INTRODUCTION

Transactional Analysis (TA) is a psychoanalytic theory and

method of therapy developed by Eric Berne during the

1950s. Transactions refer to the communication exchanges

between people. Eric Berne presented Transactional

Analysis to the world as a phenomenological approach,

supplementing Freud's philosophical construct with

observable data. His theory built on the science of Wilder

Penfield and Rene Spitz along with the neo-psychoanalytic

thought of people such as Paul Federn, Edoardo Weiss, and

Erik Erikson. By moving to an interpersonal motivational

theory, he placed it both in opposition to the psychoanalytic

traditions of his day and within what would become the

psychoanalytic traditions of the future.

From Berne, transactional analysts have inherited a

determination to create an accessible and user-friendly

system, an understanding of script or life-plan, ego states,

transactions, and a theory of groups.

Transactional analysis is the method used to analyze this process

of transactions in communication with others. It requires us to be

aware of how we feel, think, and behave during interactions with

others. Transactional Analysis is a personality theory which gives

us a picture of how people are structured psychologically.

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS’S VIEW OF MAN

Eric Berne defined TA as "a theory of personality and a systematic

psychotherapy for personal growth and change".TA recognized

that the human personality is made up of three “ego states,”; each

of which is an entire system of thought, feeling, and behavior from

which we interact with each other. The Parent, Adult, and Child

ego states and the interaction between them form the foundation

of transactional analysis theory.

Berne believed in making a commitment to "curing" his clients,

rather than just understanding them. To that end he introduced one

of the most important aspects of TA: the contract—an agreement

entered into by both client and therapist to pursue specific changes

that the client desires.

Transactional analysts are trained to recognize which ego states

people are transacting from and to follow the transactional

sequences to intervene and improve communication quality and

effectiveness.

In addition, Berne believed in making a commitment to "curing" his

clients, rather than just understanding them. To that end he

introduced one of the most important aspects of TA: the contract—

an agreement entered into by both client and therapist to pursue

specific changes that the client desires.

How Was Transactional Analysis Developed?

Eric Berne founded TA in the late 1950s. Eric Berne was born in

Canada in 1910 and died in 1970; his field of expertise was rooted

in psychoanalysis.

His ideas for TA developed from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic

theory that childhood experiences greatly impact our lives as

adults and are the basis for the development of our personalities

and psychological or emotional issues that we suffer.

TA also differs from Freudian analysis in explaining that an

individual's final emotional state is the result of inner

dialogue between different parts of the psyche, as opposed to the

Freudian hypothesis that imagery is the overriding determinant of

inner emotional state. (For example, depression may be due to

ongoing critical verbal messages from the inner Parent to the inner

Child.) Berne believed that it is relatively easy to identify these

inner dialogues and that the ability to do so is parentally

suppressed in early childhood.

In the same way, Berne believed that our childhood

experiences, particularly how we are parented, affect the

developmental formation of our three ego states (Parent,

Adult, and Child).

Berne's theory was based on the ideas of Freud but with distinct

differences. Freudian psychotherapists focused on client

personalities. Berne believed that insight could be better

discovered by analyzing a client's social transactions.

Berne mapped interpersonal relationships to three ego-states of

the individuals involved: the Parent, Adult, and Child state. He then

investigated communications between individuals based on the

current state of each. He called these interpersonal

interactions transactions and used the label games to refer to

certain patterns of transactions which popped up repeatedly in

everyday life in every human interaction.

The origins of transactional analysis can be traced to the first five

of Berne's six articles on intuition, which he began writing in 1949.

Even at this early juncture and while still working to become

a psychoanalyst, his writings challenged Freudian concepts of the

unconscious.

In 1956, after 15 years of psychoanalytic training, Berne was

refused admission to the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute as

a fully-fledged psychoanalyst. He interpreted the request for

several more years of training as a rejection and decided to walk

away from psychoanalysis.Before the end of the year, he had

written two seminal papers, both published in 1957.

1. In the first article, Intuition V: The Ego Image, Berne

referenced P. Federn, E. Kahn, and H. Silberer, and indicated how

he arrived at the concept of ego states, including his idea of

separating "adult" from "child".

2. The second paper, Ego States in Psychotherapy, was based

on material presented earlier that year at the Psychiatric Clinic, Mt.

Zion Hospital, San Francisco, and at the Langley Porter

Neuropsychiatric Clinic, UCSF School of Medicine. In that second

article, he developed the tripartite scheme used today (Parent,

Adult, and Child), introduced the three-circle method of

diagramming it, showed how to sketch contaminations, labeled the

theory, "structural analysis", and termed it "a new

psychotherapeutic approach".

A few months later, he wrote a third article, titled "Transactional

Analysis: A New and Effective Method of Group Therapy", which

was presented by invitation at the 1957 Western Regional Meeting

of the American Group Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles.

With the publication of this paper in the 1958 issue of the American

Journal of Psychotherapy, Berne's new method of diagnosis and

treatment, transactional analysis, became a permanent part of the

psychotherapeutic literature. In addition to restating his concepts of

ego states and structural analysis, the 1958 paper added the

important new features of transactional analysis proper (i.e. the

analysis of transactions), games, and scripts.

His seminar group from the 1950s developed the

term transactional analysis (TA) to describe therapies based on his

work. By 1964, this expanded into the International Transactional

Analysis Association. While still largely ignored by the

psychoanalytic community, many therapists have put his ideas in

practice.

In the early 1960s, he published both technical and popular

accounts of his conclusions. His first full-length book on TA

was published in 1961, titled Transactional Analysis in

Psychotherapy.Structures and Dynamics of Organizations

and Groups (1963) examined the same analysis in a broader

context than one-on-one interaction.

This can then unconsciously cause us to replay the same attitudes

and behaviors that our parents had towards us to someone else

during a conversation or to respond to communication and

interactions with past childhood anxieties and emotions.

Eric Berne proposed that dysfunctional behavior is the result of

self-limiting decisions made in childhood in the interest of survival.

Such decisions culminate in what Berne called the “life script,” the

pre-conscious life plan that governs the way life is lived out.

Changing the life script is the aim of transactional analysis

psychotherapy. Replacing violent organizational or societal

scripting with cooperative non-violent behavior is the aim of other

applications of transactional analysis. In transactional analysis, the

client is taught to alter the ego state as a way to solve emotional

problems. The method deviates from Freudian psychoanalysis,

which focuses on increasing awareness of the contents of

subconsciously held ideas.

Since Berne created TA, other psychotherapists and

psychologists, such as Thomas Harris and Claude Steiner, have

added to it, developing the theory and its therapeutic applications

further.During a conversation with someone, the person starting

the communication will give the ‘transaction stimulus,’ and then the

person receiving this stimulus (or message of communication) will

give the ‘transaction response.’

The Ego States

Many of the core TA models and concepts can be categorised into

 Structural analysis – analysis of the individual psyche

 Transactional analysis proper – analysis of interpersonal

transactions based on structural analysis of the individuals

involved in the transaction

 Game analysis – repeating sequences of transactions that

lead to a result subconsciously agreed to by the parties involved in

the gam
 Script analysis – a life plan that may involve long-term

involvement in particular games in order to reach the life pay-off of

the individual

At any given time, a person experiences and manifests his or her

personality through a mixture of behaviours, thoughts, and

feelings. Typically, according to TA, there are three ego-states that

people consistently use:

TA believes that we have three different states or ways of being

during interactions, which are; the child ego state, the parent ego

state, and the state of adult (Berne, 1957).

Which state we are in during an interaction depends on a few

factors, such as how we have been conditioned to act or react

from childhood, any past traumas that now cause us to act in a

certain way during particular interactions or situations, and how the

other person we are interacting with is treating us/ what ego state

they are in when speaking to us.

Interacting with someone from the state of the child or parent

mode is often a default or unconscious reaction that is used, and it

takes conscious awareness to be able to bring ourselves back into

adult mode and interact from that place instead.

CHILD STATE

Child ("archaeopsyche"): a state in which people behave, feel, and

think similarly to how they did in childhood. For example, a person

who receives a poor evaluation at work may respond by looking at

the floor and crying or pouting, as when scolded as a child.

Conversely, a person who receives a good evaluation may

respond with a broad smile and a joyful gesture of thanks. The

Child is the source of emotions, creation, recreation, spontaneity,

and intimacy.

There are two subdivisions of the child state; The adapted child

and the free child ego states. This is when we interact and respond
to someone based on our past conditioning of internal emotions

felt in childhood, so when we revert back to our thinking and

feeling from when we were children.

The child ego state is built on any reinforcements we were given in

childhood, either positive or negative, to behave or not behave in a

certain way, which still conditions and affects our interactions

today.

The adapted child state conforms and acts according to others’

wishes to please them and be seen as good and liked. Still, it also

has a rebellious side when faced with perceived conflict and

causes responses of resistance, hostility, and emotional reactivity.

The free child ego state can be creative, spontaneous, playful, and

pleasure-seeking.

PARENT STATE

Parent ("exteropsyche"): a state in which people behave, feel,

and think in response to an unconscious mimicking of how their

parents (or other parental figures) acted, or how they interpreted

their parent's actions. For example, a person may shout at

someone out of frustration because they learned from an influential

figure in childhood the lesson that this seemed to be a way of

relating that worked.

There are two subdivisions of the parent state; The critical/

controlling parent state and the nurturing parent state. These are

behavior and thinking patterns we have been taught from our past

interactions with our parents and other authority figures (teachers,

grandparents, etc.).

Berne believed our experiences during our first five years of life

contributed to the parent ego state. This state holds a lot of

judgments on how someone or something is, i.e., it is that state

where we find ourselves having a lot of ‘shoulds’ and ‘should nots’

about something.

People are in this state when they are reactive to a situation and

act out of their conditioning, copying how their parents (or another

authority figure) treated them and others instead of analyzing each

situation afresh in the here and now.

It is when we use the voice of authority toward someone. The

critical parent disapproves in a harsh and possibly aggressive way.

In contrast, the nurturing parent tries to take over a situation in

more of a rescuing way, trying to soothe others, which can be very

inappropriate when talking to other adults rather than children.

ADULT STATE

Adult ("neopsyche"): a state of the ego which is most like an

artificially intelligent system processing information and making

predictions about major emotions that could affect its operation.

Learning to strengthen the Adult is a goal of TA. While a person is

in the Adult ego state, he/she is directed towards an objective

appraisal of reality.

Unlike the other two, the adult state does not have any

subdivisions. The adult state interacts with people and their

environment in the here and now, not from past conditioning or

how other people have told them to be.

This state is more open, more rational, and less quick to make

harsh judgments on a situation or person.

When communication occurs in the adult state, we are more likely

to be respectful, make compromises, listen fully to others, and

have more healthy social interactions.

How Do The Ego States Interact And Affect
Communication?

Berne differentiated his Parent, Adult, and Child ego states from

actual adults, parents, and children, by using capital letters when

describing them. These ego states may or may not represent the

relationships that they act out. For example, in the workplace, an

adult supervisor may take on the Parent role, and scold an adult

employee as though he were a Child. Or a child, using the Parent

ego-state, could scold her actual parent as though the parent were

a Child.

Within each of these ego states are subdivisions. Thus Parental

figures are often either

 more nurturing (permission-giving, security-giving) or

 more criticising (comparing to family traditions and ideals in

generally negative ways);

Childhood behaviours are either

 more natural (free) or

 more adapted to others.

These subdivisions categorize individuals' patterns of behaviour,

feelings, and ways of thinking, which can be functional (beneficial

or positive) or dysfunctional/counterproductive (negative).

Berne states that there are four types of diagnosis of ego states.

They are: "behavioural" diagnosis, "social" diagnosis, "historical"

diagnosis, and "phenomenological" diagnosis. A complete

diagnosis would include all four types. It has subsequently been

demonstrated that there is a fifth type of diagnosis, namely

"contextual", because the same behaviour will be diagnosed

differently according to the context of the behaviour.

Ego states do not correspond directly to Sigmund Freud's ego,

superego, and id, although there are obvious parallels:

Superego/Parent; Ego/Adult; Id/Child. Ego states are consistent for

each person, and (argue TA practitioners) are more observable

than the components of Freud's model. In other words, the ego

state from which someone is communicating is evident in their

behavior, manner and expression.

The three states of child, parent, and adult affect how we receive,

perceive, and respond to information or communication from

someone.
Berne observed that people need strokes, the units of

interpersonal recognition, to survive and thrive. Understanding how

people give and receive positive and negative strokes and

changing unhealthy patterns of stroking are powerful aspects of

work in transactional analysis.

Transactional analysis believes that adult-to-adult communication/

transactions lead to the most effective and healthy communication,

thus, relationships with others

The different types of transactions below explain how interactions

from the different ego states interact with each other.

Complementary Transactions

It is important to note that although the phrase ‘complementary

transactions’ sounds positive, it does not necessarily mean that

this type of communication is always healthy communication

complementary transaction takes place when the lines between

the sender’s and receiver’s ego state are parallel.

This means that whatever ego state the sender is in, their

communication reaches or impacts the desired ego state of the

receiver. Thus, the receiver responds in a way that complements

the sender’s ego state instead of challenging it.

When this complementary transaction happens from an adult-to-

adult state, it is thought to be the best type of communication, as it

is respectful and reduces conflicts.

When a complementary transaction happens from the ego state of

a child and is received and responded to from the ego state of a

nurturing parent, it will also help to reduce conflicts and create a

degree of harmony in the interaction; however, you can see why

this would not necessarily be the best form of interaction in a

workplace environment between two adults.

For example, in a marriage, if one partner is worried about an

event, the other may take on a more nurturing parental state to

help calm and support them, which is great; however, if this is the

primary mode of communication between the two of them over

time it would cause strain and be quite draining.

Crossed Transactions

Crossed transactions are when the ego states of two people

interacting do not match when the ego state of the sender does not

reach the desired or intended ego state of the respondent; thus,

they respond to the sender in a conflicting way (which can be seen

by the crossed over arrows in the image to the right).

In a crossed transaction, it requires one or both of the people in

the interaction to shift ego states for communication to be able to

carry on.

An example of this would be if a customer came to you

complaining of their recent purchase, using very belittling

language, jumping to the conclusion that this mistake had been

made purposely, and telling you that they were going to report you.

They are speaking to you from their critical parent state, intending

you to then reply from your child’s ego state, such as being very
apologetic, begging them not to report you, and responding with

anything that strengthens their authority in the situation.

However, if you were to respond from your adult or parent state

instead, this would cause a crossed transaction, and someone

would have to shift their ego states to accommodate for this so the

communication can continue.

TA believes that if you respond from your adult state, it is more

likely that the sender can then also come back into their adult state

to accommodate for the discrepancy in uncomplimentary ego

states, resulting in transactions from adult to adult, which is

healthier and more respectful.

Ulterior Transactions

Ulterior transactions are when the sender outwardly gives a

message to the receiver that sounds like it’s coming from his adult

state to the receiver’s adult state.

However, there is actually an underlying, subtle message given

from the sender’s child or parent state, to be received by the

responder’s child or parent state. Thus, two messages are sent at

the same time. This can be done consciously or unconsciously by

the sender.

This type of interaction is highlighted in the image showing the

dashed line. An example would be if someone’s teacher or friend

said, ‘You can choose to study subjects that lead to becoming a

doctor; however, it is very hard and requires lots of intelligence.’

The use of language suggests adult-to-adult respectful

communication with a subtle warning; however, they may have

said it with the intent of triggering the receiver’s rebellious child

ego state, so they might think, ‘I will show you that I am also very

intelligent and can become a doctor’ and thus study harder.

The three different transactions in communication are not defined

by verbal language and words alone. It also incorporates tone of

voice, body language, and facial expressions.

How Is Transactional Analysis Used In

Therapy?

The general goal or motive of TA therapy is to strengthen the adult

state of the client. This is done through using skillful questioning

and tools to understand what causes the client to shift into parent
or child ego mode and thus come up with helpful strategies to use

in these moments to stay in their adult state instead (Berne, 1958).

TA believes that our childhood experiences, particularly from birth

to five years, strongly affect our behaviors and our responses in

social interactions, so importance is placed on our upbringing and

how we were parented

This process is also referred to as script analysis, which analyses

and explores our scripts developed in childhood. Scripts are

unconsciously built beliefs and views we have of ourselves, others,

and the world, which we developed to make sense of our internal

and external environments from early experiences and

interactions.

During script analysis, any positive or negative reinforcements we

were given as a child to behave or not behave in a certain way will

be explored, along with life messages we have given, I.e., ‘only

lucky people become rich,’ or ‘you have to suffer to succeed.’

People will also explore whether or not they are modeling/ copying

how they observed their parents and authority figures behaving.

Additionally, more subtle messages we received growing up will be

analyzed (referred to as injunctions), such as always being told to

be quiet when your parents were speaking to friends, which could

imprint the belief ‘no one wants to hear me’ or ‘what I want to say

doesn’t really matter,’ these would be explored in therapy along

with how they currently affect our interactions now.

The parent, adult, and child diagram, or ‘structural diagram’ as

Berne called it, is a useful tool that TA practitioners use as a

helpful visual in aiding clients to understand the three states they

have within them.

This affects their behavioral and social interactions and is a way of

helping them to see how the three states interact with each other

during particular situations and with particular people they

communicate with.

TA can be used in short-term therapy, in a brief solution-focused

way, or in a more in-depth long-term way to gain more insight into

our unconscious world, and improving our relationships with

others, and reduce conflict.

TA is versatile and can be used in individual psychotherapy,

couple’s psychotherapy, and family counseling. It can also be

helpful for other practitioners to apply to their work with clients

such as nurses and teachers and even in industries such as

business or sales training.

Transactional analysis can also be helpful for people who are struggling

with emotional or mental health issues. By understanding the underlying

dynamics of their interactions with others, people can gain insight into the

root causes of their problems and work towards resolving them.

In addition, TA can help people to improve their communication skills

and increase their ability to connect with others. This can be particularly

beneficial for people struggling with social anxiety or difficulty forming

relationships, so whether you're looking to improve your communication

skills, resolve emotional issues, or want to understand yourself and others

better, transactional analysis is a powerful tool that can help you to

achieve your goals.

Current Research On Transactional Analysis

Current research on TA appears promising in its ability to improve

relationships, decrease conflict, improve individual life satisfaction,

and self-esteem. It also shows its effectiveness in aiding people at

work during their interactions with clients.

Below are a few of these studies and their findings; more research

on TA can be found online.

Nayeri, Lotfi, & Noorani (2014) provided 15 couples with group

transactional analysis sessions. The couples attended eight

sessions, each of 90 minutes.

The couples originally had very low scores of rated intimacy levels.

When tested again after the 8 TA sessions, they showed

significantly increased intimacy levels between every 15 couples.

This increase remained stable when retested three months later.

This suggests that TA is a good educational and therapy tool to

help improve intimacy and bonding in romantic relationships.

Similarly, Alkasir et al. (2017) provided 20 married women with 8

TA sessions and found that after the eight sessions, their reported

marital discord, conflicts, and control-oriented behavior were

significantly decreased, including economic control, intimidation,

and emotional control.

The eight sessions led to increased marital intimacy and

satisfaction, and the participants reported being able to apply the

skills and knowledge learned in TA sessions to other areas of their

life also.
A study by Saberinia & Niknejadi (2019) gave 15 mothers of

children with oppositional deficiency disorder eight weekly 90-

minute sessions of TA and found it to significantly improve their

relationship with their children, minimizing conflicts and stopping

any ‘games’ taking place between them as interactions would take

place more frequently from adult-adult states.

Research also suggests that TA can help mothers to parent their

children from a healthier authoritative parent style rather than

authoritarian and permissive styles (regarding Baumrind’s three

parenting styles).

This means that they have better control over their emotions and

reactions and can communicate with their children from an adult

position rather than taking part in conflicts and scolding them,

which can lead to the improved well-being of the children (Eghbali,

Mousavi, & Hakima, 2017).

Providing eight weekly, 90-minute TA sessions has been shown to

improve prisoners’ self-esteem levels when testing 35 prisoners

with a self-esteem test before beginning sessions and again after

the eight sessions (Torkaman et al., 2020).

Lastly, a research study has shown that knowledge of TA theory,

the ego states, and types of transaction can help psychiatric

nurses to communicate and interact with their patients more

effectively, which then leads to patients feeling more relaxed and

responding better to treatment (Ertem and Eker, 2016).

Critical Evaluation

Advantages

 The first advantage of TA is that Berne created it with the

intention of being straightforward, with easily understandable

concepts. This makes it possible for the layperson to understand

the theory and become familiar with its mechanisms and how

social interactions in their lives take on the form that they do.

 TA helps people to be able to gain deeper insight into their

own behaviors, reactions, thoughts, and emotions, which they

might not have been aware of before, providing them with greater

self-awareness.

 Another pro of TA is that it helps to improve communication

skills and relationships with others while decreasing conflicts, and

these benefits are supported by current research.

 A final pro is that TA can apply to many social environments/

interactions and many types of relationships. For example, work,

colleagues and manager relationships or interactions, teacher and

student interactions in schools, romantic relationships/ marriage,

families, parent and child relationships, difficult clients at work in all

industries, etc. Making it a very versatile theory.

Disadvantages

 A disadvantage of TA is that it requires someone to have a

good degree of self-awareness and the capacity to look at and

notice their own behavior, emotions, and thought patterns; some

clients or people may not have this capacity.

 TA requires the client to be willing and motivated to take

ownership of their problems and behaviors, so TA may not be

suitable for everyone.

 TA was originally created by Berne to be simple and easy to

understand, thus more accessible to the average person, however,

with more recent psychotherapists and psychologists adding onto

this theory, it has made it more complex, losing some of its

originally intended simplistic nature.

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