The art, science, and techniques of reframing in psychiatric mental health nursing.

Reframing is a powerful psychotherapeutic intervention. Changing the "frame" in which a person perceives events can change the meaning the person associates with the events. This article describes several types of reframing strategies that have been developed within the context of a model of human behavior and communication known as neurolinguistic programming (NLP). Fundamental assumptions of the NLP model are discussed and several reframing techniques are described. A set of strategies that clinicians can use to redefine behaviors and expand a client's model of the world are illustrated. Development of theoretical and clinical applications of the NLP model and reframing techniques in psychiatric-mental health nursing is an important task for the 1990s.