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Transactional Analysis Theories & Techniques Kailash Jaiswal

Why TA? It has wide applications in Clinical, Therapeutic, organizational and personal development, Personal communications, management, personality, relationships and behaviour. Whether you're in business, a parent, a social worker or interested in personal development, It will enrich your dealings with people, and your understanding of yourself. Kailash Jaiswal

Early TA history and theory Throughout history, and from all standpoints: philosophy, medical science, religion; people have believed that each man and woman has a multiple nature. In the early 20 th century, Sigmund Freud first established that the human psyche is multi-faceted. Since then, personality is in debate. Kailash Jaiswal

Background Information 2 People : Eric Berne (initial theoretical rational) Thomas A. Harris (reworked it & popularized it) 1957 – “Intuition vs. Ego Image” - 1 st TA professional publication Kailash Jaiswal Dr. Eric Berne Thomas A. Harris

What is Transactional Analysis TA is a technique for examining the nature of the interpersonal communication between two individuals and to analyse whether or not effective communication is taking place. Infact, TA is a technique used to help people better understand their own and other’s behavior, especially in interpersonal relationship. Kailash Jaiswal

It assists in understanding human behavior and is helpful in motivating, counselling, interviewing- in fact anywhere where communication plays an important role. It is also a personality and psychotherapy for personal growth. It has wide applications in Clinical Psychology, organizations and education also. Kailash Jaiswal

Dr. Eric Berne, “Games People Play” In the 1950's Eric Berne began to develop his theories of Transactional Analysis. He said that verbal communication, particularly face to face, is at the centre of human social relationships and psychoanalysis. Kailash Jaiswal

Theory Transaction - the fundamental unit of social intercourse. When two people encounter each other, one of them will speak to the other. This he called the Transaction Stimulus. A transaction consists of a transactional stimulus (TS) and a transactional response (TR). TS is the behavior (verbal or nonverbal) produced by one person in acknowledgement of the presence of others when two or more people encounter each other. TR is the response to TS by another person. Kailash Jaiswal

The person sending the Stimulus is called the Agent. The person who responds is called the Respondent. It examines the transaction wherein: 'I do something to you, and you do something back'. Kailash Jaiswal

TA outline It is a theory of personality and a systematic psychotherapy for personal growth and personal change. As a theory of personality, it describes how people are structured psychologically. It uses what is perhaps its best known model, the ego-state (Parent-Adult-Child) model to do this. The model makes us understand how people function and express themselves in their behaviors. As a theory of communication it extends to a method of analyzing systems and organizations. Kailash Jaiswal

It offers a theory for child development, where it ties in very neatly with the Freudian developmental stages -oral, anal, phallic. It introduces the idea of a "Life (or Childhood) Script", that is, a story one perceives about ones own life, to answer questions such as "What matters" , "How do I get along in life" and "What kind of person am I" . This story, TA says, is often stuck to no matter the consequences, to "prove" one is right, even at the cost of pain, compulsion, self-defeating behavior and other dysfunction(wrong-action).

Thus TA offers a theory of a broad range of psychopathology. In practical application, It can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of many types of psychological disorders, and provides a method of therapy for individuals, couples, families and groups. Outside the therapeutic field, it has been used in education, to help teachers remain in clear communication at an appropriate level, in counseling and consultancy, in management and communications training, and by other bodies. Kailash Jaiswal

Key ideas of TA TA emphasizes a pragmatic(practical) approach, that is, it seeks to find "what works” TA is primarily concerned with the following: Analysis of Self Awareness Ego States Analysis of Transaction Stroking Analysis of Life Position Kailash Jaiswal

A. Analysis of Self Awareness Kailash Jaiswal Johari Window (Joseph Luft & Harrington Ingham) 1. Open Self 2. Blind Self 3. The Hidden Self 4. Unknown Self

B. The Ego-State ( Parent-Adult-Child, PAC) model At any given time, there are three ego-states that people consistently use: 1. Parent ("exterior-psychic"): a state in which people behave, feel, and think in response to an unconscious mimicking of how their parents (or other parental figures) acted, or how they interpreted their parent's actions. - A huge collection of recordings in the brain of unquestioned or imposed external events perceived by a person in his early years Filled with values, injunctions, shoulds/oughts, good & bad The individual feels, thinks, acts, talks, & responds just as one of his parents did when he/she was little Always functioning Equivalent to Freud’s Superego Kailash Jaiswal

2. Adult ("neo-psychic"): a state in which people behave, feel, and think in response to what is going on in the "here-and-now," using all of their resources as an adult human being with many years of life experience to guide them. This is the ideal ego state, and learning to strengthen the Adult is a goal of TA. While a person is in the Adult ego state, he/she is directed towards an objective appraisal of reality. Most rational & reality-oriented Principally concerned with transforming stimuli into pieces of info & processing & filing that info on the basis of previous experience Reacts to stimuli as it is actually experienced “ A computer processing info without significant basis” Equivalent to ego Kailash Jaiswal

3. Child ("archaeo-psychic"): a state in which people revert to behaving, feeling and thinking similarly to how they did in childhood. The little boy or girl within us who feels, thinks, acts, talks, & responds just the way he/she did as a child at a certain age Equivalent to Id When analyzing transactions we are really looking at the dialogue between ego states Kailash Jaiswal

Important Points regarding TA There is no "universal" ego-state; each state is individually and visibly manifested for each person. Ego states can become contaminated. Ego states also do not correspond directly to thinking, feeling, and judging, as these behaviors are present in every ego state. Berne suspected that Parent, Adult, and Child ego states might be tied to specific areas of the human brain; an idea that has not been proved. In more recent years the three ego state model has been questioned by a marginal TA group in Australia, who have devised a "two ego-state model" as a means of solving perceived theoretical problems: Kailash Jaiswal

Transactions and Strokes Transactions are the flow of communication, and more specifically the unspoken psychological flow of communication that runs in parallel. Transactions occur simultaneously at both explicit and psychological levels. Example: sweet caring voice with sarcastic intent(making fun or lightly taken up). To read the real communication requires both surface and non-verbal reading. Strokes are the recognition, attention or responsiveness that one person gives another. Strokes can be positive or negative.. Transactions can be experienced as positive or negative depending on the nature of the strokes within them. However, a negative transaction is preferred to no transaction at all, because of a fundamental hunger for strokes. The nature of transactions is important to understanding communication. Kailash Jaiswal

4 Life Positions I’m not OK – You’re OK (-,+) I’m Not OK – You’re Not OK (-,-) I’m OK – You’re not OK (+,-) I’m OK – You’re OK (+,+) The most healthy life position Kailash Jaiswal

Basic Assumptions Transaction – the most basic unit of social interaction – occurring when one person acts as a stimulus for another & the other responds to the first All TA diagrams will be constructed along these lines, using an arrow to indicate the direction of a communication & an illustration of a “big” & a “little” person/ego state. Kailash Jaiswal

The TA Counseling Process The basic interest of a TA counselor is the study of ego states Structural Analysis: Most of the theory & techniques of the TA process of understanding the interaction between a client’s ego states Kailash Jaiswal

3 Goals of Transactional Analysis Analyze the structural interactions Diagrams can be made of how the person is relating to others Structural analyses are interpreted in terms of the individual’s life script i.e., need for strokes Games are identified – their implications explored The client (through script analysis) is taught how to function on the mature adult level Involves making the client more aware of his/her functioning followed by cognitive-affective restructuring (the changing of certain key elements in the script THIS IS CLEARLY A COGNITIVE – DYNAMIC THERAPY Kailash Jaiswal

4-Stage TA Tx Plan Relationship building Contract setting Permission giving Redecision Kailash Jaiswal

The process of analysis is simple – a diagrammatic representation of the ego states are used Kailash Jaiswal P Parent C child A adult

Transactions between 2 people may be complementary or crossed. They are COMPLEMENTARY when the lines representing the transaction are parallel Kailash Jaiswal P C C A A P

There are following possible types of crossed interaction P C C A A P Big Little Kailash Jaiswal

A transaction may be CROSSED if the person responds on a level other than the one on which he or she is addressed. P C C A A P Big Little Kailash Jaiswal

Big parent addresses Little child (“you always think you can get away with things,, but just wait..everyone gets what they deserve in the end”), & Little’s adult responding in turn to Big’s adult (“my observation is that people don’t always get what they observe”) Kailash Jaiswal P C C A A P Big Little

Data Exchange in Adult / Adult Transaction: 1. What is the yearly salary for this job? 2. It starts at Rs. 35,000. P C C A A P 1 2 Kailash Jaiswal

Sympathetic Parent / Parent Transition: 1. Those children really miss their father. 2. Yes, let’s take them to the park for a little fun. P C C A A P 1 2 Kailash Jaiswal

Playful Child / Child Transaction: 1. I really like you. 2. I like you too. P C C A A P 1 2 Kailash Jaiswal

Child / Nurturing Parent Transaction: 1. I’m so worried about my son I can’t concentrate on this report. 2. You can leave work early to go by the hospital and see him. P C C A A P 1 2 Kailash Jaiswal

Boss: What time is it? 2. Secretary: You’re always in such a hurry! P C C A A P 1 2 Kailash Jaiswal

1. Husband: Can you take the car to be serviced today? 2. Wife: Today I iron. Sonu expects a birthday cake. The cat has to go to the vet, & now you want me to take the car in! Are you crazy? P C C A A P 1 2 Kailash Jaiswal

1. Boss: I need 25 copies of this report for the board meeting this afternoon. Can you get them for me? 2. Secretary: Aren’t you lucky you’ve got me around to take care of you? P C C A A P 1 2 Kailash Jaiswal

Scientist A: There may be some variables we haven’t considered for this experiment. Scientist B: So what, who cares around here? P C C A A P A B Kailash Jaiswal

Injunctions and Drivers TA identifies twelve key injunctions which people commonly build into their scripts. These are injunctions in the sense of being powerful "I can't/mustn't ..." messages that embed into a child's belief and life-script: Don't be (don't exist), Don't be who you are, Don't be a child, Don't grow up, Don't make it in your life, Don't do anything!, Don't be important, Don't belong, Don't be close, Don't be well (don't be sane!), Don't think, Don't feel. In addition there is the so-called episcript, "You should (or deserve to) have this happen in your life, so it doesn't have to happen to me." (Magical thinking on the part of the parent(s).) Kailash Jaiswal

Against these, a child is often told other things he or she must do. There is debate as to whether there are five or six of these 'drivers': Please (me/others)! Be perfect! Be Strong! Try Hard! Hurry Up! (Be Careful! is disputed) Thus in creating his script, a child will often attempt to juggle these, example: "It's okay for me to go on living (ignore don't exist ) so long as I try hard ". Kailash Jaiswal

This explains why some change is inordinately difficult. Driver behavior is also detectable at a very small scale, for instance in instinctive responses to certain situations where driver behavior is played out over five to twenty seconds. Broadly, scripts can fall into Tragic, Heroic or Banal (or Non-Winner) varieties, depending on their rules. Kailash Jaiswal

Ways of Time Structuring There are six ways of structuring time by giving and receiving strokes: Withdrawal Ritual Pastimes Activity Games Intimacy Kailash Jaiswal

1. Withdrawal This means no strokes are being exchanged 2. Rituals A ritual is a series of transactions that are complementary (reciprocal), stereotyped and based on social programming. Rituals usually comprise a series of strokes exchanged between two parties. For instance, two people may have a daily two stroke ritual, where, the first time they meet each day, each one greets the other with a "Hi". Others may have a four stroke ritual, such as: A: Hi! B: Hi! How do you do? A: Getting along. What about you? B: Fine. See you around. Kailash Jaiswal

The next time they meet in the day, they may not exchange any strokes at all, or may just acknowledge each other's presence with a curt nod. Some phenomena associated with daily rituals : If a person exchanges fewer strokes than expected, the other person may feel that he is either preoccupied or acting high and mighty. If a person exchanges more strokes than expected, the other person might wonder whether he is trying to butter him up or get on good terms for some vested interests. If two people do not meet for a long time, a backlog of strokes gets built up, so that the next time they meet, they may exchange a large number of strokes to catch up . Kailash Jaiswal

3. Pastimes A pastime is a series of transactions that is complementary (reciprocal), semi-ritualistic, and is mainly intended as a time-structuring activity. Pastimes have no covert purpose and can usually be carried out only between people on the same wavelength. They are usually shallow and harmless. Pastimes are a type of Smalltalk. Individuals often partake in similar pastimes throughout their entire life, as pastimes are generally very much linked to one's life script and the games that one often plays. Some pastimes can even be understood as a reward for playing a certain game. For example, Eric Berne in Games People Play discusses how those who play the "Alcoholic" game (which Berne differentiated from alcoholism and alcoholics) often enjoy the "Morning After" pastime in which participants share their most amusing or harrowing hangover stories. Kailash Jaiswal

Activities (Work) Activities in this context mean the individuals work together for a common goal. This may be work, sports or something similar. In contrast to Pastimes, there is a meaningful purpose guiding the interactions, while Pastimes are just about exchanging strokes. Strokes can then be given in the context of the cooperation. Thus the strokes are generally not personal, but related to the activity. Kailash Jaiswal

Games and their analysis Definition of game A game is a series of transactions that is complementary (reciprocal), ulterior, and proceeds towards a predictable outcome. Games are often characterized by a switch in roles of players towards the end. Games are usually played by Parent, Adult and Child ego states, and games usually have a fixed number of players; however, an individual's role can shift, and people can play multiple roles. Berne identified dozens of games, noting that, regardless of when, where or by whom they were played, each game tended towards very similar structures in how many players or roles were involved, the rules of the game, and the game's goals. Kailash Jaiswal

Each game has a payoff for those playing it, such as the aim of earning sympathy, satisfaction, vindication, or some other emotion that usually reinforces the life script. The antithesis of a game, that is, the way to break it, lies in discovering how to deprive the actors of their payoff. Students of transactional analysis have discovered that people who are accustomed to a game are willing to play it even as a different "actor" from what they originally were. Kailash Jaiswal

Analysis of a game Three quantitative variables are often useful to consider for games: Flexibility : The ability of the players to change the currency of the game (that is, the tools they use to play it). In a flexible game, players may shift from words, to money, to parts of the body. Tenacity : The persistence with which people play and stick to their games and their resistance to breaking it. Intensity : Easy games are games played in a relaxed way. Hard games are games played in a tense and aggressive way. Kailash Jaiswal

Based on the degree of acceptability and potential harm, games are classified as: First Degree Games are socially acceptable in the players' social circle. Second Degree Games are games that the players would like to conceal(hide), though they may not cause irreversible damage. Third Degree Games are games that could lead to drastic harm to one or more of the parties concerned Kailash Jaiswal

Contrast with rational (mathematical) games Transactional game analysis is fundamentally different from rational or mathematical game analysis in the following senses: The players do not always behave rationally in transactional analysis, but behave more like real people. Their motives are often ulterior Kailash Jaiswal

Some commonly found games Here are some of the most commonly found themes of games described in Games People Play by Eric Berne: YDYB : Why Don't You, Yes But. Historically, the first game discovered. IFWY : If It Weren't For You WAHM : Why does this Always Happen to Me? (setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy) SWYMD : See What You Made Me Do UGMIT : You Got Me Into This LHIT : Look How Hard I've Tried ITHY : I'm Only Trying to Help You LYAHF : Let's You and Him Fight (staging a love triangle) NIGYYSOB : Now I've got you, you son of a bitch RAPO : A woman falsely cries 'rape' or threatens to Kailash Jaiswal

Philosophy of TA People are OK; thus each person has validity, importance, equality of respect. Everyone (with only few exceptions) has full adult capability to think. People decide their story and destiny, and this is a decision that can be changed. Freedom from historical maladaptations embedded in the childhood script is required in order to become free of inappropriate, inauthentic and displaced emotion which are not a fair and honest reflection of here-and-now life (such as echoes of childhood suffering, pity-me and other mind games, compulsive behaviour, and repetitive dysfunctional life patterns). TA is goal-oriented, not merely problem-oriented. The aims of change under TA are autonomy (freedom from childhood script), spontaneity, intimacy, problem solving as opposed to avoidance or passivity , cure as an ideal rather than merely 'making progress', learning new choices. Kailash Jaiswal

Kinds of transaction Reciprocal or Complementary Transactions A simple, reciprocal transaction occurs when both partners are addressing the ego state the other is in. These are also called complementary transactions. Example 1 A: "Have you been able to write the report?" B: "Yes - I'm about to email it to you." ----(This exchange was Adult to Adult) Example 2 A: "Would you like to skip this meeting and go watch a film with me instead?" B: "I'd love to - I don't want to work anymore, what should we go see?" (This exchange was Child to Child) Example 3 A: "You should have your room tidy by now!" (Parent to Child) B: "Will you stop hassling me? I'll do it eventually!" (Child to Parent) Communication like this can continue indefinitely. (Clearly it will stop at some stage - but this psychologically balanced exchange of strokes can continue for some time). Kailash Jaiswal

Crossed Transactions Communication failures are typically caused by a 'crossed transaction' where partners address ego states other than that their partner is in. Consider the above examples jumbled up a bit. Example 1a: A: "Have you been able to write that report?" (Adult to Adult) B: "Will you stop hassling me? I'll do it eventually!" (Child to Parent) is a crossed transaction likely to produce problems in the workplace. "A" may respond with a Parent to Child transaction. For instance: A: "If you don't change your attitude, you'll get fired." Example 2a: A: "Is your room tidy yet?" (Parent to Child) B: "I'm just going to do it, actually." (Adult to Adult) is a more positive crossed transaction. However there is the risk that "A" will feel aggrieved that "B" is acting responsibly and not playing their role, and the conversation will develop into: A: "I can never trust you to do things!" (Parent to Child) B: "Why don't you believe anything I say?" (Adult to Adult) which can continue indefinitely. Kailash Jaiswal

Duplex or Covert transactions Another class of transaction is the 'duplex' or 'covert' transactions, where the explicit social conversation occurs in parallel with an implicit psychological transaction. For instance, A: "I need you to stay late at the office with me." (Adult words) body language indicates sexual intent (flirtatious Child) B: "Of course." (Adult response to Adult statement). winking or grinning (Child accepts the hidden motive). Kailash Jaiswal

Phenomena behind the transactions Life (or Childhood) Script Script is a life plan, directed to a reward. Script is decisional and responsive; i.e., decided upon in childhood in response to perceptions of the world and as a means of living with and making sense of the world. It is not just thrust upon a person by external forces. Script is reinforced by parents (or other influential figures and experiences). Script is for the most part outside awareness Script is how we navigate and what we look for, the rest of reality is redefined (distorted) to match our filters. Kailash Jaiswal

Redefining and Discounting Redefining means the distortion of reality when we deliberately (but unconsciously) distort things to match our preferred way of seeing the world. Thus a person whose script involves "struggling alone against a cold hard world" may redefine others' kindness, concluding that others are trying to get something by manipulation. Discounting means to take something as worth less than it is. Thus to give a substitute reaction which does not originate as a here-and-now Adult attempt to solve the actual problem, or to choose not to see evidence that would contradict one's script. Types of discount can also include: passivity (doing nothing), over-adaptation, agitation, incapacitation, anger and violence. Kailash Jaiswal

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