Members,
To help clarify this post a bit:
Reframing is a way for irrational beliefs to be put into context and challenged based on evidence, past experience and in a more realistic and positive light. By doing this, people are able to develop more rational beliefs and healthy coping strategies.
To put this into context, let�s say a university student decides to quit smoking over his summer break. At first he is upset and thinks this the worst possible decision he could make because he realizes that he can no longer go out to bars with his friends, may have to stop going to football games with them (where they smoke a lot) and has to deal with his girlfriend, who is also a smoker. After �Hell Week� he�s had some time to relax and reflect a little more on his decisions. He realized now that he has more time on his hands, he can learn how to play the guitar, something he had always wanted to do but was too busy to learn. He discovers that he�s a great player and has a real talent at creating music. He practices all summer and when he returns to school decides to change his major to music. After graduation he embarks on a successful music career. When he talks to his friends (who btw still smoke) he is insistent that quitting smoking was the best thing he could ever do.
The purpose of this post way realize that sometimes we have irrational thoughts that if we just put them into a different frame can really change the way that we perceive them.
Brenna, Bilingual Health Educator
