Transactional analysis

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|Transactional analysis |
|Intervention |
|[pic] |
|Diagram of concepts in transactional analysis, based on cover of Eric Berne's |
|1964 book Games People Play. |
|MeSH |D014152 |

Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. It is described as integrative because it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches. TA was developed by Canadian-born US psychiatrist, Eric Berne, during the late 1950s.
According to the International Transactional Analysis Association,[1] TA 'is a theory of personality and a systematic psychotherapy for personal growth and personal change'. 1. As a theory of personality, TA 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 same model helps explain how people function and express their personality in their behavior[1] 2. It is a theory of communication that can be extended to the analysis of systems and organisations.[1] 3. It offers a theory for child development by explaining how our adult patterns of life originated in childhood.[1] This explanation is based on the idea of a "Life (or Childhood) Script": the assumption that we continue to re-play childhood strategies, even when this results in pain or defeat. Thus it claims to offer a theory of psychopathology.[1] 4. 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. 5. Outside the therapeutic field, it has been used in education to help teachers remain in clear communication at an appropriate level, in counselling and consultancy, in management and communications training and by other bodies.[1]

[edit] Philosophy

• People are OK; thus each person has validity, importance, equality of respect.[2] • Everyone (with only few exceptions, such as the severely brain-damaged) has the capacity to think.[2] • People decide their story and destiny, therefore these decisions can be changed.[2]
Freedom from historical mal-adaptations embedded in the childhood script is required in order to become free of inappropriate, inauthentic and displaced emotions 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 behavior and repetitive dysfunctional life patterns). The aim of change under TA is to move toward autonomy (freedom from childhood script), spontaneity, intimacy, problem solving as opposed to avoidance or passivity, cure as an ideal rather than merely making progress and learning new choices.

Some core models and concepts are part of TA as follows:--

[edit] The Ego-State (or Parent-Adult-Child, PAC) model

At any given time, a person experiences and manifests their personality through a mixture of behaviours, thoughts and feelings. Typically, according to TA, there are three ego-states that people consistently use: • Parent ("exteropsyche"): 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. For example, a person may shout at someone out of frustration because they learned from an influential figure in childhood the lesson that this seemed to be a way of relating that worked. • Adult ("neopsyche"): a state of the ego which is most like a computer processing information and making predictions absent of major emotions that could affect its operation. 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. • Child ("archaeopsyche"): a state in which people behave, feel and think similarly to how they did in childhood. For example, a person who receives a poor evaluation at work may respond by looking at the floor, and crying or pouting, as they used to when scolded as a child. Conversely, a person who receives a good evaluation may respond with a broad smile and a joyful gesture of thanks. The Child is the source of emotions, creation, recreation, spontaneity and intimacy.
Berne differentiated his Parent, Adult, and Child ego states from actual adults, parents, and children, by using capital letters when describing them. These ego-states may or may not represent the relationships that they act out. For example, in the workplace, an adult supervisor may take on the Parent role, and scold an adult employee as though they were a Child. Or a child, using their Parent ego-state, could scold their actual parent as though the parent were a Child.
Within each of these ego states are subdivisions. Thus Parental figures are often either more nurturing (permission-giving, security-giving) or more criticizing (comparing to family traditions and ideals in generally negative ways);
Childhood behaviours are either more natural (free) or more adapted to others. These subdivision categorize individuals' patterns of behaviour, feelings, and ways of thinking, that can be functional (beneficial or positive) or dysfunctional/counterproductive (negative).
Berne states that there are four types of diagnosis of ego states. They are the behavioural diagnosis, social diagnosis, historical diagnosis and the phenomenological diagnosis of ego states. For a complete diagnosis one needs to complete all four types. It has been subsequently demonstrated that there is in fact a fifth way of diagnosis. It is known as the contextual diagnosis of ego states. For example if a man says, "On July 5th, 2007 the alignment of the planets will create a gravitational field so strong that there will be the biggest tides in half a century", what ego state would be diagnosed?
If that man was of a dishevelled appearance, had not shaven for 2 days and was sitting on a park bench drinking out of a bottle in a brown paper bag what ego state would be diagnosed?. Probably some kind of regressed Child ego state. If that man was in an observatory wearing a white coat and carrying a clip board what ego state would be diagnosed? Probably Adult ego state. The different contexts for the same statement would tend to result in a different diagnosis. The context in which the statement is made is central to the diagnosis of ego states.
There is no "universal" ego-state; each state is individually and visibly manifested for each person. For example, each Child ego state is unique to the childhood experiences, mentality, intellect, and family of each individual; it is not a generalised childlike state.
Ego states can become contaminated, for example, when a person mistakes Parental rules and slogans, for here-and-now Adult reality, and when beliefs are taken as facts. Or when a person "knows" that everyone is laughing at them because "they always laughed". This would be an example of a childhood contamination, insofar as here-and-now reality is being overlaid with memories of previous historic incidents in childhood.

[edit] 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. 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 (nicknamed "warm fuzzies"[7]) or negative ("cold pricklies"). A key idea is that people hunger for recognition, and that lacking positive strokes, will seek whatever kind they can, even if it is recognition of a negative kind. We test out as children what strategies and behaviours seem to get us strokes, of whatever kind we can get.
In Transactional Analysis we call compliments and general ways of giving recognition strokes. This name came from research which indicated that babies require touching in order to survive and grow. It apparently makes no difference whether the touching induces pain or pleasure - it is still important. On the whole we prefer to receive negative strokes than no strokes at all, at least that way we know we exist and others know we exist.
We all have particular strokes we will accept and those we will reject. For example, if we have always been told we are clever, and our brother is creative, then we are likely to accept strokes for being clever, but not for being creative. From this frame of reference only one person in the family can be the creative one and so on.
Stroking can be physical, verbal or nonverbal. It is likely that the great variety of stroke needs and styles present in the world results from differences in wealth, cultural mores, and methods of parenting.
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.

[edit] Kinds of transactions

There are basically three kinds of transactions: 1. Reciprocal/Complementary (the simplest) 2. Crossed 3. Duplex/Covert (the most complex)

[edit] 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?" (Adult to Adult) B: "Yes - I'm about to email it to you." (Adult to Adult)
Example 2: A: "Would you like to skip this meeting and go watch a film with me instead?" (Child to Child) B: "I'd love to - I don't want to work anymore, what should we go and see?" (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).

[edit] 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)
This 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)
This is a more positive crossed transaction. There is however 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.

[edit] 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).

Ulterior Transaction

Example Student: I don't understand what you are saying. Teacher: What exactly do you not understand? The student's transaction is ulterior, while the teacher feels that she has explained things clearly. The student may seem to be talking from their Adult Ego State, however, the message is coming from their Negative Controlling Parent. The best way for the teacher to respond is in a calm, assertive manner, keeping the idea of Adult Ego State, and hoping to return the transaction to complementary. (Newell and Jeffery, 2002)

Strokes can be positive or negative: • A) "I like you" • B) "I don't like you"
Strokes can be unconditional or conditional. An unconditional stroke is a stroke for being whereas a conditional stroke is a stroke for doing. For instance:
"I like you" positive unconditional
"I like you when you smile" - positive conditional
As negative strokes these might be:
"I don't like you" - negative unconditional
"I don't like you when you're sarcastic" - negative conditional
+UC is best for healthy development
-UC and no strokes are undesirable/destructive.
People often have a stroke filter. They only let in strokes which they think they are allowed to let in. For instance they allow themselves to receive strokes for being clever and keep out strokes for being good looking. One way to think about this to consider being out in the rain. The rain is the strokes that are available to us, both positive and negative. There is a hole in the umbrella and some of the strokes go through and we save them in a bucket to enjoy in lean times. Conversely we might use them negatively to reinforce the negative strokes we give to ourselves. Of course, some just bounce off the umbrella and we might not accept the good strokes that are coming our way. Some might come in but fall straight onto the floor.

[edit] Phenomena behind the transactions

[edit] Life positions

[pic]

In TA theory,"Life Position" refers to the general feeling about life (specifically, the unconscious feeling, as opposed to a conscious philosophical position) that colours every dyadic (i.e. person-to-person) transaction. Initially four such Life Positions were proposed: 1. "I'm Not OK, You're OK" (I-U+) 2. "I'm Not OK, You're Not OK" (I-U-) 3. "I'm OK, You're Not OK" (I+U-) 4. "I'm OK, You're OK" (I+U+)
The difference between one's own OK-ness and other's OK-ness captured by description "I'm OK, You're not-OK" is proposed to be substituted by description that more accurately captures one's own feeling (not jumping to conclusions based only on one's perceived behavior), therefore stating the difference in a new way: "I'm not-OK, but You're worse" (I-,U--), instead.

the stroke economy

Claude Steiner suggests that, as children, we are all indoctrinated by our parents with five restrictive rules about stroking. • don't give strokes when we have them to give • don't ask for strokes when we need them • don't accept strokes if we want them • don't reject strokes when we don't want them • don't give ourselves strokes
Together these five rules are the basis of what Steiner calls the stroke economy. By training children to obey these rules, says Steiner, parents ensure that ".. a situation in which strokes could be available in a limitless supply is transformed into a situation in which the supply is low and the price parents can extract for them is high."
We therefore need to change the restrictive rules to unrestrictive ones: • give strokes when we have them to give • ask for strokes when we want them • accept strokes if we want them • reject manipulative strokes • give ourselves positive strokes

Life positions are basic beliefs about self and others, which are used to justify decisions and behaviour
Existential Positions
Based on the messages received and the decisions made, a young child develops a basic life position. We call these “existential positions” because they influence how we view our own and others existence. There are four basic life positions. These are:
I'm OK, You're OK
I'm OK, You're Not OK
I'm Not OK, You're OK
I'm Not OK, You're Not OK
Most babies are born in the position of feeling OK about themselves and OK about others.
If things go well they will be able to maintain that position throughout their life. This helps form the basis for a healthy life script. If a child is treated badly or abused, this may result in his or her feeling helpless, powerless, and angry, and he or she may move into a position of believing “I'm OK, You're Not OK.” Such an individual may build a life on this angry position and continually prove to himself or herself that others are not OK. This position involves a lack of trust in others and makes it difficult for the person to form and maintain intimate friendships or relationships.
If a child is not well cared for and receives script messages that decrease his or her sense of self-worth, that child might move into the position of feeling like he or she is not OK while others are OK. This position also leaves the person with difficulty feeling good about himself or herself both in the work arena and in forming trusting and lasting relationships.
When things really go wrong during childhood, a person might end up in the existential position of “I'm Not OK, You're Not OK.” This is the life position of despair. The person in this position has great difficulty seeing the good in anyone and has trouble having any hope for the future.
However, even people in this position can change. They can grow to understand the life experiences that led them to have this view and can learn ways to change those early decisions that support these negatives beliefs. Since we are almost all born in the position of “I’m OK,
You're OK,” we can get back to that belief even if our life experiences have led us to feel differently. It is worth searching to understand how you have been influenced by the events in your own life so that you can come back to a place of knowing that both you and other people are OK.

Transactional Analysis in Your Life

Understanding transactional analysis can help you understand yourself better. It can also help you see more clearly how you interact with others. One of the things that sets transactional analysis therapy apart from some other therapies is the belief that we are each responsible for our own future, regardless of what happened to us in the past.
If you see things in yourself that you do not like or that do not serve you well, transactional analysis provides some tools to help you change. You can begin to change by deciding, for example, what kind of Parent ego state you would like to have and then practice using and developing that part of yourself. You can decide what ego state you would like to use more of and which one you might want to use less of.
Would you like to use your Adult ego state more often? Or perhaps you use your Adult almost all the time and would like to practice using your playful Child ego state. You can practice giving certain kinds of strokes and asking for the kind of strokes you want to receive. By paying attention to different kinds of transacttions, you can exert some control in conversations to make sure that communication proceeds in an honest, uncomplicated, straightforward way.
Many people use transactional analysis in therapy because they want help in changing patterns in their lives that feel bad or are not productive. These are usually script patterns based on early decisions made during childhood.
A therapist who uses transactional analysis can help you discover elements of your life script and can help you change your patterns.
Those early decisions that you made when you were young made a lot of sense at the time, but they may not really make sense at all anymore. You can change them now and make choices that allow you to live the life you want to live.

[edit] Games and their analysis

[edit] Definition of game

A game[10] 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.
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.

[edit] Analysis of a game

One important aspect of a game is its number of players. Games may be two handed (that is, played by two players), three handed (that is, played by three players), or many handed. Three other 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.
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, 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.
Games are also studied based on their: • Aim • Roles • Social and Psychological Paradigms • Dynamics • Advantages to players (Payoffs)

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 / NIGYSOB: Now I've Got You, You Son Of a Bitch • RAPO: A woman falsely cries 'rape' or threatens to - related to Buzz Off Buster
Berne argued that the logic of games is wholly subjective; one person's Parent state might interact with another's Child, rather than as Adult to Adult.
Games can also be analysed according to the Karpman drama triangle, that is, by the roles of Persecutor, Victim and Rescuer. The 'switch' is then when one of these having allowed stable roles to become established, suddenly switches role. The Victim becomes a Persecutor, and throws the previous Persecutor into the Victim role, or the Rescuer suddenly switches to become a Persecutor ("You never appreciate me helping you!").

[edit] Why Don't You/Yes But

The first such game theorized was Why don't you/Yes, but in which one player (White) would pose a problem as if seeking help, and the other player(s) (Black) would offer solutions (the "Why don't you?" suggestion). This game was noticed as many patients played it in therapy and psychiatry sessions, and inspired Berne to identify other interpersonal "games".
White would point out a flaw in every Black player's solution (the "Yes, but" response), until they all gave up in frustration. For example, if someone's life script was "to be hurt many times, and suffer and make others feel bad when I die" a game of "Why Don't You, Yes But" might proceed as follows: White: I wish I could lose some weight. Black: Why don't you join a gym? White: Yes but, I can't afford the payments for a gym. Black: Why don't you speed walk around your block after you get home from work? White: Yes but, I don't dare walk alone in my neighborhood after dark. Black: Why don't you take the stairs at work instead of the elevator? White: Yes but, after my knee surgery, it hurts too much to walk that many flights of stairs. Black: Why don't you change your diet? White: Yes but, my stomach is sensitive and I can tolerate only certain foods.
"Why Don't You, Yes But" can proceed indefinitely, with any number of players in the Black role, until Black's imagination is exhausted, and she can think of no other solutions. At this point, White "wins" by having stumped Black. After a silent pause following Black's final suggestion, the game is often brought to a formal end by a third role, Green, who makes a comment such as, "It just goes to show how difficult it is to lose weight."
The secondary gain for White was that he could claim to have justified his problem as insoluble and thus avoid the hard work of internal change; and for Black, to either feel the frustrated martyr ("I was only trying to help") or a superior being, disrespected ("the patient was uncooperative").
Superficially, this game can resemble Adult to Adult interaction (people seeking information or advice), but more often, according to Berne, the game is played by White's helpless Child, and Black's lecturing Parent ego states.

ways to deal with games

There are various ways to stop a game, including the use of different options than the one automatically used. We can: • cross the transaction by responding from a different ego state than the one the stimulus is designed to hook. • pick up the ulterior rather than the social message e.g. when a person says "I can't do this, I'm useless". Rather than saying, "Let me do this for you," instead say, "It sounds like you have a problem. What do you want me to do about it?" (said from the Adult ego state) • the opening message to the game always entails a discount. There are further discounts at each stage of the game. By detecting discounts we can identify game invitations and defuse them with options. (A discount is when we minimise, maximise or ignore some aspect of a problem which would assist us in resolving it. Such as saying in a whiny voice "This is too difficult for me to do", so we automatically help them). • replace the game strokes. Loss of strokes to the Child ego state means a threat to survival. We get a great many strokes from games, even if they are negative. However, if we don't obtain sufficient positive strokes, or give ourselves positive strokes, we will go for quantity rather than quality of strokes and play games to get them. This loss of strokes is also a loss of excitement that the game has generated. Games can be handled in the following ways: ➢ Expose the Game ➢ Ignore the Game ➢ Offer an alternative ➢ Play the Game

Another way to think about this is to consider the game role we or the other person is likely to take. One way to discover this is to ask the following questions:
1. What keeps happening over and over again
2. How does it start?
3. What happens next?
4. And then what happens?
5. How does it end?
6. How do feel after it ends? (John James, 1973)
We can then consider the reason we might have taken up a particular role, where we might switch to, and then consider how to do things differently. We need to consider what our own responsibility is in this - if the situation is too violent for us to get involved what options to we have? We could call for help, get others to come with us to intervene and so on. We need to choose the appropriate assistance and take the action required.

Strokes: manager help

• Berne defines strokes as the responses that people give to one another, their attention. There are both positive and negative strokes. People have a natural craving for strokes one way or another, however, and will seek negative strokes if that is all they have. Studies have shown that businesses that pay more attention to their employees receive higher performance. There is even a name for this -- the "Hawthorne Effect."

Reciprocal Transaction

• The reciprocal transaction is the most basic and well functioning form of communication. In this exchange all parties understand the emotional states of the other person and respond to them correctly. Businesses should strive to increase these sorts of relations. A manager who understands the motivations of his employees will be able to communicate effectively and provide positive strokes for high performance. Negative strokes will be more effective when they are correctly used as discipline.

Crossed Transactions

• One of the areas where a transactional analysis can most help in business situations is by identifying crossed transactions. This is a situation where both parties are misreading the others emotional state. An employee may misread his boss and think that being complimentary is more important than putting in high performance. A manager may misread his employee by thinking he needs discipline when all he really wants is to receive positive feedback for his work.
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