| Abstract: | The therapeutic use of reframing is fundamental to strategic therapy, yet we lack an adequate conceptual scheme for understanding the critical elements of effective reframings. Some background for the concepts of frame and reframing are provided, along with clinical examples. Much of the existing literature links reframing to what has been termed “radical constructivisim,” a theory that knowledge is a personal construction, a creation, rather than a discovery. Both the contribution and the limitations of radical constructivism are noted. It is criticized for minimizing the extent to which individuals' construction of their predicaments are social in nature and an adaptation to influences that are independent of individual cognitive activity. Clinical imlications of this perspective are explored. |
