Transactional Analysis (TA) developed by the American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Eric Berne during the late 1950's is a method of analysis explaining the psychic development of human beings with the concept of “script”. It shows how, while trying to reach our goals, we unconsciously reproduce behavioural habits dating from our childhood. It is an efficient means to understand human relationships because it enables the analysis of personality development and of the communication methods used.
The basic principle is that in every human being, exist three different “ego states” which lead us to act :
. the Parent State : state in which is the person behaving like his/her parents or some influential adults around him/her during his/her childhood. It is sub-divided into two states :
Controlling Parent
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Nurturing Parent |
Judges, criticizes, imposes, controls, forbids …
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Helps, coaxes, encourages … |
. the Adult State , is the core of logic and rational thinking leading to objective appraisal, analysis, decision and action ;
. the Child State is the former child still living in us. It is the centre of our feelings and intuition. A person is in such a state every time he/she behaves like a child. This state is itself subdivided into several states :
The Adapted-submissive Child
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The Rebel Child |
The Spontaneous, Creative Child |
He/she is shy and submits gracefully… |
Criticizing and always objecting to things, he/she is basically a protester. |
Completely free, he/she is natural, loving, intuitive, curious. |
Identifying in which « ego state » our partner is and even ourselves enables us to better understand and handle our relationships with others, sometimes even to avoid conflicts (*).
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(*) Examples of possible questions in problem-solving, on the basis of Transactional Analysis :
. Am I responsible for solving this problem ? ( Parent State )
. Am I able to solve this problem ? ( Adult State )
. Do I feel like solving this problem ? ( Child State ).
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