10. Transactional analysis in individual and family counseling.

Plan

1. Basic theoretical principles

2. Consulting techniques

1. Basic theoretical principles

By virtue of the obtained psychoanalytic education, E Bern represented a person in the form of a triad of Ego-states, which he defined phenomenologically, as a consistent system of feelings associated with an object, operationally - as a set of consistent behaviors and pragmatically - as a system of feelings that motivates a set of interconnected models behavior. Thus, ego states include: thinking, feeling, behavior. E. Bern identifies the Ego states: “Parent,” “Adult,” “Child.” Each person at any time has all three Ego states, but only one of them dominates in a separate time interval. In the Russian-language literature, the state of "Child" is usually denoted by the letter D - child.

Ego-state E. Bern depicts in the form of three circles located one above the other and describes as follows:

1. A parent, or an exteropsychic Ego state, is a set of feelings, beliefs, patterns of behavior, stereotypes of attitudes towards other people that resemble feelings, beliefs, patterns of behavior, and stereotypes of attitudes toward other people characteristic of people who have experience in raising their children (parents ).

2. Adult or non-mental Ego state, objectively evaluates the surrounding reality. E. Byrne likens the Adult to a self-programming computer based on criteria derived from the information received. Characteristics of an Adult - organization, adaptability and intelligence. An adult plays the role of arbiter in a conflict unfolding between the Parent and Child. It is to the state of the adult that the consultant addresses.

3. A child or an archeopsychical ego state is a collection of feelings, beliefs and behaviors that are archaic remnants of an individual's childhood. In a sense, the state of the Child manifests itself in regressive and even infantile behavior.

The parental ego state can be represented in one of two forms: “Controlling” or “Caring”. “Controlling” Parent is manifested as a set of strict, prohibitive rules governing the behavior of an individual and designed to protect him from possible dangers. For example: "you can not cross the street to a red light", "you can not kiss on the first date," etc. The “caring” Parent manifests itself as a guardianship and support strategy that takes into account the individual's own interests. For example: "I am the most beautiful girl in the class", "I am always right, because I am the smartest."

The ego state of the Child can manifest itself in two basic forms: “Adapted” and “Spontaneous.” "Adapted" Child

characterized by the desire to find a compromise, even to the detriment of themselves with the ego state of the Parent. E. Bern calls this ego state “little professor” and emphasizes that this is the part of the personality that wants to be accepted by the internal Parent and finds psychological and social advantages in following the prescribed norms of behavior. The “spontaneous” child manifests itself by indulging in his desire, and precisely because of this quality he has creative abilities.

Conflict theory

The theory of conflict in transactional analysis is described through the concepts of transactional interaction, the structuring of time and the scenario process.

A transaction is a unit of interaction. A transaction can be a phrase, one word that carries a meaning, for example: "Hello." A gesture that conveys what might be said. For example, a handshake roughly corresponds to the word "Hello."

A transaction can even be an expressive look, sometimes speaking more than any words.

There are obvious, conscious participants of communication and hidden transactions that are not recognized by participants of interaction, occurring at an unconscious level. Say, at a conscious level, two interlocutors are seriously discussing a business problem. At the same time, on an unconscious, psychological level, two children communicate and play pranks on each other.

Conflict situations are associated with the mismatch of the ego states used by the interlocutors, which leads to transaction overlapping. For example, two interlocutors are trying to communicate with each other as a Parent with a Child. Such communication certainly leads to clarifying the relationship: "Who is more important, smarter, stronger." At the same time, each interlocutor considers only himself to be right and considers unacceptable a compromise, and even the very understanding of the other’s position.

Time structure According to E. Bern, one of the most important questions that people ask themselves is “What should I do?”. And one of the most important problems that people solve is “How do I kill time?”. Whether we go to a party, wake up at the beginning of the working week, the question of structuring, killing time is the most important for us.

Analyzing human behavior, E. Bern offers 6 ways to structure time.

Ways to structure time

1. Ignoring is a situation when people do not enter into communication: they do not talk, do not look at each other, no matter how they recognize the fact of the existence of another. The psychological distance in this case is the greatest, as is the level of security. Example. Two people ride in the same train car, sit and look out the window or read or slumber.

2. Ritual - a communicative strategy at the level of "Parent" - "Parent", designed to minimize the risk in communication. Only time-tested and well-known phrases and gestures are allowed. Frivolity and innovations are not encouraged. The beauty of the ritual is in its predictability. Phrase after phrase, gesture by gesture, the chain of ritual is formed. And every phrase is timely, every gesture is appropriate. In the insect world, communicative dancing of bees is an example of ritual communication. A bee arriving at the hive begins to move in a strictly defined manner, telling its dance news, other bees, repeating the movements, understand this news. In the human world, ritual has become very widespread, in a sense, human culture is represented as a collection of rituals. We shake hands, greeting, smiling, if we want to show our location to another, we put a candle in the church, remembering the deceased, etc. The ritual is soulless, although it can be filled with affective experiences, impersonal. The ritual turns a person into a detail, a gear of society and the state, but in return gives security predictability. An advantage is someone who knows the ritual better: a priest or just an older person.

Ritual is sublimated aggression and sexuality. In the context of rapid changes in the world, ritual reduces the adaptive capabilities of a person. Psychological distance during ritual communication is less than with the “ignoring” strategy, but the level of security is quite high.

3. Work - a communicative strategy leading to a result. Communication itself in this case becomes a profession. In modern society, there are many such specialties, for example, a psychologist-consultant.

4. Pastime - outwardly very similar to "work". People talk, exchange information, however, in their individual and shared realities nothing changes, nothing happens - there is no result. E. Bern as an example of club communication talks about sports, cars, children, etc. In the light of modern ideas about the importance of procedural relations in management, business, and consulting, the topic of conversation can no longer be a definite diagnostic criterion. For example, during the consultation, the therapist can use “safe topics” to make contact with the client, to reduce tension during the session, to change the rhythm of the consultation and thereby improve the effectiveness of the therapy. It is the result that is the criterion which allows differentiating between “pastime” and “work”. Pastime is a conversation between two children, emotionally intense and little predictable. Conversation, constantly changing the theme and criteria for its existence.

5. The game is a communicative strategy, in contrast to the strategies described above, which includes not only social communication, but also an ordered communication algorithm, on a psychological level. The description of the psychological game algorithm is not only a transactional analysis gem, but also the whole of modern psychology. The game, as well as the pastime - is the communication of children's Ego-states. This is the secret of its attractiveness and timeless novelty. Despite the fact that spontaneity is the basic property of a child, in the case of a game, an iron algorithm is hidden under the veil of spontaneity, which is rather an attribute of the ritual. The game begins as a sparkling, fascinating pastime, but suddenly turns into a soulless ritual, terrible in its inevitability and guaranteed to lead to an affective state. According to A. Bern, the game is similar to fishing. The bait is hooked onto the hook. The swam-up fish sees the bait, but does not see the hook. Fish accepts the offer and swallows the bait. Making sure that the fish is on a hook, the fisherman cuts and pulls it into the air. A fish that sought pleasure (food) receives death.

E. Bern describes games in many areas of human life. He classifies them according to their severity into three levels:

a) games that are safe to talk about in your social

surrounded by;

b) games that are reported only to the closest people;

c) games to which professionals are involved in the process of their development.

6. Intimacy is a communicative strategy that is the quintization of humanity. Intimacy implies communication without “psychological masks”. E. Bern writes that intimacy is love in the broad sense of the word. Intimacy, above all, implies responsibility to the partner and care about their well-being. Hence the use of all three Ego states in communication, however, the transactions do not overlap, which allows you to communicate with pleasure. It is curious that learning the ability to communicate using the strategy of intimacy, according to E. Bern, contributes to the achievement of the goal of transactional analysis - the state of "autonomy", characterized by responsibility to oneself and others. Autonomy is

“Awareness”, “spontaneity” and “intimacy”.

During counseling, all 6 time structuring strategies are encountered.

The client “ignores” the consultant, pretends that such a profession does not exist. After the client decides to turn to a psychotherapist, the stage of ritual communication begins. At this stage, the parties agree on the rules of joint work, and a psychotherapeutic contract is concluded. “Work” and “pastime” merge into a therapeutic cocktail, in which the predominance of a certain ingredient depends on the method used by the consultant, his personal characteristics, cultural traditions and the prevailing fashion at a given time. Psychological game is a nightmare of beginning consultants. If it was initiated by the psychotherapist, it is “worked out” in supervision, and in the case when the client played the first violin, the amount of damage received by the consultant is determined by the degree of the game played. The situation of mutual understanding and psychotherapeutic resonance arising in the process of professional psychodynamic therapy is very similar to the strategy of intimacy.

Scenario process. Transactional analysts believe that each of the people live their lives not spontaneously, but according to a certain scenario. The prototypes of life scenarios are the ancient Greek myths (scenarios of Sisyphus, Prometheus, Oedipus, Perseus, etc.) and fairy tales (scenarios of the Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Geese, Swans, etc.).

The child receives the basic parameters of his life scenario from parents who have found each other and entered into marriage, also fulfilling the scenario instructions (a number of specialists trace up to seven generations of the same type of scenario processes). In the Ego-state Parent lays orders, rules, future achievements. In the Ego-state, the Child - counter-orders, irrational beliefs, rules of games. The freedom to choose a child is limited by these regulations. He can not create for himself a scenario that is fundamentally different from the parent, he can choose the nuances designed to highlight the differences of modernity.

The most important in creating a life scenario is the choice of the ending. What will happen at the end of your life? How will you die? What epitaph will be on your grave? Who will come to your funeral? What will they say about you after death? The child finds answers to these questions up to three years. From three to five, the main plot of the plot is created and the attitude to the world is determined. The following options are possible:

1. “I + You -” - I am good and will always be better than you, you are bad, you are worse than me and you will always remain so. Installation leads to discrimination of other people on various grounds. This installation is often issued for the position of "winner", "success", which, of course, is wrong, because in this case, if it is possible, then only "Pyrrhic Victory".

2. "I - You +" - I am bad, I have an ugly appearance, I am stupid, weak physically and mentally, you are good, you are lucky at birth, at best I can be your servant if you take care of me, decide , what should I do.

3. "I - You -" - I am bad and you are bad, all people are bad, the whole world is terrible. World catastrophe is inevitable, nothing good is waiting for us.

4. “I + You +” is the most mature setting, characterizing an autonomous person capable of intimacy. I am good and you too, I respect myself and you. I take care of myself, but I respect your rights.

In adolescence, a person works out an anti-scenario, tries a “different rut,” but even these experiments are carried out as part of the family scenario. After the “second half” has been found, the criterion by which it is identified is readiness to participate as a partner in joint “psychological games”, and the creation of one’s own family is returned to the scriptwriting process written by him earlier. Then everything moves to the once-chosen end of life.

2. Consulting techniques

The goal of counseling is to gain autonomy (the release or restoration of three human qualities: awareness, spontaneity and intimacy). An autonomous person solves problems, and is not in a state of passivity. When a person is busy solving a problem, he adequately perceives reality and reacts to it. He does not ignore reality, does not distort it, and this means that he is free from the script.

The conclusion of the psychotherapeutic contract. Before the transaction analysis begins, the consultant and the client conclude an agreement that regulates the relationship during therapy, specifies the goal of therapy and the criteria for achieving it.

"How do we both know that you got what you came for?" The conclusion of the contract is an important technique that is designed to prevent the "psychological games" between the client and the consultant.

The use of egograms. In 1989, Dussey proposed to use a diagram in structural analysis, schematically depicting the degree to which each of the human ego states undergoes cathexis. The Egogram has the form of a bar graph and shows how much personal energy is contained in five functional states: in the Critical Parent (CRD); in Caring Parent (ZRD); in the adult (V); in the Free Child (SRB) and the Adaptive Child (ARB).

Analysis of the matrix of feelings. The matrix of feelings is similar to an egogram, in the form of a bar chart note: the ability to accept, the ability to give, ask feelings. After compiling a matrix of feelings, the consultant helps the client to analyze scenario bans in the field of feelings.

Scenario tale analysis. The consultant invites the client to recall their favorite children's fairy tale. Retell it, retelling will always be different from the original text. Which fairytale hero does the client identify with? What would a client like to change in this fairy tale? In the future, it is possible to play a role-playing tale.