Introduction
Every crisis that befalls our lives presents us with not few and not easy changes and challenges. At times, the crisis is naturally accompanied by an increase of difficulties and anxieties. Beyond that, every crisis does not detract from our lives that continue forward with full force, and the need to maneuver between family life, relationship, parenting, work, studies or anything else, does not skip even during such a complex period. At the same time, a crisis also contains within it the ability for growth and development, and the way in which we experience the crisis will have quite an impact on that.
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Naturally, worries and difficulties are accompanied by negative emotions such as fear, uncertainty, sadness, anger, helplessness and frustration. Often, even though the difficulty is real and influenced by external events, the solution lies in the power of thought, or more specifically, in the interpretation that we give to the events occurring in external reality.
In some cases, changing the way we think and interpret reality can lead to a better feeling and to a sense of ability to cope positively with reality. It is clear that emotional and external difficulties we face will not change only as a result of a change in thinking, and yet, there are many situations in which changing our line of thought will lead to an improvement in our emotional state and in our ability to cope with the situation.
One of the ways that can help us in this is a process called framing (in English: Framing). This is a selective process, determined by choice, of forming an attitude toward information about a case or an event that happens to us.
The concept of “framing” was first defined by Erving Goffman in 1974, when his intention was to give a new frame to an event that allows seeing the case that one experiences, even if it was experienced years before, from a new point of view that changes the perception and even our feelings toward the original experience. Thus, framing affects not only our present but also feelings from our past.
Framing can influence the subjective interpretation that we give to the information available to us, to the experience and to the thought, and of course ultimately to our reaction and attitude toward that event.
The engagement with the concept of framing takes place in different fields of knowledge, such as communication, therapy, sociology, psychology and more. It is based on the assumption that a certain subject can be examined from diverse points of view and be interpreted as having implications for different values or considerations, and thus the frame of reference for that subject is created or updated, and in the words of Albert Einstein “we cannot solve problems using the same form of thinking that we used when we created them”.
Reframing as a way of life
In a therapeutic process, reframing allows the patient to see his life story, or parts of it, from an additional point of view, with depth and complexity. In the process, additional aspects of reality, considerations and thoughts are examined, both of the patient himself and of his environment. Thus, childhood experiences and events that have been experienced in a certain way until now can receive a different meaning. The process allows a softer, more mature attitude, since as adults, we have the ability and the tools to see the case in a more in-depth way.
Viktor Emil Frankl used the model as a way of life. Viktor was a physician, neurologist and psychiatrist, a Viennese Jew, founder of the method of logotherapy and existential analysis, considered the third Viennese school in psychotherapy (after the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud and the individual psychology of Alfred Adler).
During the war years, Frankl was sent by the Nazis to the Theresienstadt Ghetto, and afterward to the Auschwitz extermination camp. In the extermination camps he went through hardships, hunger and torment in body and soul. His beloved wife and his family members perished, and he was forced to see again and again how his fellow prisoners were executed in cruel and unusual ways or died of hunger.
Frankl carefully planned the lectures he would give after his release, using human material from the death camps as illustration for theoretical and practical points he wanted to teach, and later said that this is what helped him keep his spirit and body alive under horrifying conditions. In his famous book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, Frankl tells that even under the harsh conditions, he would sometimes walk outside his clinic and give a lecture to an imaginary audience in order to preserve his sanity. Frankl survived the death camps and continued to realize his vision as a therapist and an influential theoretician.
Various studies in psychology have found that when we frame reality in a positive way we can use this interpretation in order to move forward, whereas when we frame reality in a negative way, we may find ourselves in a state of stagnation and with negative feelings. In this situation it is recommended to redefine and give an explanation of a new and advancing meaning in a way that will allow us to continue toward the goal. It is important to note that not always will the individual be able to use reframing alone, especially in complex situations, and therefore it is advisable to consult and be assisted by professionals.
Sources
Frankl, V. (1970). Man’s Search for Meaning: From the death camps to existentialism. An introduction to logotherapy. Tel Aviv: Dvir.
[א] Chong, D., & Druckman, J. N. (2007). Framing theory. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci., 10, 103-126
[ב] Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York, NY et al.: Harper &
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