Your therapist may have never directly spoken with you about the therapeutic frame, but it is a concept that is always present in the background and often the foreground of psychotherapy. The frame creates the space that allows therapy to happen. This post from the Couch series on the New York Times blog presents some thoughts on the use of space in therapy and architecture. The writer describes some elements of the frame and how it facilitates therapy:
the recurring time and place of the therapy sessions, the agreed-upon fee, the consistency of the furniture and the predictable presence of the analyst. There is also the expectation of a safe and separate environment in which the patient can remember sad moments, experience shame and think about desire. The therapeutic frame creates the freedom that allows the patient to say all that comes to mind. It separates the therapy from the rest of life, for both the patient and the therapist.