A therapist reframes a client's self-description from broken to bruised, showing how past injuries have healed and current pain is temporary. The shift in perspective helps the client feel markedly better and offers hope to anyone struggling.
Chapters
A client came into me recently and she started the conversation by saying, I'm broken. She then went on to say how she was back living with her parents, doing a job she really didn't like. Money was incredibly tight and we were just about to hit the increase in electricity costs. She was saying, I just don't know how I'm going to pay those bills. I'm broken. My response to her was, you're not broken, you're bruised. Life has bruised you and it hurts, it's painful, but you're not broken. We then went on to reflect how over the course of her life She'd been bruised in the past, and what she started to notice was bruises heal. Whenever she'd felt in that bad place before, in pain, it didn't last forever. And that then gave her hope that, yes, the bruises at the moment are significant, they are painful, But they too will heal. It will get better. And that enabled her to leave the session in a very different state from how she came in. Just a change in perspective from being broken to being bruised. So my message today is, if you, like her, are feeling Broken. Perhaps you too are bruised. It is painful. However, bruises heal. Things will get better. So stop telling yourself that you're broken and start focusing on healing. Have hope.
