3. Give one or two examples of reframing and invite the individual or group to do the same in order to check their understanding. You can use Handout 15.1, ‘Examples of reframing’, to cue into the individual or group how they can use reframing to better manage their stress.
Adapted from The Gower Stress Management Toolkit, Roy Bailey, Gower, Aldershot, 2001
4 Now emphasize to them how, by selecting reframing events in their life, they can make a powerful personal stress management strategy instantly available to themselves at any time. 5 Next, take Handout 15.2, ‘Reframing schedule’, and ask them to complete the three columns: Column 1 is the event or particular situation that the person has brought to the stress management or stress counselling session. Column 2 is the present frame of reference the person is giving to the event. Column 3 is the reframe that the individual group will now adopt towards this event or situation when or if it occurs in the future. Make sure that they complete all the columns. 6 As far as possible, encourage the individual or group to complete the whole of this assignment on their own. However, let them know that you are willing to help them if they need your assistance in creating reframes for the events they have described. 7 Take an innovative approach to the reframes and show the individual or group that you are pleased with their inventions. Show an interest in generating more than one reframe and ask them which particular reframe they will adopt out of the ones they or you have created. 8 When they have written everything down in all the columns, ask them to read back to you the reframe and then solely concentrate on their reframing of the event or situation. 9 When the individual or group has selected the reframe they will use for a particular event or situation, ask them to identify other situations or events for which this kind of reframe would be useful for in terms of managing stress. Ask them to make a list of these. 10 Now ask the individual or group to rehearse, using their reframing, for the event or situation they have described in Column 1 of the ‘Reframing schedule’. Be encouraging and make supportive comments, such as ‘That’s good. Just being able to see it differently gives you a new frame of reference. Keep doing it and, as you do, you can begin to feel differently about it all’. Make sure that they practise the reframing until it feels natural and easy to do. 11 Make a plan with the individual or group to practise their new art of reframing and invite them to experiment with more aspects of reframing wherever they feel they need it in their lives and for any potentially stressful situations in which they may find themselves.
Adapted from The Gower Stress Management Toolkit, Roy Bailey, Gower, Aldershot, 2001
EXAMPLES OF REFRAMING Initial frame
Reframe
I am in a tunnel and I can’t see a way out.
Every tunnel has an entrance and exit.
I am too anxious to study.
You need to be anxious enough to concentrate.
I know I will never be confident.
Being confident starts with having insights about our limits.
When he/she looks at me like that he/she hates me. Beggars are criminals and might kill me. He/she is out at night and that means that he/she does not love me any more. He/she is so boring, stays in all the time and does not have a mind of his/her own.
People cover up their hurt by putting a scowl on their faces. No one deliberately wants to fall on hard times. Private time away can help you to appreciate each other much more. Thoughtful people put others first and are a great port in a storm a great source of security. —
He doesn’t want to work. He is no good and a layabout - a typical waster - a drain on us all.
Lack of jobs has forced good and honest people into unemployment. This takes away their hope and breaks their spirit and belief in work.
Handout 15.1 1 of 1
Adapted from The Gower Stress Management Toolkit, Roy Bailey, Gower, Aldershot, 2001
REFRAMING SCHEDULE Event/situation
Present frame
Ref rame
Handout 15.2 1 of 1 Adapted from The Gower Stress Management Toolkit, Roy Bailey, Gower, Aldershot, 2001