Transactional analysis is a humanist theory of personality, human relations and communication that is applied in psychotherapy, personal growth, education and even the field of organizations.

Initially, it was a form of psychotherapy founded between the 50’s and 60’s by the doctor and psychiatrist Eric Berne , an innovative and creative thinker who joined ideas from other currents (psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, phenomenological, etc.), but this theoretical and practical body is still valid today and is applied in many contexts.

Who was Eric Berne

Eric Leonard Bernstein, better known as Eric Berne, is the father of Transactional Analysis. He was born in Canada in 1910 and died in 1970. He was the son of a Polish doctor who died of tuberculosis when Eric was just a boy. Berne decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and, after receiving his medical degree in 1935, in 1936 he began his career as a psychiatrist at the Yale University Medical School Psychiatric Clinic, where he worked for two years.

A few years later he would begin his studies in psychoanalysis with Paul Federn, one of the first disciples of Sigmund Freud. After passing through several health centres and after serving the American army as a psychiatrist, in 1946, when decided to live in California, he continued his psychoanalytic training with Erik Erikson .

Understanding the concept of Transactional Analysis

But Berne, in spite of respecting his origins as a psychoanalyst, did not agree with certain ideas that this model promoted and, after the publication of different articles and books, developed his own model of “social psychiatry” . His works were true best sellers, always written with a simple vocabulary allowing the understanding of both professionals and clients. For Berne, communication and knowledge are largely the solution to emotional problems, and he focuses his approach on social relationships, where the transaction is the basic unit.

Eric Berne himself explains in his book “The games we play” that: “The unity of social relationship is the transaction. If two people meet each other…sooner or later one of them will talk, give some indication or show appreciation for their presence. This is known as transactional encouragement. The other person will then say or do something that is related to the stimulus, and that is called a transactional response.

Eric Berne’s model was gaining popularity, and he decided to found the ITAA (International Transactional Analysis Association) with the mission of deepening certain concepts of transactional analysis and contributing different developments within the theory. This institution is still in place today to ensure the quality of therapy and training in the various centers that practice transactional analysis.

An integrative approach

Transactional analysis, due to its multifaceted nature, is best described as an integrative approach . Unlike an eclectic approach, in which the practitioner chooses the most appropriate ideas or techniques from a variety of theories or models, the integrative approach finds a point of union between different models, unified in a new model or theory.

Within transactional analysis there are different schools, for example, the classical or the cathexis. As a practitioner integrates the concepts of transactional analysis, he or she may choose a school that fits his or her own way of being or doing therapy, or he or she may move through the different approaches within this same theory, so that it is a matter of finding a form that best fits the cases being treated. Somehow, one starts from a theoretical and practical base and goes on to some variations, as it usually happens with psychoanalysts.

Starting from psychoanalysis

In fact, Berne’s integrative approach was born because he, influenced by psychoanalysis, thought that Freudian theory focused all its efforts on the past, resulting in a therapeutic practice that left aside the “here and now”, forgetting aspects as beneficial to therapy as the concentration on the conscious (but also the unconscious).

To achieve this, he combined ideas and techniques from classical psychoanalysis with ideas from humanism or behaviorism . The new theory did not focus so much on introspection towards the past, but rather the present, the interpersonal context or personal self-realization and growth came to life in his new way of doing therapy.

Transactions and states of self

One of the great achievements of transactional analysis is that it proposes a methodology and basic concepts expressed in simple, non-technical language, and at the same time facilitates techniques for personal change.

Psychological transactions are analyzed through ego states , different from those proposed by Freud. There are three ego states: Parent, Adult and Child.

  • Father : One speaks and thinks with the learned patterns of an authoritarian figure in childhood. It is a copy of childhood.
  • Adult : Most rational and realistic state
  • Child : It is the most impulsive and spontaneous state.

A transactional analyst will draw up a diagram in which the ego states that are manifested in a transaction can be seen. For example, an adult-to-adult transaction may occur when a surgeon is operating and looks at the nurse to bring the tool to her. She approaches him with a complementary transaction, where the gesture of looking would be the stimulus of the transaction and the delivery of the tool would be the response of the transaction. Communication will be fluid while the complementary transactions continue.

But, unfortunately, not all interactions are complementary and, therefore, some are dysfunctional , what Berne called cross-transaction. For example, in a couple relationship, one of the members, in this case the woman, asks the other member if he has seen her glasses. And the other member, in this case the man, replies: “You always blame me for everything! The man, instead of responding with the “Adult” ego, responds in an impulsive way, that is, with the “Child” ego, and here a conflict or dysfunctional communication occurs.

Objectives of Transactional Analysis

Transactional analysis is a decisional model of personality that helps to understand the relationship with others and with ourselves. It allows us to feel and become aware of what we are and what we need and want. Likewise, it empowers us in the face of change and allows us to have autonomy and initiative in our own personal development.

The objectives of transactional analysis are basically three: awareness, spontaneity, and intimacy:

  • To be aware is to be able to distinguish what is real from what is fantasy . It is self-knowledge.
  • Spontaneity is related to the expression of thoughts , feelings, emotions and needs of oneself.
  • Intimacy is the ability to open up to the other , to be authentic and close.

Legacy

Transactional analysis is a popular theory, although its effectiveness is questioned by the lack of scientific studies that demonstrate its efficacy (in part, this is due to the fact that part of psychoanalysis and its epistemology). Today, it is still possible to be trained not only in therapy, but also there are masters focused on other fields of application, for example, in Transactional Coaching for Organizations .

The following are some of the most important aspects of this theory. Transactional analysis focuses on:

  • Relations , in all their forms: with oneself and with others.
  • The belief that deep change occurs through experience.
  • It is a theory of communication that analyses the different forms of interaction: between individuals, couples, families, organizations, etc.
  • Allows to analyze and understand irrational beliefs , impulsive behaviors, prejudices, illusions…
  • It is a method of individual and group therapy , and intervenes on cognitive, affective, relational, psychological, behavioural and personality parameters.
  • The practitioner is an active participant in her/his work can be a neutral observer, and the same goes for the client.

Bibliographic references:

  • Ego States in Psychotherapy: Am. J. Psychother., 11: 293-309
  • Berne, Eric (1964). Games People Play – The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis. New York: Ballantine Books
  • Berne, Eric (2007). Games in which we participate. Barcelona: RBA Libros, S.A