“A picture held us captive. And we could not get outside it, for it lay in our language and language seemed to repeat it to us inexorably.”
 - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical investigations

The philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein is a rich body of profound observations, radical clarifications, inventive methods and imaginative language games. In this text, I am not attempting to explain or even give a rough idea of his philosophy, but rather to touch some elements and ideas of Wittgenstein that are very present in my work, in how I approach language as a therapist and a workshop facilitator.
 
What is Language then? For Wittgenstein, Language is first and foremost an activity, a social praxis, an instrument we use. It is not an abstract structure, or something separate from experience, which we only use to reflect upon it afterwards or while doing something.  Language is an integral part of life, it participates in the forms it takes, shapes them and is being shaped by them constantly. 
 
Let's clarify this with a concrete example. Imagine someone who, for some years, is having a  hard time getting out of bed. Their chest is very heavy, they feel a constant pressure in the head, weakness in the legs, and generally numb and desperate. 
 
Some people might describe this person as ‘depressed’. Maybe that’s even how they see themselves, and so, by categorizing this as depression, by using that kind of language to relate to what is happening, one is also implicitly intervening in the experience and is changing it. 
 
Before we continue, I want to note that people mean different things when they use the word ‘depression’. For the sake of this example, I am going to follow one possible usage, a medical one. In my perspective, there's no such thing as a ‘true’ or ‘objective’ use of a word, so I am just presenting here an option. Maybe you use it in an entirely different way.
 
Lets return to the medical depression. In this kind of framing, the heaviness, pressure and weakness are viewed as symptoms, obstacles, something to be removed or handled, to overcome. Maybe even a result of a chemical imbalance, a ‘mistake’. The person experiencing them is sick, its ‘beyond their control’, and the suggested strategy will be managing this condition - through medication and other activities - sports, bathing in the sun, not spending time alone, going to therapy, etc. 
 
And so, when this person wakes up in the morning, feeling what they feel, and saying to themselves: oh, I feel depressed again. They are not merely describing a phenomena, but painting a certain picture with language, structuring their experience, shedding light on it from a certain direction, participating in it in a particular manner.
 
In the first few times this picture is being painted, it might be apparent that this is only a way to look at what is happening. But with time, a habit might form: the two could become so attached, that this distinction is lost. Depression becomes what one feels, and not: a way to look and relate to it. One stops being able to see that there are also other options.

 For example, one could also look at the weakness, headache, etc... as ways of the body to communicate something important, vital, that is not being addressed or seen. In this framing, or linguistic mythology, there are no 'symptoms', but 'body-psychological phenomenas', that are worth listening to. Instead of trying to get past them, one is invited to dive into them and find an understanding with them. The language used will also be different, it will be less technical and more emotional, one is likely to develop subtler distinctions about the sensation, connect it to memories, etc. The word 'depression' might be omitted from the lexicon because it contains judgment and invite a foreign frame of relating.

There's a subtle point to appreciate here. Because the last paragraph might give the impression it’s possible to look at what is happening before any linguistic picture is painted, without language (also 'weakness', 'headache' is already language. Also here there are alternatives). According to Wittgenstein, The dream about a space before language is a conceptual mirage, a misunderstanding . For him, we employ language whenever we experience. We always look at our life, and relate to it from a certain perspective. Like we always look at a valley from some place, from a particular view point. The fault isn’t with trying to look at all , or adopting a certain perspective, but in getting lost in the idea that a certain mode of language is essential or necessarily. In becoming rigid and losing the freedom to change perspective, languages - according to our needs.
 
The task of Wittgenstein’s Philosophy is to release us from such compulsions, to dissolve linguistic habits, and allows us to move and choose freely between different ways of approaching and relating.

But how exactly does one do that? Well, not by considering rational arguments. But rather by engaging dynamically in a process of clarification. By considering different common usages of words, imagining new ones, connecting it with various actions and playing with slight linguistic variations and reflecting on the way we learned how to use a certain words.