Transactional Analysis: the theory proposed by Eric Berne

April 2, 2024

Transactional analysis is a humanistic theory of personality, human relations and communication which is applied in psychotherapy, personal growth, education and even the scope of organizations.

Initially, it was a form of psychotherapy founded between the 50s and 60s 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 child. Berne decided to follow the path of his father and, after receiving his doctorate in Medicine in 1935, in 1936 he began his career as a psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Clinic of the Yale University School of Medicine, where he worked for two years.

A few years later he began his studies in psychoanalysis with Paul Federn, one of Sigmund Freud's first disciples. After passing through several health centers and after serving the US Army as a psychiatrist, in 1946, when decided to live in California, continued his psychoanalytic training with Erik Erikson .

Related article: "Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development"

Understanding the concept of Transactional Analysis

But Berne, despite 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, he developed his own model of "social psychiatry" . His works were authentic best sellers, always written with a simple vocabulary allowing the understanding of both professionals and customers. For Berne, communication and knowledge are to a great extent the solution of emotional problems, and he focuses his approach on social relations, where the transaction is the basic unit.

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

The model of Eric Berne was gaining popularity, and he decided to found the ITAA (International Association of Transactional Analysis) with the mission to delve into certain concepts of transactional analysis and provide different developments within the theory. This institution is still valid today to ensure the therapeutic and training quality in the different 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 wide variety of theories or models, the integrative approach finds a point of union between different models, unified in a new model or theory.

Within the transactional analysis there are different schools, for example. the classic or the cathexis. As a practitioner integrates the concepts of transactional analysis, he opts for a school that fits his way of being or doing therapy, or moves through the different approaches within this same theory, so that it is about finding a way that best suits the cases treated. In some way, we start from a theoretical and practical base and move on to some variants, as is often the case with psychoanalysts.

Starting from psychoanalysis

In fact, Berne's integrative approach was born thanks to the fact that he, influenced by psychoanalysis, thought that the Freudian theory focused all his effort on the past, which resulted in a therapeutic practice that left aside the "here and now" , forgetting aspects as beneficial for therapy as concentration on the conscious (although also the unconscious).

To make it, he combined ideas and techniques of classical psychoanalysis with ideas of humanism or behaviorism . The new theory did not focus so much on introspection to the past, but that the present, the interpersonal context or self-realization and personal growth came alive in their new way of doing therapy.

Transactions and the states of the self

One of the great achievements of transactional analysis is that it proposes a methodology and basic concepts expressed in a simple language without technicalities, and in turn facilitates techniques for personal change.

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

Father : Talk and think with the learned patterns of an authoritarian figure in childhood. It is a copy of childhood.
Adult : More rational and realistic state
Boy : It is the most impulsive and spontaneous state.

A transactional analyst will elaborate a diagram in which you can appreciate the ego states that manifest in a transaction. For example, an Adult-Adult transaction can occur when a surgeon is operating and looks at the nurse to bring the work tool closer. This approach is taking place a complementary transaction, where the gesture of looking would be the stimulus of the transaction and the delivery of the tool the transaction response. The communication will be fluid while the complementary transactions continue.

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

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 the transactional analysis are basically three: consciousness, spontaneity and intimacy:

Being aware is being able to distinguish what is real from what is fantasy . It is self-knowledge.
Spontaneity is related to the expression of thoughts , the feelings, the emotions and the 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 effectiveness (in part, this is due to part of psychoanalysis and its epistemology). Nowadays, it is still possible to train not only in therapy, but also there are masters focused on other fields of application, for example, in Transactional Coaching for Organizations .

Below are some of the most important aspects of this theory. The transactional analysis focuses on:

The relationships , in all its forms: with oneself and with others.
The belief that deep change It happens through experience.
It is a theory of communication that analyzes the different forms of interaction: between individuals, couples, families, organizations, etc.
It 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, behavioral and personality parameters.
The practitioner is an active participant in his work It can be a neutral observer, and the same thing happens with 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 Books, S.A.