Transactional
Analysis:
Understanding What
Makes People Tick
Mentoring CPD &
Supervision
Transactional Analysis:
What is it?
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Developed by Eric Bernes
Post-Freudian
It is:
is a theory of personality
a systematic psychotherapy
for personal growth and
personal change.
It also offers:
a theory of communication
a theory of child development
a diagnostic system for many
types of psychopathological
disorder
and has been applied to
education, management and
communication training
Transactional Analysis:
What is it?
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There are 3 philosophical
premises of TA:
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People are OK; thus each
person has validity,
importance, equality of
respect
Everyone has the capacity
to think.
People decide their story
and destiny, and these
decisions can be changed.
Therefore:
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people can change
we all have a right to be in
the world and be accepted
The Key Ideas
• The Ego-State (ParentAdult-Child) PAC Model
Exercise One
• In small groups discuss
work related behaviours
that would relate to
– Parent
– Adult
– Child
(you might want to think about
personality types here too)
• What types of language
and ways of
speaking/communicating
would you associate with
the different ego states?
The Key Ideas
Exercise Two
• Again looking at language
and behaviours in the
workplace, what might
apply to:
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Negative controlling parent
Positive controlling parent
Negative nurturing parent
Positive nurturing parent
Positive free child
Negative free child
Positive adaptive child
Negative adaptive child
The Key Ideas
The Key Ideas
Exercise three
• How are contaminations
useful and how do we use
these productively?
• When are contaminations
not productive?
• What ego state might you
adopt to counter a negative
contamination? How will
this help?
Drivers
• Be perfect
• Hurry up
• Try hard
• Be strong
• Please Others
Managing Drivers
• Be perfect – address self
worth & self esteem
• Hurry up – encourage
taking time
• Try Hard – tackling
perfectionism
• Be Strong – provide
opportunities to be open
and to express feelings
• Please Others - support
disengagement from
others’ needs and
encourage engagement in
looking after own needs
Exercise four
• Working in pairs, use your
preferred mentoring
technique to explore what
your partner’s
driver/drivers and help
them identify a strategy to
tackle them.