TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

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Having done the exercise, you should have now an egogram of the distribution of your energy within your personality at a given time. This will help you see where you might need at certain times to re-distribute your energy to help solve problems in life or therapy. People are in this state when they are reactive to a situation and act out of their conditioning, copying how their parents (or another authority figure) treated them and others instead of analyzing each situation afresh in the here and now. So far, I have described the structure and function of the different units of the personality and how you might be aware of which part you may be operating from in you life experiences. To enable you to identify even more specifically which ego state you are coming from in a specific situation, there are certain clues, which will help you. There are many ‘behaviours ‘which are typical of each ego state.

Everyone (with only few exceptions, such as the severely brain-damaged) has the capacity to think. [9] Ego states do not correspond directly to Sigmund Freud's ego, superego, and id, although there are obvious parallels: Superego/Parent; Ego/Adult; Id/Child. Ego states are consistent for each person, and (argue TA practitioners) are more observable than the components of Freud's model. In other words, the ego state from which someone is communicating is evident in their behavior, manner and expression. Which state we are in during an interaction depends on a few factors, such as how we have been conditioned to act or react from childhood, any past traumas that now cause us to act in a certain way during particular interactions or situations, and how the other person we are interacting with is treating us/ what ego state they are in when speaking to us. Crossed transactions are when the ego states of two people interacting do not match when the ego state of the sender does not reach the desired or intended ego state of the respondent; thus, they respond to the sender in a conflicting way (which can be seen by the crossed over arrows in the image to the right). Dr. Claude Steiner, a student of Dr. Berne who went on to publish many books on Transactional Analysis, did pioneering work in strokes. He developed what he called the Stroke Economy. References

The personality for Transactional Analysis, for Berne, is based on the recognition of three quite different ego states, called specifically the Parent, Adult and Child. Think of yourself at this particular time or at a specific moment in the past, draw whatever you feel is the most energised part of your personality, and draw it with a vertical line. (This will be your highest column.) For example, in a marriage, if one partner is worried about an event, the other may take on a more nurturing parental state to help calm and support them, which is great; however, if this is the primary mode of communication between the two then over time it would cause strain and be quite draining. Crossed Transactions

As a practicing psychiatrist in Carmel, California in the early 1950s, Berne treated hundreds of patients. During the course of their treatment, he consistently noted that his patients, and indeed all people, could and would change over the course of a conversation. The changes would not necessarily be verbal – the changes could involve facial expressions, body language, body temperature, and many other non-verbal cues. I'm not OK and you are not OK. This is the worst position to be in as it means that I believe that I am in a terrible state and the rest of the world is as bad. Consequently, there is no hope for any ultimate supports. [8] A 2010 review found 50 studies on transactional analysis that concluded it had a positive effect, and 10 where no positive effect was found. No studies that concluded a negative effect were found. [15] Criticism [ edit ]When the P2 is activated in later life, the person will be acting in the ways that their authority figures will have acted, indeed this is the model that the individual will have incorporated into his own parent, though it must be noted that each individual will have a different parent ego state and will act in their own unique way. Penfield carried out these and similar experiments for many years. Some of the key conclusions that he reached that went on to influence Berne in his development of Transactional Analysis include: A complementary transaction takes place when the lines between the sender’s and receiver’s ego state are parallel. Lastly, a research study has shown that knowledge of TA theory, the ego states, and types of transaction can help psychiatric nurses to communicate and interact with their patients more effectively, which then leads to patients feeling more relaxed and responding better to treatment (Ertem and Eker, 2016). Critical Evaluation Advantages Transactional analysts are trained to recognize which ego states people are transacting from and to follow the transactional sequences to intervene and improve communication quality and effectiveness. How was Transactional Analysis developed?

In this example, Sally’s Adult reached the conclusion that data in her Parent was valid. Her Parent had been taught “always turn pot handles into the stove, otherwise you could get burned.” And with her analysis of her brother’s experience, her Adult concluded that this was indeed correct. Overdo this ego state and you will come over as bossy and overbearing. This happens when we insist that the job is done our way, even though there are other options that would work just as well. Cognitive-based transactional analysts use ego state identification to identify communication distortions and teach different functional options in the dynamics of communication. Eric Berne presented Transactional Analysis to the world as a phenomenological approach, supplementing Freud's philosophical construct with observable data. His theory built on the science of Wilder Penfield and René Spitz along with the neo-psychoanalytic thought of people such as Paul Federn, Edoardo Weiss, and Erik Erikson. By moving to an interpersonal motivational theory, he placed it both in opposition to the psychoanalytic traditions of his day and within what would become the psychoanalytic traditions of the future. [ citation needed] From Berne, transactional analysts have inherited a determination to create an accessible and user-friendly system, an understanding of script or life-plan, ego states, transactions, and a theory of groups.

References

This suggests that TA is a good educational and therapy tool to help improve intimacy and bonding in romantic relationships. In a crossed transaction, it requires one or both of the people in the interaction to shift ego states for communication to be able to carry on. These subdivisions categorize individuals' patterns of behaviour, feelings, and ways of thinking, which can be functional (beneficial or positive) or dysfunctional/counterproductive ( negative). An example of the difference between the free and adapted child ego state would be for example, the person who complies to almost anything and perhaps may automatically say ‘thank you’ whilst repressing other feelings as opposed to the free child stance of free and spontaneous feelings, according to the situation. The free child is naturally inquisitive, curious and often does act without thinking of the consequences. Boyce, Gregory J., No More Drama: A Practical Guide to Healthy Relationships, (Soul Dance Query 2012) ISBN 978-0-9878135-0-3.

The use of language suggests adult-to-adult respectful communication with a subtle warning; however, they may have said it with the intent of triggering the receiver’s rebellious child ego state, so they might think, ‘I will show you that I am also very intelligent and can become a doctor’ and thus study harder. There are two subdivisions of the parent state; The critical/ controlling parent state and the nurturing parent state. These are behavior and thinking patterns we have been taught from our past interactions with our parents and other authority figures (teachers, grandparents, etc.). I'm not OK and you are OK. In this position the person sees him/herself as the weak partner in relationships as the others in life are definitely better than the self. The person who holds this position will unconsciously accept abuse as OK. Berne observed that people need strokes, the units of interpersonal recognition, to survive and thrive. Understanding how people give and receive positive and negative strokes and changing unhealthy patterns of stroking are powerful aspects of work in transactional analysis. They are speaking to you from their critical parent state, intending you to then reply from your child’s ego state, such as being very apologetic, begging them not to report you, and responding with anything that strengthens their authority in the situation.

It is described by many Transactional Analysis writers like a computer, concerned only with rationality and logic.