I recently completed a retraining course in art therapy, I am very pleased with the knowledge I acquired and have already begun to apply some techniques and exercises in my practice. I would like to share a description of the very effective exercise "Picture in frame." I use it as part of a "regular" 60-minute meeting in long-term therapy or as "homework" for those clients who are close to this approach. The authorship of the technique belongs to the German psychotherapist Udo Baer. The author came up with the idea for the technique as a result of studying the importance of the frame for a painting. It is designed to highlight the image, to separate it from the surrounding space. The picture frame is very important. If the frame is chosen correctly, it helps the perception of the picture; if the frame is chosen incorrectly, this can reduce the effect of its impact. Some artists, understanding the importance of the frame, create it themselves, including it in the work, using unusual materials, shapes and colors. In therapy, we often encounter feelings that frighten clients or even cause panic. If people have not lived through their feelings for a long time, they do not have a “measurement” to help assess the scale, intensity and effect of these feelings. In this case, the feelings seem so huge to the person that he is afraid to get lost, to dissolve in them, to lose control over them. Grief is so enormous and endless that a person is afraid to “drown in a sea of ​​​​tears.” Anger seems so strong and boundless that a person is afraid of losing control over it and causing harm to himself or another. Feelings that overflow over the edge need limitation, a reliable “frame”. In such cases, the “Picture in a Frame” technique can help. Job Description:1. Offer the client a sheet of paper (format - depending on the working conditions and the client’s request, in the description of the technique - A 1, but I use A 2, A 3, and even A4).2. Invite the client to draw a quadrangle on the sheet, thereby delineating the space for depicting the feeling itself and for the frame. 3. Instructions: the feeling you perceive is normal, it has a right to exist. But it needs limitation, framing. Our senses need security. Draw your feeling in the inner rectangle. And the frame around will be a counterweight and will contribute to safety. In what order to draw and where to start is up to you to decide. 4. Sometimes, if the client is at a loss about what exactly to depict in the frame, the following question can help - “what feeling do you think is opposite to the feeling that can capture you? Draw it in a frame around the picture. An example of working with the exercise. ( Permission for publication has been received, recognizable details have been changed). Irina, 39 years old."I can’t cope with my resentment towards my ex-husband! The fire of hatred, jealousy, malice is burning inside me! He has another woman! How can you survive this! It seems to me that this fire will burn everything to the ground - me, him, and our children! "Irina draws a rectangle and begins to fill it with flames... (Figure 1)" Drew! This is how my heart, my soul, my family life burns!” “You were talking about a frame... I don’t know what kind of frame there could be? Frame? This fire is limitless, boundless! He can burn everything around!" "Irina, would you like that? For the fire to burn everything around?" "Yes, I would really like to! Both the ex-husband and his passion! (Silent, breathing heavily.) Of course, you can’t say that... Our children love their dad, and he!