Fri July 25/2008
Fri July 25/2008 |
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Transactional AnalysisThe Creation of Transactional Analysis The most significant traces of the origin of Transactional Analysis can be found in the first five of six articles that its founder, Edward Berne wrote beginning in 1949. At that time he was still working to obtain status as a psychoanalyst, yet he dared to defy the Freudian theories on the unconscious in his writings. He wrote a series of articles on the subject of psychoanalysis, but his third article, Transactional Analysis: A New and Effective Method of Group Therapy, was presented by invitation at the 1957 Western Regional Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles. After its publication in the 1958 issue of The American Journal of Psychotherapy, transactional analysis became a permanent part of the psychotherapeutic literature. Key Areas of Transactional Analysis I’M OKAY, YOU’RE OKAY This is probably the best-known expression to convey the purpose of transactional analysis whose purpose is to establish and reinforce the position that every person has value and worth. Transactional analysts believe people are capable of change, growth, and healthy interaction. STROKES Berne observed the need for people to have strokes, the units of interpersonal recognition, in order to survive and thrive. One of the powerful aspects of transactional analysis is understanding how people give and receive positive strokes as well as changing unhealthy patterns of stroking. EGO STATES Berne recognized that the human personality is made up of three “ego states.” Each of these states comprises an entire system of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from which we interact with each other. The foundation of transactional analysis theory is based on the Parent, Adult, and Child ego states. TRANSACTIONS This term is used to designate the communication exchanges between people. Transactional analysts know how to recognize the ego states from where people are transacting and to follow the sequence in order to intervene and improve the quality and effectiveness of communications. GAMES PEOPLE PLAY Certain socially dysfunctional behaviors were defined by Berne as “games.” These repetitive, devious strokes are intended to obtain strokes but instead reinforce negative feelings and self-concepts. In addition, they mask the direct expression of thoughts and emotions. LIFE SCRIPT Berne believed that dysfunctional behavior was the result of self-limiting decisions that were made during childhood in the interest of survival. These decisions then culminate into the “life script,” the pre-conscious life plan that governs the way we choose to live our lives. The goal of transactional analysis therapy is to change the life script. Other applications of transactional analysis focus on violent organizational or societal scripting with cooperative non-violent behavior. CONTRACTS Contracts are the basis for initiating change in transactional analysis. People are viewed by transactional analysts as being capable of knowing what they want for their lives. As a result, transactional analysis is done on a contractual basis between the client and therapist. Ego States and Transactions 1.The Child. 2.The Parent This ego state is a collection of pre-recorded, prejudged, and prejudiced codes for living. A person in The Parent ego state thinks, acts, and behaves like one of his or her parents or someone who took their place. Without any kind of reasoning, The Parent decides how to react to situation, what is good or bad, and how people should live. The Parent can be controlling or supportive and judges for or against. 3.The Adult The person functions as a human computer when in The Adult ego state. It operates based on information it is given, and either stores it or uses it to make decisions that are based on logic. The person in The Adult Ego state uses logical thinking to solve problems while making sure that the Child or Parent emotions do not contaminate the process. You might conclude from this that emotions are not good, but it only means that we must be able to separate ourselves from our emotions in order to be rational and logical. The basis for the line of thinking that Berne has identified is that each of us will travel through these states of being at various times in our lives. Being in The Child ego state can create havoc when forced to make adult of parent decisions. As a result, we have to learn to separate those emotional egos and become The Adult. |
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