Transactional analysis TA

Transactional Analysis
Deva Pramod V B
M.Sc. Psychology
Department of Psychology
Bharathiar University, India
vbdevan.psy@gmail.com

A Sketch of Eric Berne
• DoB: May 10, 1910; Place of Birth:
Canada
• Studied Medicine & received M.D. and
C.M (Master of Surgery) - 1935
• Began training as psychoanalyst at NY
Psychoanalytic Institute in 1941
• Army psychiatrist during World War II
• Practiced Group Therapy
•Presented first paper on TA in 1957 - Introduced ego states
•Had started testing his theories on TA in the 1950`s itself in
seminars
2

What is Transactional Analysis (TA)?
• When two people interact with each other,
they engage in social transactions, in which
one person responds to the other.
• Study of such ”Social Transactions” is
called ’Transactional Analysis’.
• Transactions are Psychological in nature and
relate to how people behave and how other people
behave with them in response to their behaviour.
3

Transactional analysis
Transactional analysis defined by Eric Berne is a
theory of personality and social action and a
clinical method of psychotherapy based on the
analysis of all possible transaction between two
or more people on the basis of specially defined
ego states.
4

What is a Transaction?
• A Transaction is an exchange of two
strokes between two people. The first
stroke is called ’Stimulus’, the second is
called the ’Response’.
5

Ego States
Set of consistent and coherent patterns of thinking,
feeling and behaving
-Berne
set: each ego state has more than one manifestation
consistent & coherent: clear & integrated self-awareness
arising from diagnosis of ego-states
thinking, feeling & behaving: total experiences of an
individual
6

Ego States- PAC Model
• Parent Ego State
• Adult Ego State
• Child Ego State
• Later on Parent and child stages have
been subdivided into two subgroups
• Parent
– Nurturing or Controlling
• Child
– Free or Adaptive
P
A
C
7

Parent Ego State
• Set of thoughts, feelings and behaviors learnt or
borrowed from parents or other care takers
– Critical Parent – prejudiced thoughts, feelings &
behaviors
– Nurturing Parent – Soft, loving and permission
giving
8

Parent Ego State
P
Vocabulary:
 Should, don’t, must,
always, never, now
what? Because I said
so
 I’ll take care of you,
poor thing, there-there,
come on, give it a try
Tone:
 Sneering, loud, harsh,
contemptuous,
condescending,
punishing,
 sympathetic,
encouraging
Gesture/Posture:
 Pointed finger,
 shaking head,
 arms folded on chest,
tapping feet/fingers,
Facial Expression:
 smile encouragingly,
 set jaw,
 outthrust chin,
 raised eyebrows
9

Parent Ego State
P
Don’t argue!
Shame on you!
Be quite!
That’s really bad.
Don’t worry!
There there!
Let me help you.
Everything will be fine!
Don’t you DARE ! Have some fun.
10

Child Ego State
• Seat of emotions, thoughts, memories from childhood
• How one responded to early experiences and the
positions one took about oneself & others
• Feelings of happiness, fear ,anxiety, withdrawal etc.
• Types:
−Free Child – Spontaneous feeling, playful, authentic,
emotional
−Adapted Child – Comply with parental messages
−Rebellious Child – Does not comply with parental
messages
11

Child Ego state
C
Vocabulary:
 Wow,
 give me what I want,
 MINE,
 I wish,
 I’m scared, help,
Tone:
 giggle, chuckle,
whine, swear, yell,
 fast & high-pitched,
whistle, playful,
 ask permission.
Gesture/Posture:
 slumped,
 curled up,
 putting up hand to ask
question
Facial Expression:
 tears, pouting,
downcast or uplifted
 eyes, tilted head,
wide-eyed, fluttering
 eyelashes, flirtatious,
admiring
12

Child Ego State
C
I don’t wanna !!
Pleeeeeeeeaassse!
I can’t!
No-no-no!
O! that’s fun!
WOW-WEE!
I want……!
Look how tall my castle is!
I don’t care! Yayyyy….!
13

Adult Ego State
• Oriented towards current reality and objective
gathering of information
• No relation with a person’s age
• Data processing center
• Solutions based on facts and not solely on pre-judged
thoughts or childlike emotions
14

Adult Ego State
A
Vocabulary:
 how, why, when,
where, what,
 alternatives, results,
yes, no, caused by,
statistics, facts not
opinions.
Tone:
clear & calm, confident,
factual,
enquiring.
Gesture/Posture:
 straight (not stiff),
 lean forward to
listen/look,
 relaxed, thinking with
hand on chin,
 patient.
Facial Expression:
 thoughtful, watching
attentively,
 questioning, alert,
lively
15

Respect.
Aware.
Equality
Rational
Adult Ego State
Assertive.
Open
Present
Objective
A
Sand looks interesting.
Lets make a castle!
16

Ego States
Acting, thinking, feeling like your
parent
Dealing with current realities,
gathering facts, objectivity
Acting or feeling like u did when u
were child
17

Life Positions
• T.A has four possible life positions:
I am O.K
You are O.K
You are O.K
I am not O.K
I am O.K
You are not O.K
I am not O.K
You are not O.K
18

• "I'm OK; You're OK." This life position is the only healthy
attribute or attitude.The adult must be realistic, aware,
tolerant and maintain control of the child and the parent. A
person with such an orientation feels positive.
• "I'm not OK; You're OK." This life position requires that
others sustain one‘s position to feel OK. When one feels
weak and unable to do many things others can do, the
dominant feeling is "not OK." If an "I'm not OK" attitude
prevails, the client runs a risk of being anxious, depressed,
and passive.
• "I'm OK; You're not OK." This life position is a self-centered,
self-serving position
19

• "I'm not OK; You're not OK." This life position is
the most futile and helpless position of the four. There
is no way to turn for help; others won't help the client
and the client can't help himself.
• Nothing seems worthwhile and everything is futile.
• This is an unhappy state of affairs and, in the
extreme, such a person's only recourse may be to
withdraw into the utter hopelessness of depression or
other emotional disturbances.
20

Levels of Transaction
Transactions between people are seen as having 3
types:
– Complementary – both people are operating from the
same ego state
– Crossed – the other person reacts from an unexpected
ego state
– Ulterior – two ego states within the same person but
one disguises the other
21

Complementary ‘Transactions’
 Interactions, responses, actions regarded as
appropriate and expected from another person.
 Parallel communication arrows, communication
continues.
 Such transaction in our lives make our relationship
with others happy and long lasting
Example:
#1 What time do you have?
#2 I’ve got 11:15.
P
A
C
P
A
C
22

Crossed ‘Transactions’
 Interactions, responses, actions NOT regarded as appropriate
or expected from another person.
 Crossed communication arrows, communication breakdown.
Example 1 #1 What time do you have?
#2 There’s a clock on the wall, why don’t you
figure it out yourself? P
A
C
P
A
C
23

Ulterior ‘Transactions’
 Interactions, responses, actions which are different
from those explicitly stated
 Involve more than two ego state at same time.
Example#1 How about coming up to my room and
listening to some music?
P
A
C
P
A
C
24

CONCLUSION
Transactional Analysis is a rational and
easy to understand method of clarifying
and managing human relationships
and behaviours and a clinical method of
psychotherapy.
25

KEYWORDS
• Transactional Analysis
• Ego States
• PAC Model
• Parent Ego State
• Adult Ego State
• Child Ego State
• Life Positions
• Complementary Transactions
• Crossed Transactions
• Ulterior Transactions
26

REFERENCES
Gibson.R.L. & Mitchell.M.H.(2008), Introduction to Counselling
and Guidance (7th Ed). PHI Learnig Pvt Ltd : New Delhi
Clarkson.P. (1992). Transactional Analysis and Psychotherapy .
Routlodge: London and New York
Palmer.S. (2000) Introduction to Counseling and Psychotherapy
.Sage Publications:London
Thompson.R.A. (2003) Counseling Techniques (2nd Ed). Routledge:
New York
27

Transactional analysis TA

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