TRANSACTION ANALYSIS

American psychologist Eric Burne created an independent psychotherapeutic direction, which became widespread throughout the world under the name of transactional analysis. The word transaction is translated as interaction and, accordingly, the concept of transactional analysis implies the analysis of interaction, and more simply, people’s communication.

Transactional analysis is based on the fact that any forms of non-adaptive (inappropriate, unsatisfactory) human behavior are based on certain schemes of relationships and interaction programmed at the subconscious level. Eric Byrne calls these relationship schemes games that we, without knowing it, play our whole life.

Transactional analysis involves the separation of models of relationships (games) to play the three main roles of our I. It (our Self ) can play the role of Parent, Adult and Child. These roles are non-permanent and periodically change with the same person depending on the situation and on their perception of the image and behavior of the person with whom he communicates.

Here is the traditional scheme for explaining this initial position of Eric Burne's transactional analysis.

Parent . Each person retains the image of his parents and inadvertently (and sometimes with a share of conscious intent) imitates in certain situations the patterns of their behavior (or one of them), that is, behaves like a Parent.

An adult . Each person is more likely or less likely to perceive the situation and himself quite objectively, maturely. The state of such a mature objective perception of reality is called the state of Adult.

Baby Each person has retained his perception of himself as a child, that is, in certain situations, regardless of age, he feels like a boy or a girl from his past.

In transactional analysis, the process of communication is divided into conventional units of communication, which are called transactions. Transactions are divided into transactional incentives and transactional reactions. All types of appeal to another person are classified as transactional incentives. And all kinds of responses to these or other appeals are considered transactional reactions.

Transactional analysis is the analysis of all major transactions with the help of special diagrams developed by E. Bern (see: Byrne E. Games that people play. -SPb., 1992).

According to the concept of transactional analysis, most people already from childhood begin to unconsciously replace natural communication with certain games of communication. This happens when a child has a need to escape from the real situation, from personal responsibility, to gain something in a moral sense (self-affirmation, salvation of self-esteem etc.) or in material (some kind of gift).

The child begins to unconsciously portray himself not as he is: smaller, weaker, unhappy, or, on the contrary, more mature, parent-bossy, and so on. These protective psychological mechanisms, which at first seem to allow you to gain something, ultimately become habitual and reinforce the chosen (unconsciously) type of behavior.

Often, such a game in who you are not really is going on all your life and already brings not profit, but frustration and even suffering, because it does not allow you to enter into natural relationships with others, to express your true feelings. The whole hitch lies in the fact that the individual not only joined this game himself, but also included others in it, who also unconsciously played up to the role that he had taken for himself and for them. Therefore, to abandon the game is extremely difficult, since it has already become a stereotype not only of your relationship to others, but also their relationship to you.

Most often, the individual is not even aware of his game, that is, the behavior pattern unnatural for his nature and for solving his problems, but nature cannot be fooled, and this unnaturalness begins to torment him.

Sergey Yesenin wrote:

But you do not understand how much torment

Bring broken, false gestures

Unlike Yesenin, most people who turn to the psychotherapist are not aware of the “falsity of gestures,” that is, their chosen game of communication instead of normal communication, and find their own explanations of their problems and sufferings again, and therefore cannot solve these problems.

Eric Byrne points out that the so-called pathological choice of the game is also possible, when satisfaction is the dissatisfaction of desires, which makes you feel small, unhappy, and, most importantly, away from personal responsibility (not only to others, but also to yourself) for solving your problems.

As an illustration of the pathological choice of the game, E. Burne gives an example when a man who got used to receive attention from his mother in the form of criticism and punishment in childhood, continues to "act as if unintentionally" as an adult to commit anger on the part of a woman ( maybe a wife, a boss at work, etc.), which will bring him unconscious satisfaction from experiencing his childish state, even if he has been given negative attention and feeling guilty.

Eric Byrne has made a whole card file of similar games that are often repeated in psychotherapeutic practice. As an example, we can give a description of the game “If it were not for you,” which is quite typical for marital relations (from the book by E. Burne, “Games that people play”).

“... Mrs. White complained that her husband always very strictly limited her social life, so she never learned to dance. After she was treated by a psychotherapist, which influenced her installation, her husband began to feel less confident and began to allow her more. Mrs. White could now expand her field of activity and enrolled in dance lessons. And suddenly she discovered, to her horror, that she was mortally afraid of dancing in front of people, and she had to abandon her undertaking.

This unpleasant incident, as well as a whole series of his ilk, shed light on some of the features of Mrs. White’s marriage. Of all her fans, she chose the most despotic claimant as husband. This further gave her the opportunity to complain that she could do various things, "if it were not for him." Many of her friends had husbands who were despotic too, so when they were going to get a cup of coffee, they would play “If he hadn't.”

However, contrary to her complaints, it turned out that in fact her husband was doing her a great service, forbidding her to do what she herself was very afraid of. Moreover, he actually did not even give her the opportunity to guess her fear. This, probably, was one of the reasons why her child very perspicaciously chose such a husband ...

Thus, Mrs. White is engaged in the game, the real reasons for which (avoiding situations that frighten her) are not realized. The game involves two roles: a tyrant husband and a wife he suppresses. ”

In accordance with the practice of transactional analysis, the first step to solving the client's problem is his recognition that he had previously acted unnaturally, that is, played.

The next step is to convince him of the need to abandon the game, otherwise the problem will not be solved. However, there is one, but very significant difficulty.

The fact is (and we have repeatedly repeated this) that in most cases this game is already so automated that, according to the proverb, “habit is second nature” has become an integral part of the client’s state and behavior, which it’s very difficult for him to get rid of, even if he it's necessary. Therefore, at this stage, the psychotherapist requires not only the ability to convince, but also to act decisively.

What is this action? First of all, it is a refusal to play a game of the client After all, to play in a certain style of communication requires that your partner assumes the role assigned to you.

For example, a client can play his chosen role “Child” (that is, not dependent, outgoing from responsibility for himself) only if your style of communication with him is exactly like with a big child.

In most cases, we do this, that is, we begin to communicate with the client in the way he puts himself. This is the natural need of a normal person to maintain communication, since a normal person has a whole gamut of unconscious interpersonal adaptation to different people and situations.

In a neurotic, such an adaptation is violated, and it is difficult for him to switch to different styles, he unknowingly clings to himself as a saving straw for his chosen style and requires an appropriate response to it. So, the behavioral task of the psychotherapist is a categorical refusal to play up to the client in his chosen game.

For example, a client or client appeals to you in the usual style of an adult child (whimsical and not dependent), and you, as a psychotherapist, do not notice this point-blank and respond as an adult to an adult.

E. Byrne calls this manifestation of necessary cruelty. This is not an exaggeration. Indeed, the client, who came as a plaintive child seeking help, becomes “cold” from such aversion to his game, for which he sees a lack of understanding of his problems. As if you are throwing him small and defenseless, taking the callous position of formal communication.

To some extent, you really “throw” him, but only in the way that a student is allowed to swim in the water when he is ready to catch him if he starts to sink. That is, this “cruelty” of non-acceptance of the game should be accompanied by a subtle sense of the psychotherapist who must constantly monitor that the client does not have a feeling of a complete break with the therapist and the inability to receive help from him.

To do this, the behavioral position occupied by the therapist must be anticipated and periodically supported by an explanation of its correctness and necessity. After all, with proper upbringing (the goal of which is always to prepare the child for independent living), adults must communicate with the child so that he begins to feel more and more adult, independent and responsible for his actions.

And with a neurotic personality, most often the situation is quite the opposite: an adult girl, woman or man takes the position of a child, avoiding responsibility and the need to solve their own problems. So, the task of the psychotherapist is to help this big child to grow up at his age, since this did not work out in childhood, when he developed this style of play.

And it begins with the fact that the therapist refuses to play this game and constantly, despite all the efforts of the client, treats him like an adult with an adult. After some time, the client begins to feel the falsity of his role, which the therapist exposes by not noticing the game and not responding to it.

In this situation, many clients, after several unsuccessful attempts to switch the therapist to their usual style of communication, are lost, some even sinking and fall into despair, being unable to switch to normal relations according to the Adult - Adult scheme.

At this difficult moment, the therapist must be able to apply the most appropriate techniques from his arsenal. So, in addition to explaining the need for his behavior and the client's refusal to play, he can use humor, kindly and tactfully inviting the client to see the funny sides in his role as a child and laugh at them together.

This technique can be very effective, but requires a lot of tact and the presence of a sense of humor in the client, otherwise it can cause offense and instead of establishing therapeutic contact provokes the client’s withdrawal into himself and the loss of faith in his abilities or in this psychotherapist.

An important means of destroying the game is the so-called antithesis of the game , when the therapist responds to the client at his game, the behavior is opposite to that the client expects. For example, the antithesis of the above game “If it were not for you” would be an unexpected lifting of the prohibitions. When the wife once again begins to lament: “If it were not for you, then I would go to study, work, or go to museums and concerts more often,” the husband, instead of the usual patient silence, says: “Listen, a wonderful thought. I believe that you definitely need to do this and not delay. I will only be glad of it. ”

Without feeling external resistance, which could be blamed on their passivity and dissatisfaction, the client somehow loses self-defense and is either forced to look for other reasons, or agree with the therapist that the problem is not in others, but in himself and in his life position (that is, in the selected game). If the husband instead of the ban says: "For God's sake", then disguised fears will come out and it will be possible to work with them.

The practice of transactional analysis shows that often “only the awareness of one’s game that occurs when it is destroyed (or if the psychotherapist explains it consistently) can lead to healing” (N.Linde).