Sage Academic Books

An Introduction to Transactional Analysis

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Author: Phil Lapworth, Charlotte Sills

Pub. Date: 2015
Product: Sage Academic Books
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957763
Keywords: ego, scripts, transactional analysis, decontamination, stroke, clients, structural models
Disciplines: Transactional Analysis Counseling, Theory & Approaches, Counseling & Psychotherapy
Access Date: February 18, 2025
Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
Sage Sage Academic Books
© Phil Lapworth and Charlotte Sills, 1993, 2011

City: London
Online ISBN: 9781473957763

© 2015 SAGE Publications Ltd All Rights Reserved.

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Front Matter

• SAGE
• Copyright
• About the Authors
• Praise for the Book
• Preface
• Acknowledgements

Chapters

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Transactional Analysis

Chapter 2: Making Contracts
Chapter 3: Ego States: A Theory of Personality
Chapter 4: The Analysis of Transactions: Understanding Communication
Chapter 5: Functional Analysis: Behavioural Options in Relationship
Chapter 6: Strokes and Other Human Hungers
Chapter 7: Life Scripts: The Development of a Lived Narrative
Chapter 8: Games: Understanding Relational Dynamics
Chapter 9: Rackets: Maintaining Scripts in the Internal World
Chapter 10: Assessment and the Process of Change
Transactional Analysis and Confusion
Transactional Analysis and Conflict
Transactional Analysis and Deficit
Chapter 11: Relating for a Change

Back Matter

• List of TA Organizations
• References

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SAGE

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Copyright

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© Phil Lapworth and Charlotte Sills, 1993, 2011

Transactional Analysis Counselling published by Winslow Press in 1993.

Reprinted 2006

This fully revised edition published 2011

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted
under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or
transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the
case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing
Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

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About the Authors

Phil Lapworth is a psychotherapist and supervisor in private practice near Bath. He has been an external
examiner, consultant and supervisor for several integrative counselling and psychotherapy courses and was
Director of Clinical Services at the Metanoia Institute before moving to Bath.

His interest in psychology and psychotherapy began while a teacher in Special Education, particularly through
his work at the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital School in London. His subsequent deputy headship at a school
for troubled children and adolescents provided him with the opportunity in 1981 to undertake counselling
training at South West London College which encompassed several approaches to counselling.

From these eclectic beginnings Phil qualified as a transactional analyst, trained in gestalt therapy and, later,
integrative therapy, establishing a psychotherapy and supervision practice working with adults. With Charlotte
Sills and Sue Fish, he published books on transactional analysis and gestalt approaches and, as sole author,
several chapters in therapy publications.

Through his clinical experience, personal therapy and further MSc studies Phil's perspective widened in the
nineties, and gave rise to another book with Charlotte and Sue on integration. A second edition of Integration
in Counselling and Psychotherapy: Developing a Personal Approach by Phil and Charlotte was published by
Sage in 2010 and, due to their popularity, their earlier introductory books on transactional analysis and gestalt
(rewritten and updated to include coaching and other applications) will also be published in 2011.

Phil has also written a book of short stories, Tales from the Therapy Room: Shrink-Wrapped, published by
SAGE in 2011. Though fictional, these tales reflect Phil's continuing interest in, and encouragement of, an
integrative, personal approach to psychotherapy.

To contact Phil: [email protected]

Charlotte Sills has been a teacher and supervisor of counsellors, therapists and coaches for almost twenty-
five years. Her original introduction to working in the ‘helping relationship’ was in the field of bereavement,
when she worked as a counsellor and subsequently the organizer of a local authority service for bereaved
people. It was there that she began to learn about the healing power of the relationship – a fundamental value
that still underpins her work using transactional analysis in a variety of settings.

After these beginnings, Charlotte trained in psychotherapy in various approaches and in particular in
transactional analysis. For many years the head of the Transactional Analysis Department at Metanoia

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Institute, she still works as a senior tutor there in TA and integrative approaches to psychotherapy and is a
Visiting Professor at Middlesex University. She is also in private practice as a therapist, coach and supervisor
in West London. Since 2000 she has worked at Ashridge College, UK, where she is the co-director of the
Coaching for Consultants course as well as a tutor on Ashridge's Masters programme in Relational Executive
Coaching. She has a further major interest in groupwork and works as a group facilitator and team coach
using TA and other approaches.

Charlotte has published widely in the field of therapy and coaching, both alone and in collaboration with
colleagues. Books include: Transactional Analysis: A Relational Perspective with Helena Hargaden
(Routledge, 2002) and Integration in Counselling and Psychotherapy also with Phil Lapworth (Sage, 2010).
In 2007, Charlotte was co-recipient of the Eric Berne Memorial Award.

To contact Charlotte: [email protected]

A further book in this series – An Introduction to Gestalt, co-authored with Billy Desmond – will be available
from January 2012.

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Praise for the Book

‘This is an extraordinarily clear and accessible introduction to transactional analysis, whilst at the same time
a comprehensive and profound guide to its application. The authors have adapted their original text with
examples taken from across the helping professions, making it eminently usable for executive coaches as
well as counsellors.’ Erik de Haan, Director of Ashridge Centre for Coaching

‘I really welcome this book as a fresh perspective on transactional analysis for today. The authors’ relational
approach and realistic examples will be invaluable to coaches, educators, consultants, psychotherapists and
counsellors, with case studies and stories that show how TA can be applied pragmatically and creatively.
In language that is direct, humane, lively and practical they explain current theory in straightforward ways,
engage us in self-discovery and invite us into new ways of working with clients.’ Trudi Newton, Teaching and
Supervising Transactional Analyst and Chair of Training and Certification, International TA Association

‘In his development of transactional analysis now more than 50 years ago, Eric Berne challenged his
psychoanalytic colleagues by arguing that analyzing what actually happens between people is as important
for self-understanding and change as analyzing what happens within their minds. With their revised
introduction to TA, Lapworth and Sills bring a wise and lively accounting of contemporary TA, situating it
firmly within a relational perspective. Berne's thinking foreshadowed our current relational thinking. This
thorough introduction puts relational thinking at the front and center of transactional analysis, while retaining
its usefulness in understanding the experience of individuals.’ William Cornell, psychotherapist, coeditor of
Transactional Analysis Journal, 2010 winner of the Eric Berne Memorial Award

‘A very well written book with many practical examples and good exercises. I can really feel that it is written
by highly experienced practitioners. A very good introduction to TA and it roots.’ Berit Daugaard-Freese,
Independent consultant, Denmark; Associate, Ashridge Business School

‘Practitioners from a variety of situations and contexts, as well as the layperson, will find this book a rich,
valuable and practical resource. The authors use an accessible and easy-to-follow format and explain
complex concepts in a way that makes them readily understandable. It is an engaging and practical
demonstration of transactional analysis theory and practice.’ Heather Fowlie, Head of the Transactional
Analysis Department at Metanoia Institute, London

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Preface

Relational skills are now becoming more and more recognized as an essential part of effective helping.
Nowhere is this more true than in social services, psychological therapy, education, organizations and the
health care professions. This book on transactional analysis (TA) should be of immediate practical benefit to
anyone in the ‘people business’.

The book has emerged from our earlier work Transactional Analysis Counselling (Winslow Press/
Speechmark, 1993) in response to the requests of many colleagues, teachers and students of TA who have
asked us to revisit and expand our ideas according to developments in the field both of TA theory and its
applications. In particular, this involves a focus on a relational approach to using TA in a wide variety of
‘helping conversations’, from counselling and coaching to mentoring, managing and guiding. Of course, each
of these roles will require different skills and some specialist knowledge. However, what they have in common
is the intentional use of a relationship to help clients understand something about how human beings work –
to understand themselves, their relationships and their patterns of being in the world, as well as how they can
develop and be the best that they are able to be. This is what our book is about.

The Book

In Chapter 1 we will give an overview of TA in order to place it in a general context. In the chapters that follow
we will introduce the major TA concepts for you to explore and experiment with for yourself and in your work
with others. In each chapter we will give a definition or description of the concept, some everyday examples to
clarify the concept, suggestions as to how it may be usefully applied, a case study that runs through the book,
and some exercises for you to practise for yourself and with your clients. In Chapters 10 and 11 we offer some
ideas on the process of engaging, assessing and working with clients along with some longer examples. At
the end of the book there is a list of TA organizations for those of you who are interested in furthering your
knowledge and skills in using TA in your relationships with clients, colleagues or employees.

Many of the illustrative examples and case studies in this book are derived from actual practice – for example
of counselling or coaching. In the interest of confidentiality, the real identities of these clients have been
changed and in most cases are composites. Where real examples are used, the permission of the individual
has been obtained.

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A word about language – as the book aims to address those who are involved in a range of different activities,
we have chosen the word ‘practitioner’ as the catch-all term which we hope can represent anyone from the
psychotherapist to the organization consultant.

PhilLapworth and CharlotteSills

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost we would like to acknowledge the contribution of our late friend and colleague Sue Fish
to the original version of this book. Reworking and updating the text has constantly brought her lovingly to
mind, especially in the exercises where her suggestion of getting a massage seems to occur not infrequently!
Charlotte would also like to appreciate Phil for his generous work as lead author on the original version of this
book.

Our grateful thanks to Leo Lapworth for his computer-graphic wizardry in providing all the figures for this book;
to Andrew Day for being our ‘coaching consultant’; Berit Daugaard-Freese for her valuable feedback on the
first edition as we prepared the revision and Alice Oven and the team at SAGE for all their support as usual.

We would like to extend our appreciation and respect to our clients, trainees and supervisees who have taught
us more about counselling, psychotherapy and coaching than any book can possibly teach and to whom this
book is dedicated.

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An Introduction to Transactional Analysis

What Is Transactional Analysis?

Transactional analysis (TA) is a theory of personality and relationships based on the study of specific ego
states, a theory of social interaction or interpersonal communication and a system of group and/or individual
psychotherapy used as a tool for personal growth and personal change. It involves four methods of analysis
– structural, transactional, games and script – and has taken its name from the second of these, though it
clearly comprises all four.

TA is a way of inquiring into what goes on between people and inside people in order to help them make
changes. The transactional aspect is exactly what it says: a two-way communication, an exchange, a trans-
action. Although this word can sound unattractively businesslike, the concept actually captures a wealth of
understanding and meaning about the way human beings relate. A transaction may be of spoken words, ex-
pressed feelings, physical behaviours, shared thoughts, stated opinions or beliefs and so on. A transaction
may be a raised eyebrow that is responded to with a smile. It may be a comforting hug when another is crying,
or it may be a silence at the other end of the telephone following some unexpected news.

We may look at and analyse what goes on between people in terms of the words that they are using or the
gestures they are making or the beliefs they are expressing and learn something of each of these people.
But how does this apply ‘inside’ people? How can one person transact? Here is an incident as described by
a client:

I was really scared when the lift stopped between floors. I said to myself, ‘Don't panic whatever you
do!’ But this didn't help much. In fact, I started to panic more. So I said, ‘I'm really scared,’ and I told
myself this was all right. I felt a lot better knowing this and got myself thinking about how to deal with
the situation. I told myself I could feel scared and still think of what to do. Of course, it was simple, I
just pressed the alarm button. A man on the intercom reassured me I'd be out soon. The lift started
to move while he was still talking. ‘Well done,’ I said to myself. ‘A year ago you'd have been a gib-
bering wreck.’

This person is simply doing what we all do: he is talking to himself. Notice that sometimes he refers to himself

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as ‘I’ and sometimes as ‘you’. In this way, though he is still one person, he can hold an internal dialogue be-
tween different parts of himself. He is transacting internally.

TA provides a model which defines these parts of oneself as different ego states. Whether it is thoughts, feel-
ings or behaviours that are being exchanged externally or internally – usually it is all three, whether we are
aware of this or not – they will be coming from one of three types of ego state: the Parent, the Adult or the
Child ego state. Early in this book, we will introduce the concept of ego states and will return to the concept
many times, as these ego states are the building-blocks of TA theory.

This three-part model is both simple and profound. Unfortunately, like many good ideas which have immediate
appeal, the model is open to misuse. It can be seen in a rather simplistic way or used manipulatively for selfish
and exploitative ends. Eric Berne, the originator of the model, was astute enough to recognize this possibility
and in his catalogue of psychological ‘games people play’ included one called ‘Transactional Analysis’, which
is when people use TA to belittle themselves or others. The simplicity and immediate usefulness of the TA
model lies not only in the colloquial language adopted to describe the various and often complicated con-
cepts, but also in the ease of understanding and identification people tend to show in response to TA theory.
It is not uncommon to hear people using ego state language adeptly and creatively within minutes of its intro-
duction. The profundity of the TA model lies in the depth and breadth of its psychological understanding and
exploration. The list of contents of this book, including ego states, transactions, functional and behavioural
options, life script, and assessment and the process of change, indicates the range to which this three-part
model may be applied. We hope this introductory book will show some of the depth and breadth of under-
standing that TA can bring to many aspects of life, living, relating and communicating.

Since its introduction and development by Eric Berne and others who will be mentioned in this book, many
people from varied professional backgrounds have been attracted to TA and found in it something useful and
exciting. Clearly, they still do. What is it about TA that has attracted psychotherapists, counsellors, psycholo-
gists, doctors, coaches, social workers, nurses, teachers, children and others over the years? Here are some
of the reasons we think TA is so popular:

• The basics of TA theory are expressed in simple, colloquial and easily understood language with
words like ‘games’, ‘scripts’ and ‘strokes’ (a term that has now been included in several English dic-
tionaries as well as being commonly found in songs and TV programmes).
• Though there is now common reference to the ‘inner child’ both in popular and in mainstream psy-
chology, counselling and psychotherapy literature, the term ‘Child’ and the concept of part of oneself

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remaining phenomenologically alive as a child throughout one's adult life has been a central tenet in
TA – a concept that is appealing and experientially validated and validating for many people.
• TA concepts are often shared with clients, so there is a talking with rather than talking at clients. In
this way the content and process of psychotherapy or coaching are demystified and developed into
a shared endeavour.
• TA lays stress on personal responsibility for one's experience and in so doing puts the client in a
central, proactive and therefore potentially powerful role in his or her situation. In this respect, TA is
referred to as a decisional model. If we are personally responsible for our own experience, we must
be responsible for the choices and decisions that we make about how we behave, how we feel, how
we think and what we believe, even though many of these decisions may not be made in awareness,
but at a pre- or non-conscious, somatic and emotional level. Even as children we made such deci-
sions in response to the environments of home, school and society. Clearly, some of these decisions
were misinformed, misperceived, skewed by immaturity, but nonetheless the best we could manage
in those early circumstances. Hope lies in the fact that as we become aware of the meaning we have
made of ourselves and the world, and the patterns we are enacting, new and reparative decisions
can be made in the present to replace the now dysfunctional and maladaptive decisions of the past.

The appeal of TA to some may also be due to its embracing and integrating the three main streams of psy-
chology within its theoretical model: the psychoanalytic, the behavioural and the humanistic/existential. As
mentioned earlier, Berne's formative training was in psychoanalysis. TA theory owes much to the psychoan-
alytic thinking and experience with which Berne was familiar – to Freud, Klein, Fairbairn, Federn and Erik-
son, to name but a few – and to the concepts belonging to traditional psychoanalysis, ego psychology, social
psychology and object relations, particularly intrapsychic phenomenological structures. For example, Parent,
Adult and Child ego states are not the Superego, Ego and Id of psychoanalysis, but there is no denying that
they are derivatives. It is also clear that the Freudian concept of the repetition compulsion was developed by
Berne into one of the central notions of TA: that of the life script and the repetitive games and rackets that
support it.

An example of the inclusion of behavioural concepts is the emphasis given in TA to the effect of positive and
negative reinforcement (operant conditioning) or ‘stroking’ as an important element of script formation. Our
hunger for strokes influences how we adapt to the perceived wishes of others in terms of the feelings we
have or show, the thoughts we have, the beliefs we hold and the behaviours we exhibit. This adaptation will
be based particularly upon our experience of our parents when we were little and how they responded to our
hunger for strokes. The humanistic/existential component has already been touched upon. TA emphasizes
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personal responsibility, growth, self-awareness and choice; even when circumstances are not chosen, people
can still choose their attitude towards these circumstances in a positive and creative way. Central to the hu-
manistic philosophy also is the intrinsic value of human beings, and this too is a core belief in TA: the concept
of ‘OKness’. In the twenty-first century, a fourth stream of psychological thought is recognized – the transper-
sonal. Transpersonal approaches (such as mindfulness, Buddhist therapy, psychosynthesis and the like) see
the interconnectedness of all creatures to each other and indeed to the universe itself. This fourth strand did
not traditionally have a place in TA, which on the contrary has had rather a pragmatic approach. Therefore
there are no direct links between it and the original TA concepts. However, recent developments and appli-
cations of TA have been influenced by its attitude of acceptance towards the inexplicable or the liminal and it
contributes to a turn towards a relational perspective in TA, which has grown in popularity in the new century.

Relational Transactional Analysis

Relational TA sees the process of relating – to self, to others, to an organization, within the organization or
community – as the key channel of self-expression and as the key vehicle for change.

Why This Emphasis on Relationship?

In recent years, a focus on relationship and relating has become a major trend in the world of psychology,
philosophy, organizational and management theory, and consulting. Many influences combine to bring this
about. Developments in post-modern philosophy and complexity theory highlight the interconnectedness of
discourse and the importance of pattern in organizations and communities, which are seen not as entities but
as processes of communicative interaction – as Stolorow and Atwood put it, ‘a continual flow of reciprocal
mutual influence’ (1992 p. 18).

In the field of psychology, neuroscientific research and infant observation demonstrate the vital importance of
early relationship to the development of the human brain and sense of self. What is more, a substantial body
of research into successful outcome of therapy and counselling – and more recently coaching – identifies re-
lationship factors as one of the best predictors of effectiveness. Last but not least, psychological theories as
well as life experiences tell us that patterns of relating repeat themselves and are often the source of difficul-

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ties. Consequently, our clients will need us to help them in this area.

To summarize: relational TA sees relationships of all kinds as central to the work and identifies the relationship
between practitioner and client as the chief vehicle for change. It is based on the fact that there are two
‘subjectivities’ in the meeting – each engaged in shaping and being shaped by the other. Relational practice
therefore involves:

• First and foremost the provision of a relationship based in mutual respect and empathy, as well as
shared agreement about direction and goals.
• Acknowledgement of the ‘bi-directionality’, the mutuality of influence, which co-creates a relationship
in which there are a multiplicity of possible responses or ‘selves’ and in which patterns emerge and
can be changed.
• Working in collaborative dialogue in the relationship as these selves emerge and meet. In other
words, an inquiry into the process of relating will reveal important information about the client's (and
the practitioner's) ways of meeting the world.
• Use of the practitioner's subjective experience as a valid source of information and, potentially, as
part of the inquiry.
• Change, not just for the client but for the practitioner who will – indeed must – change in the process
of the work. We will talk more about this later in the book.

TA is an ideal approach with which to work relationally. Many of its theories focus on understanding the co-
created nature of relationships. Within the relationship, it integrates psychoanalysis's careful understanding
of unconscious patterns with the authentic here-and-now focus of cognitive and humanistic methods; it rec-
ognizes multiple ego states (or ‘self states’ as they are sometimes called) and it is grounded in a humanistic
philosophy that values human experience and trusts people to be responsible to themselves and their com-
munity. In recent years that humanistic philosophy has been underlined and emphasized in relational TA to
recognize the importance to healing of an authentic, empathic meeting between two people.

Transactional Analysis Philosophy

Much of what has been written above touches upon the philosophical underpinnings of TA. The first of the
three central philosophical beliefs is the notion that people are born ‘OK’; in other words, free from original
sin and with an innate ‘drive’ to grow and be healthy. The second is that people with emotional difficulties

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are nevertheless full human beings who can think and take responsibility for themselves. The third is that all
emotional or behavioural problems, given adequate knowledge and resources, are changeable. These beliefs
mean that all people have a fundamental worth and as such should be valued and respected. This does not
mean that we accept and approve of a person's behaviour, if for example it is cruel and damaging, but that
beneath the behaviour we try to see the person and value that person's humanity. This involves working with
the person from a position described by Carl Rogers, the grandfather of humanistic therapy (1951), as ‘uncon-
ditional positive regard’. We need to hold ourselves in the same regard if we are to approach another person
with human equality. Thus the position of I'M OK – YOU'RE OK, a well known shibboleth of TA, existentially
acknowledges your and my being in the world – separate yet connected – along with the value statement that
humans are ‘OK’. This tenet is paramount in TA. As practitioners (and people), if we are coming from a posi-
tion of I'M OK – YOU'RE NOT OK or I'M NOT OK – YOU ARE OK or I'M NOT OK – YOU'RE NOT OK, we are
coming from a position of inequality (or, in the last instance, equal hopelessness) which cannot be conducive
to growth and change.

Implicit within the I'M OK – YOU'RE OK philosophical position is the belief that our core selves are lovable
and creative and that our intentions are normally positive and constructive, even when our behaviour is unde-
sirable, misguided or destructive. We think the following anonymous quotation with which we end this chapter
expresses well this essential philosophical attitude towards ourselves and others:

Every single human being,

when the entire situation is taken into account,
has always, at every moment of the past,
done the very best that he or she could do,
and so deserves neither blame nor reproach
from anyone, including self.
This, in particular, is true of you.

A Brief History

Eric Berne (1910–70), the originator of transactional analysis, was a Canadian-born psychiatrist who began
his psychoanalytic training in 1941 at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. His analyst was Paul Federn, a
student of Freud's. Before he came to write about TA, his writing was more psychoanalytic in nature, as in

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The Mind in Action (1949).

In 1943, Berne's studies were interrupted by service in the army. It was here that he began practising group
psychotherapy and developing his intuitive and observational skills which were later to appear as observa-
tions and definitions of ego states. Between 1949 and 1962, he developed these ideas and presented them
in several journals: these articles were later to be compiled as Intuition and Ego States (1977). It was in 1958
that his ideas were first published in the American Journal of Psychotherapy under the title ‘Transactional
analysis: a new and effective method of group therapy’. He went on to publish eight books and numerous ar-
ticles on the subject of TA. His final book What Do You Say After You Say Hello?, rated by some as his most
erudite and comprehensive work, was published posthumously in 1972. It certainly combines the creativity,
originality, wit and wisdom of the author into a book of enormous appeal.

After his work in the army, Berne pursued his psychoanalytic training at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic
Institute and went into analysis with Erik Erikson but, perhaps because of his unorthodox and innovative –
even, on occasion, confrontational – ideas and manner, he never gained recognition as a member of the psy-
choanalytic establishment. Clearly, Berne was attracted to psychoanalysis – much of his work testifies to the
respect and esteem he held for psychoanalytic thought – yet he found the psychoanalysis of his day too rigid,
too cumbersome, too complicated, too precious; above all, too slow. In response, he devoted his energy to
combining individual and social psychiatry into a unified system he was to call Transactional Analysis. The
theories he developed, therefore, include the rigour of psychoanalytic attention to unconscious processes,
transferential dynamics and relational repetitions. They also integrate the pragmatic results-orientated atti-
tude of the behavioural school and its cognitive behavioural approaches that were emerging during this time.
These are contained within a humanistic philosophy that trusts in the healthy process of the human organism
and empowerment through self and social responsibility.

Around the time of his first TA publication in 1958, Berne began to hold seminars to discuss and develop
transactional analytic ideas. They were called the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars. Six people at-
tended the first meeting. By the end of the first year, attendance and TA theory had grown so much that there
was both an introductory course – known as ‘the 101’, which continues to this day as the official introductory
course – and an advanced seminar known as a ‘202’. By 1962, the first quarterly Transactional Analysis Bul-
letin (TAB), later to become the Transactional Analysis Journal (TAJ), was published and in the following year
the first annual summer conference was held. In the mid-1960s, the San Francisco Seminar was renamed
the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA). The word ‘International’ was to honour the mem-

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bership of one Canadian! Throughout this time and until his death in 1970, Berne continued to develop TA
theory.

The ITAA swiftly developed a worldwide membership. It was complemented in 1976 by the European Asso-
ciation for Transactional Analysis (EATA) and in 1982 by the Western Pacific Association for TA (WPATA).
Both ITAA and EATA have their own respective and mutually recognizing examining bodies and are dedicated
to the enhancement of TA theory and practice in psychotherapy, counselling, organizational and educational
development through the maintenance of standards of training and accreditation as well as journals and con-
ferences.

Today more than 90 countries have regional or national organizations, each associated with one or other of
the larger organizations. In the UK the major organizations are the Institute of Transactional Analysis (ITA)
and the Institute of Developmental Transactional Analysis (IDTA). The UK was also the founding site of the
International Association of Relational Transactional Analysis (IARTA), which now has members worldwide.

• transactional analysis
• ego
• psychoanalysis
• psychotherapy
• stroke
• scripts
• introductory courses

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https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957763

List of TA Organizations

The International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA) http://www.itaa-net.org

The European Association for Transactional Analysis (EATA) http://www.eatanews.org
The Western Pacific Association of Transactional Analysis http://www.wpata.com.au
The Institute of Transactional Analysis (ITA) http://www.ita.org.uk
(The ITA has a list of qualified members and registered TA training establishments who work under
their umbrella in the UK)
The International Association of Relational Transactional Analysis (IARTA)
http://www.relationalta.com
The Institute of Developmental Transactional Analysis (IDTA) http://www.instdta.org
For details of training in organizational and educational TA
Metanoia Institute http://www.metanoia.ac.uk
For counselling and psychotherapy training

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References

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