Transactional analysis by Eric Berne (1910-1970)

Transactional analysis will answer the main question of your life: why can’t I do anything? Has it ever happened to you that you try, make efforts, but still cannot achieve what you want? You can blame anything. These could be circumstances, the people around you, the situation in the country and much more. But what if the problem is you? Transactional analysis will tell you about this. Its creator, Eric Berne, believed that our entire lives are programmed in childhood. Is it really?

The essence of transactional analysis according to Eric Berne

Transactional analysis (TA) in psychology is a technique that allows you to describe and analyze the behavior of an individual or group. Otherwise called transactional or transactional analysis. Used to treat complex psychological problems. Its author is psychotherapist Eric Berne.

Transactional analysis by E. Berne appeared in the 60s of the last century and immediately gained popularity. Partly because of its simplicity and accessibility.

TA has several goals:

1. Find and eliminate stereotypes in behavior.
2. Determine your values, learn to make decisions, taking into account your capabilities and needs.
3. Understand your inner world.
4. Understand relationships with people around you.
5. Learn not to hide your feelings.
6. Trust yourself.

It is interesting that Eric Berne’s transactional analysis can be carried out anywhere: at home, at school, at work. It is used in business and communication. But many psychologists believe that it is still better to consult with specialists. Without their help, it will not be possible to achieve significant improvements.

How to determine what condition you are in

It is enough to observe the behavior a little. Each ego state has its own characteristic features:

1. The “child” often says the following phrases: “I want,” “This makes me very angry,” “I don’t care about this.” Emotions are shown on his face. This could be a look somewhere at your feet, trembling lips, an expression of delight.
2. “Parents” constantly prohibit something, point it out, and remind them of their sense of duty. They shake their heads, look menacing, and cross their arms over their chest.

And finally, “adults”. They look for benefits in everything, offer to calculate the benefits, discuss the appropriateness of this or that action or decision. They are constantly thinking about something.

Transactions

In modern transactional analysis, transactions are the process of interaction between the ego states of two people. They consist of 2 parts: stimulus and response. There are several types of transactions:

1. Complementary or parallel. The stimulus from one person is complemented by the reaction of another. Communication takes place. Let's say you asked: “What time is it?” This is an incentive. The interlocutor answered you. This is a reaction. In such conditions, interaction lasts quite a long time. In this case, practically no conflict situations arise.
2. Intersecting or crossing. This type of transaction is characterized by conflicts. One side sends a stimulus from the "adult" and the other responds from the "child" or "parent". For example, a husband asked his wife where his watch was. She, instead of answering the question, says that he always considers her to blame for everything. A quarrel begins with small reproaches. This will continue for a long time. The situation will change if the parties to the conflict consciously move into the “adult” ego state.

There is another type of transaction - hidden. They are very different from the other two. There are several ego states involved here. In short, a person says one thing and means another. Often he does not even realize what role he is in now.

Transactional analysis of E. Bern in addiction medicine

Transactional analysis is a therapy method consisting of three principles:

• Structural analysis – analysis of the personality and its ego states;
• Transactional analysis – assessment of interpersonal interactions, communication;
• Scenario analysis is an assessment of the life scenario that a person subconsciously adheres to throughout his life.

The creator of the technique is Eric Berne, and the analysis is based on the theory of personality, which, depending on a certain situation, can be in three different states: parent, child and adult. Throughout life, a person alternates between one of these ego states.

Concepts

Eric Berne's transactional method of analysis is often called communication assessment, since such a technique analyzes a person based on his interactions with other people.

The main concepts of transactional analysis are:

There are no mentally ill people, we are all normal, therefore everyone has the right to respect for their own personality and opinion

Each person has a certain importance and weight in society; Each person builds his life story himself, so he is able to change its scenario without relying on previously made decisions; Every person is capable of thinking, unless there are any acquired or congenital mutations, disorders and injuries, and also except for a state of unconsciousness.

Target

The founder of the technique, Erich Bern, stated that the purpose of such an analysis is to free the patient from addictions that he once acquired and force the patient to return to them again. A person must be taught to interact with other members of society in such a way that he receives some benefit of a psychological nature.

This psychotherapeutic technique helps the patient free himself from life scenarios that were once imposed by someone or something.

The ultimate goal of transaction analysis is the formation of a comprehensively harmonious personality, which is balanced in relation to all Self-states (Adult, Parent, Child). Moreover, the ego-state “Adult” should become autonomous.

Stroking

In transactional analysis, this is another type of interaction between the ego states of the “child” and the “parent”. Children always seek approval from mom or dad. In psychology, these approvals are called strokes. They come in 3 types:

1. Verbal. Manifested in compliments and praise.
2. Non-verbal. This includes gestures, facial expressions, and winks.
3. Physical. These are handshakes, pats on the shoulder.

You can “stroke” a person unconditionally (for what he is) and conditionally (for some actions). The message can be positive or negative.

Analysis of psychological games according to Bern

What are games in psychoanalysis? This is an unconscious behavioral stereotype consisting of several parts. It's about weakness, trap, response, strike, payback and reward. Actions trigger feelings. Moreover, they intensify towards the end of the game. With each action comes the above-described stroking. Its intensity also increases.

Unlike ordinary entertainment and any rituals, games have hidden motives, winning, and conflict. They can be dishonest and dramatic.

According to Eric Berne, there are 6 types of psychological games. Each of them has its own subspecies:

1. For 2, 3, 5 players. There may be more participants. Example – “Frigid Woman”, “Alcoholic”, “Why Don’t You”.
2. Using words, money, body parts. These are “Psychiatry”, “Debtor”, “I need surgery” respectively.
3. With different clinical types: hysterical, obsessive, paranoid, depressive. Examples are the games “Rape”, “Blubber”, “Why is it always like this with me”, “I’m back to my old ways again”.
4. Depending on the zones. There are oral (“Alcoholic”), anal (“Blubber”), and phallic (“Fight”) games.
5. Psychodynamic. They are divided into 3 subtypes: counterphobia (“if it weren’t for you”), projection (“Parental Committee”), introjection (“Psychiatry”).
6. Characterized by instinctive drives. There are 3 subtypes: masochistic (“If it weren’t for you”), sadistic (“Blubber”), fetishistic (“Frigid Man”).

It is worth noting that games have 3 quality characteristics:

1. Flexibility. Some games only use one type of material. Others show flexibility.
2. Tenacity. Some people have no problem stopping the game. But there are also those who cannot refuse them.
3. Intensity. Games can be light or hard. Players can also be different: relaxed, tense, aggressive.

Regardless of the type, games have a powerful impact on everyone's life.

Characteristics of games according to E. Bern

Let's take a closer look at some games from Eric Berne's transaction analysis. In psychotherapy they have a goal, role, dynamics, social and psychological paradigm, moves, benefits.

In other games, E. Bern identified only theses and antitheses. Take "Hit Me" for example. Usually its participants do not want this at all, but deliberately provoke other players. And often they achieve their goal. Such people include those who are not accepted in society, outcasts, women of easy virtue, as well as people who cannot find a permanent place of work. When they achieve the logical result of their behavior, they have only one question: “Why does this always happen to me?”

TRANSACTION ANALYSIS

Transactional analysis

- a system of group psychotherapy in which the interaction of individuals is analyzed from the point of view of three main states
of the self.
The founder of this direction in psychology and psychotherapy is the American psychologist and psychiatrist Eric Berne, who developed it in the 50s. XX century E. Bern identified the subject of research and observation - human behavior.

He not only created the method of transactional analysis, but also described it in detail in his numerous books, several of which were translated into Russian.

The method created by E. Bern is divided into several stages:

■ structural analysis, or theory of ego states;

■ the actual transactional analysis of activity and communication, based on the concept of “transaction” as the interaction of the ego states of two individuals entering into communication (the ego state is understood as the actual way of existence of the I-subject);

■ analysis of psychological games;

■ script analysis (analysis of a life script - “script”).

E. Bern believed that each person has his own life scenario, the model of which is outlined in early childhood. People grow up, but in accordance with their life scenario they continue to play various games. The entire life of mankind is filled with games. According to E. Bern, the most terrible game is war. There are three Self-States: Self-Adult, Self-Parent, Self-Child. Group psychotherapy, according to E. Bern, should develop at the Adult-Adult level. The head of an enterprise, a manager, must learn to identify the states of an Adult both in his own consciousness and behavior, and in the consciousness and behavior of other people, especially subordinates, clients, partners, achieving communication at the Adult-Adult level. Communication with different people, for example with colleagues, superiors, can be structured differently depending on the psychological state of the person, the topic of communication, as well as the purpose of communication and whether the communication is disinterested or the person wants to achieve something from his interlocutor .

Skillful use of this method helps the manager achieve effective communication. Communication will be effective when it is conducted in the same language, i.e. Adult will talk to Adult, Child to Child, Parent to Parent.

There are transaction analysis in a narrow and broad sense. In a narrow sense, it is an analysis of the interaction of two or more people; in a broad sense, it is a socially oriented psychotherapeutic method, the ultimate goal of which is the formation of a harmonious, socially adapted personality.

A modern manager must be able to use this method in both a narrow and broad sense. Let's consider the components of E. Bern's method.

Structural analysis

- theory of ego states. E. Bern uses the terminology of 3. Freud, denoting the Self-concept - Ego. The purpose of structural analysis is mainly to provide answers to the questions: Who am I? Why am I doing this? What part of my Self is or should be acting in this situation to bring benefit rather than defeat? Structural analysis studies how much of a person's personality and actions a particular ego state occupies.

Three states of man. Their characteristics. The ego-state Parent (P), according to E. Bern, reveals itself in such manifestations as control, prohibitions, ideal requirements, dogmas, sanctions, care, power. A parent is a collection of dogmas and postulates that a person perceives in childhood and which he then retains throughout his life. This is a complex of beliefs, moral norms, prejudices and regulations that are uncritically acquired by an individual both in childhood and throughout life, and dictate his line of behavior. This is the commanding part of the personality. In addition, the Parent ego state contains automated forms of behavior that have developed during life, eliminating the need to consciously calculate each step. E. Bern notes that the Parent can manifest itself in two ways - directly or indirectly: as an active state of the Self

or as the influence of the Parent.
In the first, active, case, the person reacts the way his father or mother reacted in similar cases. If we talk about indirect influence, then usually a person’s reaction is what was expected from him, that is, the person either imitates one of the parents or adapts to their requirements. Thus, two main forms of manifestation of the Parent are distinguished: caring
(advice, support, guardianship, etc.), when worthy postulates are put forward in the first place (“Defending the Motherland from the enemy is a holy cause,” “Betraying is vile”), and
controlling
(prohibitions, sanctions, etc.), when the most ridiculous, shameful prejudices and beliefs passed down from generation to generation become priorities (“The main thing in life is to eat deliciously and sleep softly,” “Money doesn’t smell,” etc. .).
The parent is the most inert part of the human self,
always remaining outside the zone of criticism. A parent influences a person’s behavior by performing the function of conscience.

Ego state Adult (B) includes a probabilistic assessment of the situation, rationality, competence, independence. This condition has nothing to do with a person's age, but rather represents the individual's ability to store, use and process information based on previous experience. Although the Adult uses the information stored in the Parent and the Child, he is independent of the prejudices and dogmas of the Parent and the impulses of the Child. An adult is the ability to find compromises and alternative options in life’s dead ends, which sometimes seem hopeless. This state functions “here and now” regardless of the past.

The Child ego state (Re) contains affective complexes associated with early impressions and experiences. A child lives in a person all his life and manifests itself even in old people when they think, feel, and react to the environment in exactly the same way as they did in childhood. This is a very valuable part of the human personality, the most impulsive and sincere. The child adds surprise to the personality. Distinguish between a natural

(free) and
adapted,
or
adapted.
The Natural Child is characterized by a tendency towards fun, lively movement, fantasy, impulsiveness and looseness.
The Adapted Child is represented by such varieties as rebellious
(against the Parent),
agreeing
and
alienating.
The most important position of the theory of ego states is the thesis about the “switching” of one ego state to another: the same individual in different life situations can manifest itself as a Parent, then as an Adult, then as a Child. In addition, more than one ego state may be simultaneously manifested in an individual's behavior and experiences. In Fig. 7.2 shows the structure diagram in full and simplified form.

The Adult state is necessary for life, as a person processes information and calculates probabilities that need to be known in order to effectively interact with the outside world. The Adult controls the actions of the Parent and the Child and is an intermediary between them.

The next fundamental concept of transactional analysis is “games”, interpreted as forms of behavior with an ulterior motive, in which one of the interacting subjects achieves a psychological or other advantage over the other (wins). Games can be “good” when the other subject does not suffer from the first’s winnings, and “bad” when the maneuvers and deceptive strategy of the first subject lead to the detriment of the well-being of the second . Based on transactional analysis, E. Bern developed psychotherapy designed to free a person from the scripts that program his life, through their awareness, through contrasting them with spontaneity, spontaneity, intimacy and sincerity in interpersonal relationships, through the development of reasonable and independent behavior.

The ultimate goal of transactional analysis is to achieve a harmonious, balanced personality through harmonious relationships between all ego states. The main task in this case is to achieve the state of an autonomous Adult.

Transactional analysis itself. Transaction

- unit of communication, i.e. interaction between two or more people. The single act of human relationships is the exchange of moves. A transaction begins with a transactional stimulus, or motivating move - one or another sign indicating that the presence (or action) of one person is perceived by another. Transaction (transaction) - exchange of actions. The response is called a transactional response or retaliatory move.

The exchange of moves is very similar to a trading operation, since it is carried out according to the principle “you - to me, I - to you.” That is why it is often called a transaction .

In a transactional response, the person to whom the stimulus is addressed responds with some action, for example, a smile, a frown, eyes averted, etc.

People tend to be sensitive to transactional incentives. For example: on a tram, Mr. A cautiously moves aside to give way to Mr. B. It is clear that his presence is noticed.

Transactions can be either positive, benevolent, or negative, unkind, and even aggressive.

Transactional analysis examines four possible life positions that determine the attitude towards oneself and others:

1) I'm bad, you're good;

2) I'm bad, you're bad;

3) I'm good, you're bad;

4) I'm good, you're good.

The purpose of transaction analysis is to gain the skill of determining what kind of transaction is taking place, what state of the Self

responsible for the transactional stimulus and what state
self
responded with action.

Transaction forms:

additional (parallel), cross (intersecting) and hidden.

The most mature and healthy are complementary transactions,

when a stimulus sent by a person meets an adequate, natural reaction in a given situation (Fig. 7.3).

For example, two people (a manager and a subordinate) interact as Parent - Parent.

Example 1. Dialogue between the head of a department and a subordinate: “This is a disgrace! Our department is once again faced with additional work.” Subordinate: “It’s really a disgrace. And this is not the first time!”

Example 2. Manager: “The general management has entrusted our division with the development of a new product, so from today you will work seven days a week.” Subordinate: “Well, it’s necessary, it’s necessary, only you will also work with us seven days a week.”

This can be a Child-Parent interaction, when a subordinate needs sympathy and understanding from the boss and receives it, and vice versa (Fig. 7.4).

Example 1. Subordinate: “I have a really bad headache today.” Manager: “Go home, lie down, and we will do your work ourselves.”

Example 2. Manager: “I don’t know what to do. Senior management has assigned too much work, and we don't have enough people in our department to get it done. Maybe we could bring in people from other departments?” Subordinate: “Don’t worry, we will do everything ourselves.”

Also, two people can interact as Adult - Adult. Such interactions are beneficial in a work environment (Figure 7.5).

Manager to subordinate: “I ask you to complete this assignment by tomorrow so that I can prepare a report to the ministry.” Subordinate: “Okay, I’ll take the material home and work in the evening.”

The main feature of additional transactions is that the interaction vectors are parallel and, therefore, never intersect. This rule does not depend either on the nature of transactions or on their content. As long as the transactions remain complementary (parallel) in nature, the rule will be fulfilled regardless of whether its participants are busy at work discussing household chores (Parent - Parent), solving a real production problem (Adult - Adult) or simply playing together (Child - Child ).

With additional (parallel) transactions, human communications are open, relationships in the team are sincere and fruitful. At the same time, nonverbal communication (looks, gestures, intonation) does not contradict the meaning of the spoken words.

In normal human relationships, a stimulus produces an appropriate, expected, and natural response.

E. Bern considers the following to be the first rule of communication: as long as transactions are complementary, the communication process will proceed smoothly. The corollary of this rule is that as long as transactions are complementary, the communication process can continue indefinitely.

The reverse rule is that the communication process is interrupted if what we call an overlapping transaction occurs.

Overlapping transactions

occur when a certain stimulus is followed by an inappropriate response.

Example 1. Subordinate to the manager: “Let's start developing a new line of activity.” Manager: “I still didn’t have enough extra trouble! And who will do it? Mind your own business!” (Fig. 7.6, a).

In this case, the subordinate makes the move of the Adult, proposing a serious matter, and the leader acts in response as the Parent.

Example 2. Manager to subordinate: “Didn’t you take the red folder with the report from my desk?” (move of an Adult interested in information). The subordinate could limit himself to a short answer: “No, I didn’t see it” or a more complete one: “No, I didn’t see it.” Let me help you find it,” (see Fig. 7.6, a).

But the subordinate is not doing well at home, and he rudely replies: “You are always losing her. Pick it up where you left it” or “Why do you always leave everything until the last minute and then find fault with us?” The answer came from the Parent. Such a response may contribute to the development of a conflict situation

(Fig. 7.6,
b).
Example 3. Let's return to the first example. In response to the manager’s remark, the subordinate could say: “Why are you yelling at me? Who gave you this right? This turn of events entails conflict and quarrel.

In life, similar intersecting transactions occur very often. Such transactions are a constant source of family, work and everyday conflicts. Overlapping transactions can occur between patients and incompetent doctors, when the patient approaches the doctor as an Adult to an Adult with constructive suggestions and reasonable comments, but receives a superficial authoritarian response from a Parent to a Child. Transactions intersect, and further interaction between these individuals is doomed to failure. An overlapping transaction causes the greatest difficulties in the process of communication, no matter what aspect of human relations it concerns.

When analyzing transactions, it is not enough just to state the fact of intersection of vectors. It is still necessary to find out which part of the personality suddenly became active and destroyed the interaction. For example, if the second participant in the transaction responds to the Adult’s appeal to his adult state with the childish state of the Self,

then the solution to the problem should be postponed until the vectors are brought into a state in which further transactions can become parallel. This can be done in two ways: either by becoming a Parent and complementing the Child who has awakened in the interlocutor, or by activating the Adult in the interlocutor.

Analyzing transactions is very difficult, but an experienced manager should be able to do it. Sometimes a specialist - a psychotherapist - may be invited to the enterprise. This is done if conflicts become constant and destructive.

The simplest are additional

and
overlapping
transactions.
In addition to them, there are two-level transactions
- angular and double, in which one level is visible - what is pronounced (E. Bern calls it social), and the second - hidden, or psychological - what is meant (subtext).
In an angular transaction, the stimulus is directed, for example, from Adult to Adult, and the response is from Child to Adult or from Child to Child. Hidden transactions
require the simultaneous participation of more than two states
of the Self.
Hidden (angular) transactions are presented in Fig. 7.7.

Hidden transactions are often used by diplomats, lovers, etc.

He: “Would you like to come and see my library for half an hour? Choose something to read.”

She: “I just have a couple of free hours. I love interesting books so much.”

At the social level, there is a conversation between adults about books, while at the psychological level, this is a conversation between a Child and an Adult, and its content is sexual relationships. E. Bern analyzes such games: “On the surface, the initiative belongs to the Adult, but the outcome of most such games is determined by the Child, so a surprise may await the participants in the game.”

Typical hidden transactions often arise in the lives of alcoholics. Coming to work in the morning with a hangover, such a person tells others: “Oh, and I crashed yesterday. My head is pounding." Boss: “It happens to everyone” (Fig. 7.8).

What we have before us is a visible Adult-Adult transaction. In fact, the transaction goes much deeper. Childhood state I

The alcoholic seeks leniency from the parental state.
I am
the boss. As a rule, he receives a friendly laugh and a condescending remark in response. Someone may laugh and say: “Yes, you are a lost man.” This laughter at the misfortune of others, so common in life, is sometimes called the “gallows transaction.”

Psychological games. The third stage of E. Bern's method, as mentioned above, is game analysis.

E. Berne calls a game a series of hidden additional transactions following each other with a clearly defined and predictable outcome. It represents a repeating set of sometimes monotonous transactions that look quite plausible on the surface, but have a hidden motivation.

Psychological games have three mandatory features: 1) hidden motives with which you can manipulate your playing partner; 2) the plausibility of transactions in social terms; 3) winnings - “coupons”, which are the goal of the game. The negative point is that psychological games interfere with honest and sincere relationships between people. Types of negative psychological games: games of alcoholics that are self-destructive; killer games in which winning is killing another person; destructive family games leading to family breakdown; games of politicians, in which the winnings are power and the accompanying well-being of one’s own and the well-being of the family, and not the declared socially plausible goal - the public good. Often, the games of politicians take on a sinister and tragic form - war.

It is necessary to highlight a form of transactions that cannot be defined as a game. It's about sincerity. Sincerity is one of the deepest levels of human relationships. It is devoid of the need to receive a win and arises in rare moments of complete selflessness, tenderness, understanding, intimacy. Since true sincerity is very rare, E. Berne does not give it a place in transactional analysis.

Scripts. The most difficult to understand is the fourth stage of E. Bern's method - scenario analysis.

All people, according to their self-image, about life, and according to the ways they realize their lives, can be divided into Winners and Losers. Winning

is a person capable of being authentic (reliable). Such a person consciously allows himself to be an individual, realizes his unique individuality and, without fear of being independent, takes responsibility for his own destiny. An authentic personality rejects life in the illusory world of ideas about what it could be like if it weren’t for The winner in ideas about himself starts from existing realities, correctly taking into account his own merits and his own shortcomings. An authentic person does not make claims against other people and does not try to manipulate them. He knows how to remain himself, without trying to create a pleasant, provocative or seductive image that does not correspond to reality. The winner does not pretend to be helpless and does not play the accuser.

He reacts adequately to events, correctly uses his abilities and his time, not allowing himself to live in either a rosy future or a serene past. At the same time, he does not discount his past and does not neglect plans for the future. An authentic personality lives and acts according to the principle: “Here and now,” making timely conclusions after the mistakes and falls that are inevitable for every person. The winner is free from dogma and false authorities, since he is sufficiently authoritative for himself. He knows how to be sincere and spontaneous, enjoying work, nature, food, sex. These are full-blooded and viable people who are not limited only to their own interests. The state of society, the position of the suffering and the weak are often more important for Winners than their own lives. You can be a Winner in prison bunks and a Loser in the presidential palace. In the terrible post-revolutionary years, when thousands of people ended up in the Gulag and in the dungeons of the NKVD, hundreds of them turned out to be Winners. A striking example of this is the life of academician Dmitry Likhachev. Of course, a real manager, a leader must be a Winner.

Losers, even those who succeed in life, often describe themselves as anxious and unhappy. Losers are weak-willed, eternally suffering, exhausted and tormenting people. They are incapable of any passion and are therefore unbearably boring. A distinctive feature of losers is that they do not know how to live in the present. They have endless nostalgia for the past, dreams of a future miracle or magical salvation, which deprive them of the opportunity to take advantage of the chances of today. Their ideas about the world are distorted, filled with constant anxiety, suspicion, bad premonitions and complaints about people. Productive realization of their own life path is impossible for them. Losers avoid sincere and frank relationships. They try to manipulate people by accumulating winning coupons.

The formation of Winners and Losers begins in early childhood, when a child (teenager) tries to move from complete dependence to complete independence, and then, as he learns life lessons, to independence.

E. Bern believes that games can be considered part of broader and more complex transactional ensembles called scenarios.

Scenario

- this is the life plan of the individual, a drama, most often unconscious. The script has clear patterns of stage drama: beginning, action, climax and ending.

There are scenarios of Losers and Winners, catchers and impeccably honest ones, cunning people and simpletons. Whatever role is laid down in childhood is played in adulthood.

Prescription

is a program by which a person strives for a goal. It is laid down, as a rule, in childhood by parents and teachers. These are answers to the questions: “Who are you?”, “What are you capable of?”, “What should you be?”, “How to achieve this?”. The answers depend on the upbringing received.

There are professional regulations: “In our family, everyone was a doctor,” “He was created to be an artist.” Instructions may relate to family life and attitudes to life values: “The main thing for a woman is to get married,” “Money has no smell.” There are spell instructions: “May you fail!” As strange as it may seem, spell instructions that carry negativity can be fatal in nature - thus the life of a person with destructive behavior is prescribed (alcoholic, suicidal, murderer, etc.). Unfortunately, destructive instructions are internalized even in childhood as immutable truths, and a person who has a script with a curse is doomed by fate to the most miserable existence. In a work group, these are usually whiners who consider themselves losers in everything, blaming their fate. As a rule, such people do not become leaders. They constantly complain and get offended. A wise, experienced leader must be able to “break the spell” and remove curses. E. Bern defines this technique as permission. One of the most important permissions is permission to think for yourself.

In childhood, another important detail of worldview is formed - a favorite feeling.

This is a dominant, basic emotion that can last a lifetime. The child experiments, “try”, “try on” various emotions: joy, guilt, fear, resentment, bewilderment, etc. Then he selects those that are used especially often in his family. These emotions are fixed in behavior, and years later they manifest themselves in life, the work team, their own family, and society. In this case, the favorite emotion dominates, which a person uses in most cases of life when reacting to the same situation.

A manager, having a certain character, works with a team of people in which there are always irritated, always gloomy, always picky, always cheerful, always boring, always whining, always insecure, always satisfied, etc. He must be able to find the “key” to each of them and form a group of like-minded people from the group.

E. Berne called the ability to use a favorite emotion transaction racketeering. The currency of transaction racketeering is psychological coupons.

Psychological coupons

- archaic feelings collected by the childish state
of the Self
to manipulate others and gain. There are different types of coupons: gray - inferiority; blue - depression; red - anger, hostility; brown - increased irritability, suspicion, tendency to hypochondriacal formations; gold - joy, goodwill, sincerity; white - sinlessness.

Collecting coupons invariably comes with a price to pay. A person who “collects” gold coupons, as a rule, feels like a Winner. A person who constantly “collects” blue coupons, having received the last one, which has overwhelmed his emotional state, often quite insignificant compared to the accumulated capital of troubles and misfortunes, commits suicide. A person who owns brown coupons spends his life in dull solitude and vegetation. Even sincere compliments turn into a deliberate insult for them.

Collectors of white sinlessness coupons torment themselves with their lack of perfection.

The manager must not only force the subordinate to stop or change the game, but also force him to give up the pleasure of using previously accumulated coupons. The subordinate must not only “forgive” all previously received grievances, but completely abandon them in the team, and possibly in the family, because “forgiveness” only means preserving coupons for a certain period, until the moment when a new trouble forces such an employee Uncork the container with your favorite coupons and use them with renewed vigor.

Thus, a person, having received a “set” of information (experiences), made a decision and taken certain psychological positions, is ready to fulfill his life scenario. But for a full-fledged life drama, other participants are needed that the person could manipulate.

The purpose of transactional analysis is to form an adult ethical position in subordinates, to teach them to become Winners, responsible for themselves, for everyone and for everything.

About the concept of “life scenario”

In the method of transactional analysis there is the concept of “life script”. Byrne writes about him in his book “People Who Play Games.” According to the author, the life program of people is formed in preschool age. In the Middle Ages, teachers and priests adhered to this rule. They even offered to take the child away for education and give him back to his parents after 6 years.

Berne said that a script is a life plan stored deep in the subconscious. Its formation is influenced primarily by the mother and father. According to him, a person is driven to action by some inner force. And no matter how hard he tries to defeat her, the ending often differs from what he wanted. For example, many people strive to earn a lot of money, but continue to lose it. Others achieve success at this time.

It is interesting that for the first 2 years the child’s scenario largely depends on the mother. The program she laid down in psychotherapy is considered its primary protocol, life position.

During the first year after birth, either trust or distrust in the world around us is formed in the child’s mind. He develops certain beliefs about himself and those around him. He understands that he is good, everything is fine with him, or vice versa.

The same is true for other people. They are good, everything is fine with them, or they are bad and not everything is fine with them. These are life positions. Let's call them I and You. “Everything is fine” - “+”, “not everything is fine” - “-”. The combination of these positions is the basis of the life scenario of each person. Let's take a closer look:

1. I+, You+. This is an unconditional success. A sign of a healthy personality who confidently moves towards victory. This attitude can be learned in early childhood or achieved through hard work on yourself.
2. I+, You-. Consciously or unconsciously, a person plays the psychological game “You are to blame.” He sees those around him as enemies. Moreover, he seeks to get rid of them. This applies not only to strangers, but also to relatives, friends, even children. In particularly serious situations, a person with this position becomes a killer.
3. I-, You+. Position of depression. Man is engaged in self-destruction. And, worst of all, he passes this scenario on to children. Such people are mostly melancholic, losers who spend their whole lives alone.
4. I, you-. Complete hopelessness. As in the previous case, this is a loser's scenario.

It is very difficult to give up your life position and change your life scenario. It's like trying to pull out a foundation without destroying a house. But such a possibility still exists. An experienced psychologist or psychotherapist will provide assistance.

It is worth saying that how relationships with other people will develop depends on your life position. The position of the interlocutor is striking even at the first meeting. And like, as you know, attracts like. If you are a happy, cheerful person, then your social circle is the same. It is unlikely that you will want to communicate with eternal whiners.

Ego states

According to transactional analysis, three ego states can be distinguished in each of us: Parent, Adult and Child.

• The Parent ego state
  (P) contains attitudes and behavior adopted from the outside, primarily from parents. Outwardly, they often express themselves as prejudiced, critical, and caring behaviors towards others. Internally, they are experienced as old parental instructions that continue to influence our inner Child.
• The ego state of the Adult
  (B) does not depend on the age of the individual. It is focused on the perception of current reality and obtaining objective information. It is organized, well-adapted, resourceful and operates by studying reality, assessing its capabilities and calmly calculating.
• The Child's ego state
  (Re) contains all the impulses that arise naturally in a child. It also contains a record of early childhood experiences, reactions and attitudes towards self and others. It is expressed as the “old” (archaic) behavior of childhood. The ego state of the Child is also responsible for the creative manifestations of the personality.

When we act, feel, think like our parents did, we are in the Parent ego state. When we are dealing with current reality, the accumulation of facts, their objective assessment, we are in the Adult ego state. When we feel and behave like we did as children, we are in the Child ego state.

At any given moment, each of us is in one of these three ego states.

Literature on Transactional Analysis

Specialized literature will help you better understand the basics and advantages of transactional analysis in psychotherapy:

1. "Transactional Analysis and Psychotherapy", Eric Berne.
2. "Games People Play. Psychology of Human Relationships”, Eric Berne.
3. "Games People Play. People Who Play Games by Eric Berne.
4. “Games that successful people play. Master class on practical psychology”, Pia Bylund, Kåre Christiansen.
5. “Techniques of transactional analysis and psychosynthesis”, Irina Malkina-Pykh.

These books may seem difficult at first. But reading them is a great opportunity to look inside yourself.

Are common.

TA is not only post-Freudian, but also, according to the wishes of its founder, consciously additionally Freudian. TA has roots in psychoanalysis, beginning with Berne as a psychoanalytically trained psychiatrist, transactional analysis developed as a breakaway branch of psychoanalysis.

With its focus on transactions, TA shifted attention from internal psychological dynamics to the dynamics contained in people's interactions. Rather than believing that increasing understanding of the content of subconsciously held ideas was a therapeutic path, TA focused on the content of people's interactions with each other. Changing these interactions was TA's route to solving emotional problems.

TA also differs from Freudian analysis in its explanation that a person's final emotional state is the result of internal dialogue between different parts of the soul, as opposed to the Freudian hypothesis that imagery is the most important determinant of internal emotional state. (For example, depression can occur due to ongoing critical verbal messages from the inner Parent to the inner Child.) Berne believed that it is relatively easy to identify these internal dialogues and that the ability to do so is parentally suppressed in early childhood.

Moreover, Berne believed in taking on an obligation to "cure" his patients, rather than simply, to understand them. To this end, he introduced one of the most important aspects of TA: the contract between both the client and the therapist to pursue the specific changes that the client desired.

Revisiting Freud's concept of the human psyche consisting of the id, ego and superego. Berne, formulates three "ego states" - Parent, Adult and Child, which were largely formed through childhood. These three states are part of the Freudian ego; no one represents the Superego ID.

Unhealthy childhood experiences can lead to one hundred being pathologically fixed in the Child and Parent (ego states), causing discomfort for the individual and/or other users in various forms, including many types of mental illness.

Berne believed that how people communicate with each other, and that ego states influence the set of transactions. Unproductive or counterproductive operations were seen as signs of ego state problems. Analyzing these operations according to the person’s development history, they will allow the person to recover.

Berne defined a typology of common counterproductive social interactions; Berne defined them as “games.”

See also: How to deal with despondency, self-realization

Berne presented his theory in two popular books on Transactional Analysis: People Who Play Games

(1964) and
What Will You Say After You Say "Hello"?
(1975).
I'm OK, You're OK
(1969), written by Berne's longtime friend Anthony Thomas Harris, is perhaps the most popular book on TA.

By the 1970s, because of TA's non-technical and non-threatening jargon and model of the human soul, many of its terms and concepts were adopted by an eclectic group of therapists as part of their individual approaches to psychotherapy. It also served positively as a model of therapy for patient groups, families, where interpersonal (rather than deeply personal) disturbances were the focus of treatment. Critics have charged that TA is a pseudoscience, when TA is actually better understood as a philosophy. TA's popularity in the US declined in the 1970s, but it retains some popularity elsewhere in the world. More dedicated TA purists merged in 1964 with Berne to form the research and professional accreditation body, the International Transactional Analytics Association, or ITAA.