Transactional Analysis Journal

ISSN: 0362-1537 (Print) 2329-5244 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rtaj20

No Place for Critical Parent

Hedges Capers

To cite this article: Hedges Capers (1971) No Place for Critical Parent, Transactional Analysis
Journal, 1:2, 21-21

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1177/036215377100100208

Published online: 28 Dec 2017.

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 NO PLACE FOR CRITICAL PARENT
HEDGES CAPERS
When I have stated in a group that
the Critical Parent has no therapeutic
value, the group at first resisted, but
after some monitoring of their own re-
actions to other Critical Parent ego
states they accepted the statement and
began to be more therapeutic with one
another
If we could put all of the Critical
HLET DOWN" A VARIATION OF HKICK ME"
BOB MOTT
During the operation of a therapeutic
community, various transactions evolve
between the therapist and the residents
which are very "gamey." In order for
the business of treatment to continue,
these transactions must be continually
analyzed and the games, when they
occur, cut across. The following game
arose from an attempt to analyze a
series' of transactions that closely par-
allel the game "Rubber Check." In
"Rubber Check," promises are made by
one party to another that cannot pos-
sibly be kept, either because the prom-
ises (the "check") themselves are invalid
or because the check has the wrong
date on it.: "Let Down" is the other
side of "Rubber Check."
The original version of "Let Down"
is played by small children attempting
to earn money. The child aproaches the
adult homeowner and asks, "Would you
like your sidewalk shoveled (lawn
mowed, yard raked, etc.)?" If the home-
owner says "Yes," the child then does
the work in expectation of some type of
appropriate reward even though no spe-
cific amount has been mentioned. At the
Transactional Anal. J. 1:2, April 1971
Parent ego states in cages, children
could dare to live. Breakdowns in com-
munications would be drastically re-
duced and those people who have beei.
beating on or reducing others to avoid
dealing with their own anger, hurt,
panic, and helplessness could then come
into therapy and solve their painful
problems instead of passing them on to
others.
conclusion of the job, the homeowner
rewards the child with an amount that
is not commensurate to the amount of
work performed, thus reinforcing the
child's position that "You can't trust
adults."
In its clinical form, the game is played
between therapist and patient. The
therapist makes an implicit or overt
promise that the patient will "get better"
by participating in the therapy but fails
to explain fully the "work" that will be
involved. The Child of the patient
latches on to this promise from "Santa
Claus," and involves himself in therapy
without getting an Adult understanding
of what his reward will be. After a pe-
riod of time has elapsed, the patient is
then able to write off the therapist as
another one of the "promise-breaking
adults."
The antithesis to this game is similar
to that of the game "ITHY." All that
would be needed not to play the game
is a clear-cut contract stating specifically
all terms; i.e., for the successful comple-
tion of the agreed task.
TITLE: "LET DOWN"
21