“Using an anonymous client or one you have worked with in the past, apply the methods you have discussed in this module to their case and discuss what you think could have been achieved.”

INTRODUCTION

Transactional Analysis (also known as TA) is a means of examining people, their thought processes and relationships with others. It was developed during the 1960s by Dr Eric Berne.

TA is based on four concepts; • Ego states • Scripts • Transactions • Games

People have continuous internal conversations with themselves as well as external conversations with others. It is thought that people have three
It is developed “under parental, familial, social, cultural and religious pressure. It is mostly complete by the age of seven.” (4)

In our adult lives we are often running on these scripts based in childhood and therefore in the child state but with the responisibilites and stresses of adult life, this in itself can bring a great deal of stress. This should be considered because the client may therefore often present with a ‘surface’ problem in adult life, be that work issues with the boss, or a phobia or a more serious mental illness such as paranoid schizophrenia. The present realities and distress may need working through initially to explore the present discomfort. This may take some time and possibly only then can we go to the heart of the problem, that lies in the past. The client I will be reanalysing below was very anxious about any discussion from the past and it did take several present sessions to progress to that level of trust.

We can also be replaying in our adult lives the issues unresolved from childhood, whereby what we felt as missing or negative in childhood is sought out in adulthood in attempt to resolve the negativity and fear associated with it. Script replay often occurs when people experience stress especially if that feeling is associated with a similar time in the past. Eric Berne felt that these scripts could be changed or rewritten, if the script is