Transactional analysis
If you’ve clicked here, you may be asking yourself, “So, what is Transactional Analysis?” It’s a humanistic theory of communication, personality and child development, developed by psychiatrist Eric Berne in the 1950s. Transactional Analysis (TA) methodology is now widely used in organisational and educational settings, as well as in its original clinical (psychotherapeutic) setting.
I was introduced to TA by my coaching supervisor. It felt like coming home. At last I had a set of models for understanding myself and the world around me, and the tools to help me become a more effective trainer, coach and human being. It now informs all aspects of my life and work.
That’s all very well, but you may be thinking, “What does this mean for me, and how can I apply it to my life?”TA has three main underlying principles:
- everyone is OK (has a right to exist)
- everyone can think (apart from those with a severe mental disorder)
- everyone has the possibility to change
Within this positive framework, TA employs a range of highly accessible models and techniques which offer people a means to enhance their personal and professional effectiveness through improved communication skills. One of the delights of using transactional analysis in a training setting is seeing people’s ability to acquire some profound learning and insights in a short space of time. They blossom and learn and are able to apply their new knowledge to the issues they face in life.
Transactional analysis is still evolving, and recent developments in neuroscience support and underpin the theories behind the models.