TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSISA BRIEF OVERVIEW

EACH OF US IS REALLY THREE PEOPLE!!!!

THREE MODES OF BEHAVIOR

• Parent

• Adult

• Child

These are called EGO STATES

They are Felt states of being and not just roles.

Child Ego State

• Natural Child(PRINCE)- Hateful/ loving/ spontaneous/ playful

• Intuitive Child(LITTLE PROFESSOR)- Thoughtful/ imaginative/ creative

• Adapted Child(FROG)- fearful/ guilty/ ashamed

Parent Ego State

• A collection of pre-recorded, pre-judged, prejudiced codes for living.

• Decides, without reasoning, how to react to situations.

• Can be over-controlling and oppressive or life giving, supportive and tender.

• Overly Critical- Critical parent

• Loving and nurturing the child- Nurturing parent

Adult Ego State

• Has no emotions – able to detach from feelings.

• Logical.

Contamination

• When the Adult uses information which has its source in the Child or in the Parent and which may be incorrect.

• Prejudice.

Voices in the head!!

• Parental Tapes being played over in our minds.

• They may be good or bad depending on which parent’s tapes we are playing.

• Critical parent is opposed to natural child.

• Nurturing parent is supportive to natural child.

• Critical parent activates the Adapted Child.

• It is possible to fight your Critical Parent(also called Pig Parent).

RELATIONSHIPS

• Child to Child

• Parent to parent

• Child to Adult

• Adult to Parent

• Adult to Adult

STROKES

• The recognition that one person gives to another

• Essential to a person's life

• Can vary from actual physical touch to praise

MOST OF US SUFFER FROM STROKE HUNGER!!!!!!

• Positive Strokes- “I love you”, “ you did a good job”- Warm Fuzzies

• Negative Strokes- “I hate you”- cold Pricklies.

• When positive strokes are not given, we look for negative strokes rather than be without strokes at all!!

• We should learn to open our hearts and ask for strokes.

• It makes life easier.

There are five ways people can structure their time to get strokes:

RITUALS, PASTIMES, GAMES, INTIMACY, WORK

RITUAL

• A pre-set exchange of recognition strokes.

• "Hi!" “How are you?" "Fine, thanks." "Well, see you around. Bye!"

• This is a four-stroke ritual.

PASTIME

• A pre-set conversation around a certain subject.

• Pastimes are most evident at cocktail parties and family get-together.

Games

• Repetitive, devious series of transactions intended to get strokes.

• Unfortunately, the strokes obtained in games are mostly negative.

• A game is a failed method of getting strokes.

Intimacy

• A direct and powerful exchange of strokes which people crave but seldom attain

• The Child is frightened away from it by hurtful experiences.

Work

• An activity which has a product as its result.

• Good work results in the exchange of strokes as a side effect.

TRANSACTIONS

• Transactions occur when any person relates to any other person.

• The three types of transactions: COMPLEMENTARY,CROSSED & COVERT.

• Every transaction is made up of a stimulus and response.

Complementary Transaction

• between Adult and Adult

• Parent to Child

• Parent to Parent

• Communication can continue between ego states as long as trans-actions are parallel.

• Whenever a disruption of communication occurs, a crossed transaction caused it.

Cross Transaction

• When three or more ego states are involved

• The transactional response is addressed to an ego state different from the one which started the stimulus

• They disrupt communication.

Discount Transaction

• One very important kind of crossed transaction

• Here one person completely disregards what the other one is saying.

• Discounts are not always obvious but are always unpleasant

Covert Transactions • A covert transaction is when people say

one thing and mean another.

• Are the basis of games and are especially interesting because they are crooked.

• They have a social (overt) and a psychological (covert) level.

WHY DON’T YOU, YES BUT (YDYB,) RAPO, AND THEIR PAYOFFS.

PAYOFFS OF GAMES

• The biological pay-off is strokes

• The social pay-off of a game is time-structuring.

• The existential pay-off of a game is the way in which the game confirms the existential position of each player.

RACKETS & STAMPS

• People collect psychological trading stamps to be traded in for a divorce, a suicide, a drug binge or a blow-up.

ROLES & DEGREES

• The three basic game roles are Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim

• Games can be played soft or hard

TURNING PEOPLE INTO FROGS

• People are born princes and princesses

• Their parents turn them into frogs.

• Parents script their children

IT IS POSSIBLE TO DISCARD YOUR SCRIPT AND WRITE A NEW ONE AUTONOMOUSLY!!!!

SCRIPT CHECKLIST

• Life course. What short sentence best describes the person's life?

• Counterscript. This is a period of life dominated by the Parent. What does the person do when he seems to be escaping the life-course?

• Parental Injunction. In what way did the Child in mother and father interfere with the person's OK-ness?

• The Game. Every script is based on a major game

• The Pastime. How does a person structure most of their spare time with others?

The Tragic Ending

• Extremist, self-destructive scripts.

• Banal scripts.

The Therapist's Role.

• A good therapist is aware of roles and how to avoid them.

GOOD AND BAD GAMES and SCRIPTS

• Even though games are crooked they can sometimes be useful.

• Certain scripts may have socially redeeming features

THREE P’s; PERMISSION, PROTECTION, POTENCY