Transactional Analysis

in Groups
Oral Presentation in Group Counseling
Prepared by:
Abielle Rei C. del Mundo
July 6, 2017
Ice Breaker:
 Outline

1. Introduction
2. Historical Background of TA
3. Basic Assumptions and
Rationale for a Group Approach
4. Key Concepts
5. Stages of TA in Groups
6. Activity
 Introduction
• Transactional Analysis(TA) is a theory of personality, a language
of behavior, and an organized system of interactional therapy.
• It is grounded on the assumption that we make current decisions
based on our early experiences.
• The TA Therapist focuses on helping clients rethink and redecide
these early decisions in light of present circumstances.
• TA emphasizes the cognitive and behavioral aspects
• The goal of TA is Autonomy (awareness, spontaneity and
capacity for intimacy)
• TA participants learn how to recognize the three ego
states: Parent, Adult and Child--in which they function.
• TA provides an Interactional and Contractual approach
to groups.
• It is interactional in that it emphasizes the dynamics of
transactions between people,
• and it is contractual in that group members develop clear
statements of what they will change and how they will be
different as a result of being in a group.
Historical Background of TA

• Transactional analysis was originally

developed by the late Eric Berne
(1961) who was trained as a
Freudian psychoanalyst and
psychiatrist. TA evolved out of
Berne's dissatisfaction with the
slowness of psychoanalysis.
 Redecision therapy
• It is aimed at helping people challenge themselves to
discover ways in which they perceive themselves in
victim-like roles and take charge of their lives by deciding
for themselves how they will change.
• With emphasis on personal responsibility and freedom, TA
can be considered as an existential approach to
psychotherapy.
• Both existential and TA emphasize the importance of
clients assuming responsibility for their lives.
 Basic Assumptions and Rationale
1. Awareness is an important first step in the process of changing
our ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.

2. In the early stage of the group, techniques are aimed at

increasing participants' awareness of their problems and their
options for making substantive changes in their lives.

3. Another basic assumption of TA~ is that all of us are in charge of

what we do, of the ways in which we think, and of how we feel.
Others do not make us feel a certain way; rather, we respond to
situations largely by our choices. (R. Goulding, 1987)
• The practice of TA is ideally suited for groups.
• Berne believed that group therapy yielded information about one's
personal plan for life much more quickly than individual therapy.
• TA groups bring past issues into the present.
• By identifying early decisions and appreciating how valuable they
were at the time they were made, members are challenged to see
what they would prefergiven the reality of today.
• For Robert Goulding, one rationale for a group is that it provides a
living experience that members can take out to their families,
friends and community.
Key Concepts
 Key Concepts

• Ego State
Set of related thoughts,
feelings and behaviors in which
part of an individual's personality
is manifested at a given time.
 Key Concepts
• Parent ego State
Contains the values, morals,
core belief, and behaviors
incorporated from signifcant authority
figures, primarily one's parents.
This ego state is expressed
towards other in critical or nurturing
behavior.
The parent contains “Shoulds”
and “Oughts” for living.
 Parent
Ego State

Nurturing Controlling
Parent (NP) Parent (CP)
• Nurturing Parent (NP)
• Controlling Parent (CP)
 Parent Positive Negative
Ego State/s: Aspect Aspect

Nurturing Affirming individuals Discounting others

Parent (NP) for both being and with phrases such as,
doing. “Oh, you poor thing.”

Controlling Provides structure Critical and often to

Parent (CP) intended for the discount the
benefit of success of child ego state in
the individual. others.
 Adult Ego State
• It is the objective and computer-like part of our personality
that functions as a data processor;
• it computes possibilities and, like the two other ego states,
makes decisions and represents what we have learned
and thought out for ourselves.
• The state is not related to chronological age.
• The adult thinking state oriented toward current reality;
• The adult is objective in gathering information,
• is non-emotional, and works with the facts of the external
reality as perceived by that individual.
 Child Ego State
• It is the original part of us and is most naturally
who we are.
• It is the part of ourselves we use to form long-
lasting relationships.
• The child ego state consists of feelings, impulses,
spontaneous actions and includes
“recordings of our early experiences”.
 Child
Ego State

Natural Adapted
Child (NC) Child (AC)
Child Ego State Positive Aspect Negative Aspect

Spontaneous,
Natural Child Ever-so endearing, Impulsive to the degree
(NC) Loving, and the that our safety is
“Charming parts” of us all compromised

We respond Overadapting and giving

Adapted Child appropriately in Social up our power and
(AC) Situations discounting our value,
worth and dignity.
• Some TA theorists include the
Rebellious Child in the
domain of the Adapted Child,
because one who
continuously attempts to solve
problems by rebelling is
overadapting.
• Both Rebelling and
Overadapting are life script
issues considered necessary
for survival.
• Natural Child
• Adapted Child
 The need for strokes
• Humans need to be stimulated
physically, socially and intellectually.
• As we grow and develop, we need to
be recognized for who we are and
what we do.
• This need for stimulation and
recognition is referred to as need for
strokes. (Stroke is a unit of
recognition.)
• A stroke is any act of recognition or
source of stimulation.
• Psychological Strokes- verbal and nonverbal signs of
acceptance and recognition-also are necessary to people
as confirmations of their worth.

The strokes a child receives early in life have a significant

influence on the development of the child's life script.
 Positive Strokes Negative Strokes

It expresses warmth, affection, or

appreciation verbally or with a It can be useful in that they set
look, smile, touch, or gesture are limits: “I don't like it when you use
necessary for the development of my computer without asking.”
Psychologically healthy people.
Negative strokes are a way to
give feedback to people about
their behavior.
 5 Sabotaging rules about Stroking

1. Don't give strokes when you have to give them.

2. Don't ask for strokes when you need them.
3. Don't accept strokes when you want them (an they are
offered)
4. Don't reject (negative) strokes when you don't want
them.
5. Don't give yourself strokes.
 Injunctions

• Injuctions are issued from the parents' own Child ego

state.
• Such messages-expressions of disappointment,
frustration, anxiety, and unhappiness-establish the
“dont's” by which children learn to live.
• Out of their own pain, parents can issue this short, but
profound list of General Injunctions:
“Don't be well”
 Counterinjuctions
• These messages come from the parents' Parent Ego
State and are given at the social level.
• They convey the “Shoulds”, “Oughts”, and “Dos” of
parental expectations.
• In TA groups, the members explore the “Shoulds” and
“Shouldn'ts” the “Dos” and “Don'ts” by which they have
been trained to live.”
Examples of Counterinjuctions
 Decisions and Redecisions
• As mentioned earlier, Transactional
Analysis emphasizes cognitive and
behavioral dimensions, especially
our ability to become aware of
decisions that govern our behavior
and of the capacity to make new
decisions that will beneficially alter
the course of our life.
 Games
• A transaction, which is considered
the basic unit of communication,
consists of an exchange of strokes
between two or more people.
• A game is an ongoing series of
transactions that ends with a
negative payoff called for by the
script that concludes the game and
advances some way of feeling badly.
• Stephen Karpman (1968) assigned
three roles to game participants:

Rescuer Persecutor Victim

Plays some form of Plays some form of
”I am only trying to help “Gotcha” or
you.” “Blemish”~Looking for
the flaw
 • Rackets
• These are the unplesant feelings people experience after a
game.
• A racket feeling is a familiar emotion that was learned and
encouraged in childhood and experienced in many different
stress situations, but it is maladaptive as an adult means of
problem solving.
• Rackets are often substitute feelings that replaced feelings
the child's parents did not allow.
 Basic Psychological Life Positions and Life Scripts

• Four Basic Life Positions

1. I'm OK-- You're OK. or I count--You count.*

2. I'm OK-- You're not OK. or I count--You don't count.
3. I'm not OK--You're OK. or I don't count--You do count.
4. I'm not OK--You're not OK. or I don't count--You don't count.
 I'm OK--you're OK
• The I'm OK--You're OK position is game free.
• It is the belief that people have basic value, worth and dignity as
human beings.
• That people are OK is statement of their essence, not necessarily
their behavior.
• The position is characterized by attitude of trust, and openness, a
willingness to give and take, and an acceptance of others as they
are.
• People close to themselves and to others. There are no loosers,
only winners.
 I'm OK--You're not OK
• It is the position of people who project their problems onto others
and blame them, put them down and criticize them.
• The games that reinforce this position involve self-styled superior
(The “I'm OK”) who projects anger, disgust, and scorn onto a
designated inferior or scapegoat (The “You're not OK”).
• This position is that of the person who needs an underdog to
maintain his or her sense of “OKness.”
 I'm not OK--You're OK
• It is known as the Depressive Position.
• It is characterized by powerless in comparison with
others.
• Typically, such people serve others' needs instead of their
own and generally feel victimized.
• Games supporting this position include
“Kick me”, and “Martyr”--games that support the power of
others and deny one's own.
 I'm not OK--You're not OK
• This quadrant is know as the position of Futility and Despair.
• Operating from this place, people have lost interest in life and may
see the world as a lousy place and life totally without promise.
• This Self-Destructive Stance, is characteristic of people who are
unable to cope in the real world, and it may lead to extreme
withdrawal, return to infantile behavior, various forms of psychotic
behavior, or violent behavior resulting in injury or death of
themselves and others.
 Life Scripts
• Life script is developed early in life as a result of parental
teaching (such as injuctions and counterinjuctions) and
the early decisions we make.
 Scripts Analysis
• Through a process called;
Script Analysis, the TA group helps members
become aware of how they acquired their life
script and to see more clearly their life role (basic
psychological position).
• Scipt Analysis helps members see the ways in
which they feel compelled to play out their life
script and offers them alternative life choices.
• The group process relieves participants of the
compulsion to play games that justify behavior
called for in their life script.
 Stages of TA in Groups
• The Initial Stage
-Establishing good contact.
-TA group leaders pay attention to the quality of the therapuetic alliance.
-Therapuetic Alliance is central to assisting members in achieving their goals.
• The Working Stage
-After contracts have been formulated, Rackets will be explored
-The group members will use these Rackets to justify their Life Scripts and
ultimately their decisions
-The major function of the TA group leader is to have members take
responsibility for their thinking, feeling and behaving.
• The Final Stage
- Once a redecision is made from the Child Ego State, the changes in one's
voice, body, and facial expressions are obvious to everyone in the group.
-The focus of the final stage is on challenging members to transfer their
changes from the therapy situation to their daily life and supporting them in
these changes.
ACTIVITY!!