All People Okay Or About Transactional Analysis As A Method Of Psychotherapy

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

What is Transactional Analysis (TA)?

"Transactional Analysis (TA) is a theory of personality and systematic psychotherapy for the development and change of personality" (as defined by the International Association for Transactional Analysis).

Transactional Analysis has its own philosophical base:

1. All people. Okay. It means that you and I, we both have value, meaning and dignity as human beings. I accept myself as I am, and you as I am. This principle speaks about the essence of a person, rather than about his behavior. As a person, I perceive you. Okay, although your behavior may not be so.
2. Everyone has the ability to think. People determine their own destiny and make decisions. All people, except in cases of severe brain damage, have the ability to think. Therefore, we are responsible for making decisions about what we want out of life. Existentialists would say that we are doomed to freedom. And transactional analysts say that ultimately everyone's life depends on the decision they make. And not even making a decision is also a decision.

Let's take a look at some of the key concepts of TA:

• Ego State Model (Parent - Adult - Child) … Have you noticed how sometimes, how sometimes a conflict develops inside us: one part of us wants one thing (for example, to go to sleep), and the other part of something else (for example, to go in for sports)? And sometimes it is so difficult to make the right decision, so what to do. So, with the help of the ego-state model, one can explain why there is a conflict of our needs between want and need, and how to make an informed choice.
• Transactions - units of human communication … With the help of this concept, you can explain how people communicate with each other, why so, and how conflicts can be resolved and interaction improved.
• Games are psychological games between people, a repeated sequence of transactions (communication units), as a result of which both parties experience painful feelings. People play games without realizing what they are doing.
• Life scenario - one of the most delicious concepts, about how we write the main plot of our plan for life in early childhood, and then add details to it. It is believed that by the age of 7, the script is mostly written, and then we continue to follow it. With TA, early childhood decisions can be brought into awareness and changed.

There are of course many other key ideas and concepts of Transactional Analysis that make it a unique method. And yet, TA, like any other method of psychotherapy, is aimed at explaining how people are "arranged" psychologically, how people unconsciously can create problems for themselves, and how they can solve them.