Transactional Analysis (TA) originated in the work
of Dr Eric Berne, a Canadian psychiatrist working
in the United States in the 1950s
and
60s. It has developed significantly since, whilst
remaining grounded in the principles of mutual
respect, recognising the worth and value
in everyone, believing in everyone’s capacity to change, and our
inbuilt drive for health. It is a theory of personality
which includes interpersonal and intrapsychic processes, how we relate
to (“transact
with”) others and ourselves.
Transactional Analysis is valuable in both short-term
counselling, focussed on dealing with here-and-now
events and circumstances, and in psychotherapy,
usually longer term, helping people to understand
themselves and their patterns of behaviour, and
how past events and relationships may block our
ability to enjoy the present, and be spontaneous
and energetic.
Transactional Analysis gives us new approaches
to enable us to move forward. We can review the
decisions we once made and choose which are still
appropriate for today, which to discard and which
to update.
