by Norman Munro

Created on: August 12, 2009   Last Updated: August 18, 2009

Transactional Analysis, developed by Eric Berne, is a commonly used approach to therapy, which has been around since the 1950's, and is still developing today.

TA is based upon the idea that our psyche functions from three basic states, which Berne called Parent, Adult and Child. It is not only a form of personal therapy, but also much used in organizational psychology.

Dr Berne thought that failures in communication were at the root of many of our problems, and that each time we communicate with each other (he used the term transaction for communication), we do so utilising one of these basic states. We not only do this when communicating with each other, but also in our internal dialogues with ourselves.

Our Parent state is typically authoritative , and usually uses such language as 'under no circumstances', 'always' and 'never forget', 'don't lie, cheat, steal', etc, etc. Our Parent is formed by external events and influences upon us as we grow through early childhood.

We usually use one of two types of Parent, either the Nurturing Parent (caring and concerned, trying to keep the Child safe) or the Critical Parent (trying to make the Child do as the parent wants, inculcating values and beliefs and shaping behaviour).

Our Child takes over when anger or despair dominates, sending logic and reason out of the window. Attitudes like 'It's not fair", "Why me?" and "Why should I" often appear as our reactions to external events when we are in Child mode. It's how we react when the computer crashes for the third time and we just want to smash it rather than calling the repair man.

Our Adult state results from our ability to reason and logic to determine what courses of action to take, and in effect, often acts as a brake on the impulsive or unthinking responses of our other two states. If our Parent or Child states are over-controlling, we can change them, but only by acting through our Adult.

In TA theory, problems arise when communication becomes 'crossed', and this is the result of one party in the transaction being in a different state to the other.

Satisfactory communication and forward movement can only take place when we talk Adult to Adult. When conflicts arise, it may benefit you to establish whether or not the other person is in Child or Parent mode. Meet them there, and then guide them to Adult mode so that good communication can happen. Try it with yourself and see what happens!

Eric Berne's most famous book was 'The Games

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