What is Reframing?

In this blog post, we will be exploring the idea of reframing thoughts, explaining how to do this technique and its benefits. Did you read our previous blog about early intervention? Read it here. 

What is reframing?

Reframing is a cognitive tool often used in therapy to help an individual shift their perspective. In the 1960’s, American psychiatrist Aaron Temkin Beck developed ‘Cognitive therapy’ which dominates in psychological interventions used worldwide today. Reframing is a technique whereby the individual is encouraged to change the way they feel about a situation, which includes picking apart their thoughts and feelings and changing the narrative. It is about challenging assumptions and automatic thoughts, with the goal of shifting perspective and offering a new and hopefully positive way of thinking about experiences and situations.

How to reframe

This is a technique that KMA therapists will incorporate into intervention sessions, but ultimately it requires the client to dismiss negative thoughts and challenge them to think ‘what have i learned from this situation’ etc. It can take some time to really get the hang of it, but once mastered it has extremely positive effects on the client and their resilience.

The benefits:

As mentioned above, Intervention is all about equipping the client to take control of their lives and overcome situations that may previously have taken over their thoughts. Framing is not about avoiding negative thoughts, but more about changing perspectives and changing the narrative which can help to alleviate stress, anxiety and burnout. Which in turn helps to build self-esteem, self-reflection and develop self-confidence.