TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS
There is a real question as to whether Transactional Analysis (TA) is part of humanistic psychology or not. The truth of the matter seems to be that some of it is, and some of it is not. So it is a kind of borderline case, and for that very reason can teach us something about how the borders are drawn between humanistic psychology and other approaches.
In my own experience I have found the books interesting and rewarding, and have read all of Eric Berne's own work, in addition to papers, chapters and articles written by other people. But I have also been to about six TA workshops and seen about six TA training films, and these I have found a big let-down and quite feeble.
Many people experience a feeling of distaste about TA because of the brashness and Americanism of the whole thing - the language and presentation is often quite offputting.
Eric Berne never contributed to the Journal of Humanistic Psychology in all the years of its existence up to his death. Nor has there been a paper about TA in thirty years, so far as I can discover from the titles given. So there is a question mark in this respect on the issue of whether TA is humanistic or not.
Roger Kreitman, in an article on TA which appeared in Self & Society, says this: Eric Berne went to some trouble to describe the relationship of TA to other psychotherapy systems - see 'Principles of Group Treatment' for a full discussion. There are clear links, for example, with psychoanalysis, existential therapy and behaviourism. Furthermore, TA can be combined with any rational form of therapy if so desired. So here again we have this sense that TA spreads considerably beyond the limits of humanistic psychology. It has always been held that humanistic psychology is not psychoanalysis, on the one side, and not behaviourism, on the other.
Then there is another question: is TA a form of psychotherapy at all? J G Allen says: "TA is a theory of personality, not a method of treatment... the comprehensiveness and broad applicability of TA concepts allow for their integration into a wide range of therapeutic approaches and styles." Similarly, Dusay & Dusay say "TA... is a complete theory of personality". They make links with many different approaches, some of them humanistic, some of them not. I am not trying to do a complete rundown of the literature, but simply to say that there is some confusion as to what exactly the status of TA is.
So there are quite a few headings here of trouble with accepting TA into the humanistic fold. I wonder if some solution could be found along the lines of talking about TA1 (the personality theory and broad via media) as against TA2 (the humanistic version which is taught at certain specific training centres), and TA3 the mechanistic version taught elsewhere. Then TA1 and TA3 could be outside the fold, and TA2 could be inside it.
There are certainly people who are teaching and using TA in a humanistic way, and of these the best known are Petruska Clarkson and her colleagues at the metanoia training centre. Here a definitely humanistic view is taken, and has now been written up in more than one book. This is where to go if you want to find the humanistic version of TA.
BOOKLIST
Allen, J G (1980) 'Transactional Analysis' in Richie Herink (ed) The psychotherapy handbook New American Library, New York).
Berne, Eric (1961) Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy Grove Press, New York. The original book, still a classic.
Berne, Eric (1964) Games people play Grove Press, New York. Berne's best- known (and highly original) book, which has appeared in many editions.
Berne, Eric (1966) Principles of group treatment Oxford University Press, New York. A clear account of Berne's views.
Berne, Eric (1972) What do you say after you say Hello? Grove Press, New York. Again has appeared in other editions - a marvellous book which contains a mass of fascinating material.
Clarkson, Petruska (1992) Transactional Analysis: An integrative approach to psychotherapy Routledge, London. A big and impressive book giving all the latest ideas about TA used in a humanistic way.
Clarkson, Petruska & Gilbert, Maria (1990) 'Transactional Analysis' in W Dryden (ed) Individual therapy: A handbook Open University Press, Milton Keynes. An excellent succinct rundown on TA as a humanistic approach.
Dusay, J M & Dusay, K M (1979) 'Transactional Analysis' in R J Corsini (ed) Current psychotherapies F E Peacock, Itasca.
Stewart, Ian (1989) Transactional Analysis counselling in action Sage, London. A little bit more mechanistic than Clarkson, but reasonably usable.
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