TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS A 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