The Therapeutic Frame
The Therapeutic Frame
Introduction to the Therapeutic Frame The therapeutic frame refers to the fundamental guidelines within which psychotherapy is conducted. Psychodynamic therapists are especially concerned with formulating the therapeutic frame to create a predictable and safe psychological and physical space for conducting therapy (Howard, 2009). It is imperative to have this space in counselling as it has been proven to optimise the conditions for the client to come to touch with his/her internal world, thus, enabling emergence of the transference relationship (Corsini, Wedding & Dumont, 2008). By establishing the frame with clients, psychotherapists essentially set out a therapeutic contract so that when they or their clients deviate from the so formed contract, they can remain open in thinking out and understanding the deviation. To construct the therapeutic frame, psychodynamic therapists utilise conventions that are not only very discipliners but also entirely incompatible with social relationships. This makes the rame act as a demarcation to set the scene for therapy by delineating the therapeutic relationship from all other associations in the life of the client (Mathison, 2009). As such, the client is able to express their thoughts, fantasies and feelings, some of which would not be acceptable in many other types of relationships, and are actually discouraged and shunned in some therapeutic models. In the end, the client is facilitated to access unconscious materials through a framework comprised of clinical techniques that include transference and counter-transference exploration (Zunker, 2011). The analytic frame in psychotherapy is made up of two components: the analytic attitude and the analytic setting. The analytic attitude refers to the stance adopted by the therapist towards the client, and this has four core features that have been established through many years of consistency in clinical practice – neutrality, reliability,
Introduction to the Therapeutic Frame The therapeutic frame refers to the fundamental guidelines within which psychotherapy is conducted. Psychodynamic therapists are especially concerned with formulating the therapeutic frame to create a predictable and safe psychological and physical space for conducting therapy (Howard, 2009). It is imperative to have this space in counselling as it has been proven to optimise the conditions for the client to come to touch with his/her internal world, thus, enabling emergence of the transference relationship (Corsini, Wedding & Dumont, 2008). By establishing the frame with clients, psychotherapists essentially set out a therapeutic contract so that when they or their clients deviate from the so formed contract, they can remain open in thinking out and understanding the deviation. To construct the therapeutic frame, psychodynamic therapists utilise conventions that are not only very discipliners but also entirely incompatible with social relationships. This makes the rame act as a demarcation to set the scene for therapy by delineating the therapeutic relationship from all other associations in the life of the client (Mathison, 2009). As such, the client is able to express their thoughts, fantasies and feelings, some of which would not be acceptable in many other types of relationships, and are actually discouraged and shunned in some therapeutic models. In the end, the client is facilitated to access unconscious materials through a framework comprised of clinical techniques that include transference and counter-transference exploration (Zunker, 2011). The analytic frame in psychotherapy is made up of two components: the analytic attitude and the analytic setting. The analytic attitude refers to the stance adopted by the therapist towards the client, and this has four core features that have been established through many years of consistency in clinical practice – neutrality, reliability,
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