Erin's study guide Transactional Analysis

I'm OK- You're OK

If the child's needs are met, the child may decide that it is his or her fault for being "lacking" in some fundamental way. This is the most COMMOM position and is sometimes called the "depressive" position. People who are frequently in this position commonly experience guilt, depression, inadequacy, and fear.

The basic premise of TA is that we are 3 people in 1

A child, and adult, and a parent.

I'm OK - You're not OK

If a child is mistreated, he or she may decide others are not OK, which is essentially a defense against a more basic feeling of being "not ok." People in this position often blame and distrust others and react to the world with frustration or anger (sometimes called the paranoid position).

I'm not OK - You're not OK -

If stroking is lacking or extremely negative, the child may decide, the above statement. Since there is no source of positive stroking, the infant may give up and feel hopeless. Persons who adopt this position are more likely to end up in mental institutions, jail, or in the morgue.

The 4 life positions

Life positions are in result of decisions made in response to how parent figures react to the child's initial expressions of his or her feelings and needs.

The parent ego state(super ego) -

divided into nurturing parent and critical parent. It is recorded modeled and taught concept of life. This un-erasable tape is composed of events that actually happened. The person internalizes this tape...

Eric Berne -

trained as psychiatrist and psychoanalysis. Began developing the essence of TA theory in the 1950's. Born in 1910, and died in 1970.

Jacque schiff

A therapy invented by JS where you take the patients back to their childhood and "reparent" them in order to cure them of various problems and phobias.

Strokes

A unit of attention. In TA the need for strokes is considered the basic motivation for any social interaction and necessary to an individuals healthy functioning. The most positive strokes come from parents who are unconditional. Negative strokes are better than no strokes at all.

Stamps or stamp collecting -

People prefer to collect their own brand of racket feelings, such as guilt, anger, depression that reinforce their life script. These feeling are called "trading stamps" it marks the emotional reaction that marks the end of a game. When enough "stamps" are collected they turn into psychological prizes. Small - crying, hitting, screaming.....large - murder, suicide, divorce, job loss...

Racket

The payoff in which individuals have some favorite negative feeling that they use to confirm their life position. This collection of bad feelings is usually learned from a parent to whom the child ego state has been accustomed.

Transactional analysis

Therapists apply ego states and life scripts and follow a treatment approach based on the assumption "I'm ok - You're ok". (analysis between people and how that works). TA is a humanistic, dynamic theory of personality- believe human are born in an "ok" state, that each person is unique, and that people ultimately are responsible for their own behavior and destines.

I'm OK - You're OK.

This is probably the position reflecting how the child entered the world. As long as the child's emotional and physical needs are met in a loving, accepting way the infant retains this position and maintains a "winner's" script.

Games -

are a recurring set of transactions, often repetitious, superficially plausible, but with a concealed motive. A game is a series of (social - psychological) transactions that lead to a well defined payoff that justifies a not OK, or discounted position. Games are defense mechanisms , and everyone plays them 60-70% of the time.

The child ego state (id) -

consists of impulses, feelings, and spontaneous acts. Has wo basic function states, the free child and the adapted child. The FC is spontaneous and playful...people who stay in this state to long can be considered out of control. AC ego state may be described as compliant, compromising, act is if a parent may be watching or listening.

The adult ego state(ego)

is the referee between the demands of the parent ego state and the wants of the child ego state. The adult ego state adds the thought concept to the taught concept of the parent ego state. It provided the "how to" for the personality be asking "why" questions and considering consequences. The adult ego state is not divided because it is unemotional and functions as a computer.