Transactional analysis

Austrian psychoanalyst Rene Spitz was one of the first psychologists who conducted a comprehensive research on the importance of an infant’s contact with his/her mother and with the social enviroment during the first year of his/her life. Having observed the children reared in prison and foundling hospitals, Spitz concluded that the contact with mother/parental figure is equally important for their psychophysical development, well-being and survival as their physiological needs satisfaction.

Before coming to this world, babies were part of their mothers’ body. Thus, it takes time for them to develop awareness of them as individuals. Through mother’s or parental figure’s touches and voices babies get confirmation of their own existence while the way of treating them reflects a pathway for his/her self-knowledge. In case there is a lack of such confirmation, children are more likely to get sick and prone to psychophysical decay.

What games are you playing?

Motivated by the findings stressing the importance of social enviroment to a person as individual, Eric Berne, an American psychiatrist originally from Canada, decided to change his approach to treating patients by using psychoanalytic method. According to Berne, instead of focusing analysis on the „unconscious“, patients would have more effective and more applicable results if the analysis was focused on their social intercourse. This reversal led to the appearance of a new form of psychotherapy known as Transactional Analysis. Berne based his approach on the ego state theory, psychological games and life script analysis *.
(*For the purposes of this website, only three key theoretical concepts in the introductory text are stated.)

Relying on the results of Spitz's research, Berne pointed out that the confirmation of the self-awareness of a recently born infant in the first months of his/her life later grows into a need for recognition. The way we communicate and seek recognition from our environment significantly determines individuals's personality, and therefore his/her entire life.

If during childhood a person does not learn to satisfy his/her needs in an authentic way, he/she will look for other methods to satisfy them, primarily by playing psychological games. Undoubtedly such games lead us to negative outcomes, but nevertheless, people continue to play them considering that even a negative confirmation (stroke) is better for a person than no confirmation at all. 

Becoming aware of the psychological games we play on one side and discovering new autonomous ways to satisfy our adult needs within relationships on the other side, we step out of our life script and embark on the path that leads us to autonomy. According to the Transactional Analysis theory, achieving autonomy is the goal of each grown individual, and it is accomplished by developing awareness, spontaneity and ability to be close to each other.

Parent – Adult - Child

Basing his philosophy, interalia, on the belief that every human being is capable of thinking, Berne insisted that the language of psychotherapy was familiar and easily understandable to his clients. For this reason, Berne replaced professional terms of the transactional analysis basic concepts with the words from everyday language. For example, in the scientific discourse the ego states are called archeopsychic, neopsychic and exteropsychic, while in everyday use following simple terms are used: Child, Adult and Parent. Names of the ego states are always written in capital letters.

According to Eric Berne, there are three ego states in every person, and each represents a set of opinions, feelings and patterns of behavior.
When we say that a person is in the ego state of a Child, it means that such person behaves, thinks and feels the way she did when he/she was a child.
When a person behaves, thinks, and feels in the way that he/she is copying one of their parents or a person who during their growing up represented parental figures, we say that such person is in the ego state of Parent.
If, as a reaction to the here-and-now, a person acts, thinks and feels in the way that he/she uses all the resources at his/her disposal as an adult, such person is said to be in the ego state of Adult.
When we address another person, we do so from one of our ego states. Likewise, the person who gives us the answer does so from one of his/her ego states. Berne called this kind of exchange a transaction.
Transactions may be classified as complementary, crossed or ulterior. Ulterior transactions are a basis for psychological games.

Transaction analysis helps us understand the psychosocial dynamics of a person, discover the games we play and the causes (covert, unaware) that trigger them. This gives us a chance to explore new ways in which, we, as adults, can authentically, responsibly and consciously, ensure fulfillment of our needs in interactions with other people.

Life script

The life-script theory was first developed by Eric Berne and his collaborators in the mid-1960s. Berne defined the life script as: "a life plan made in childhood, confirmed by parents, justified by subsequent events, and culminated in a choice made."

What sets the life-script transactional analysis theory apart from other theories dealing with the childhood experiences impact on the life patterns, is the claim that it is the child who makes a specific plan for his/her life, not just a general view of the world.
Such theory suggests that the parents’ verbal and non-verbal messages form the basis on which the child draws conclusions about him/herself, others and the world, but it also tells us that it is the child who makes a decision on how to live a life.
Script decisions represent the best children's strategy for surviving in a hostile, at times even life-threatening world. The child makes such decisions based on his/her emotions and the ability to understand reality.
Considering that children do not perceive the world in the way adults do and their emotions often involve very extreme feelings, it is not surprising that the decisions that children incorporate into their life story can be extreme, and as such, dysfunctional for the life of an adult.
When we grow up, we no longer remember that we ourselves designed our life story script. Yet, even without knowing it, we do our best to confirm the life-story derived beliefs about ourselves, the people and the world, directing ourselves unconsciously towards the last scene of the life script...

Transactional analysis uses the life-script concept to better understand how people can unconsciously create problems to themselves, and what actions should be made to solve them.

The fundamental philosophical beliefs of TA

1.  PEOPLE ARE OK
This refers to a being, not to a behavior. We accept ourselves and others just as we are and we have a right to see each other as people with values ​​and dignity.
I am OK with your essence as a human being, though I may not be OK with your behavior.
As humans, we are at the same level even if our achievements differ.

2. EVERYONE HAS THE CAPACITY TO THINK
Everyone, except those with serious brain damage, has the capacity to think. Therefore, it is responsibility of each of us to decide what we want from life, because, after all, everyone will live with the consequences of what he/she decides.

3.  PEOPLE DECIDE THEIR OWN DESTINY AND SUCH DECISIONS CAN BE CHANGED
Even when we were children, our parents could not make us grow in a certain direction. They may have put a lot of pressure on us, but we are the ones who decide whether to succumb to the pressure, whether to rebel against it, or to ignore it.
The same is true when we grow up. Others or the environment cannot make us feel or act in a certain way. We are the ones responsible for our own feelings and behaviors.
Every decision we once made can be changed later.
People can change. Change is achieved not only by providing insight into old patterns of behavior, but also by actively deciding to change such patterns. The changes we make can be real and lasting.

From these philosophical postulates derive the basic principles on which the client-therapist relationship in transactional analysis therapy is based. These are: a contract and an open communication.

*For the sake of clarity and precision of transactional analysis philosophical postulates described in the book TA Today – A New Introduction to Transactional Analysis by Ian Stewart and Vann Joins, I have chosen to quote the entire text.

Bach flower remedies

1. Dr. Bach, Illness as a path to (self)knowledge

Dr. Edward Bach was an English physician living in the 19th century. He specialized in bacteriology at a school of medicine "University College Hospital" and conducted a research which significantly contributed to the bacteriology field in development of a certain intestinal bacteria in human body, identifying considerably larger quantities on sick than on healthy individuals. He developed a vaccine from the bacteria sample which later proved successful in practice.

While working with patients, Dr. Bach noted that some individuals are more prone to get affected by one type of bacteria, while others are susceptible to another type. Therefore, he assumed that the mental and emotional imbalances of an individual create a propensity for infections and disease.

In 1917, during The First World War, while Dr. Bach was working at a university hospital, he collapsed due to a stomach bleeding. After a successful surgery, he was diagnosed a malignant tumor, and doctors estimated that he had only three months left to live. Such prognosis made Dr. Bach give up his official work and enabled him to devote to the research of his hypothesis on the human nature and the nature of disease.

As soon as he recovered sufficiently, he resumed his scientific work, by spending most of time in his private laboratory in the beginning. In 1919 he started working as a pathologist and bacteriologist at the London Homeopathic Hospital. This gave him the opportunity to become familiar with the work of Samuel Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy, whose approach to treatment of the patient, not the disease, and as such, was close to the philosophy f Dr. Bach and his insights gained during his up-to/then work. He began the development of homeopathic remedies to replace vaccines. In this way he invented seven remedies, known as the Bach Nosodes, which have proven to be a powerful tool in the treatment of certain chronic disease. 

In 1930 he finally abandoned the city and moved to his cottage surrounded by hills and the valley of the River Thames. There he spent time outside studying the nature, determined to find a natural remedy for humans. During the spring, summer and early fall he used to walk in nature and study plants, while during the late fall and winter he treated free of charge the patients who came to him complaining of various health problems.

From the moment his colleagues told him that he had three months more to live, until his death in 1936, the whole 19 years had passed.

Having prolonged his life by almost two decades and living a life he chose, Dr. Bach realized that every being is happy and healthy while in harmony with its own nature and the world around. In this book “Heal Thyself” he wrote that illness, whatever cruel it may seem, is beneficial and good to us. If interpreted correctly , it will lead us to our fundamental mistakes…

2. Where the Soul rules

„Nor need any case despair, however severe, for the fact that the individual is still granted
physical life indicates that the Soul who rules is not without hope.“
Edward Bach

In addition to his medical profession, Dr. Bach also developed an interest in spiritual topics and
studied, among other things, the eastern religions.

Observing man as a spiritual being who, besides mind, emotions, and body, carries within him
the soul, Dr. Bach defined illness as a consequence arising from the conflict of the Soul and the
Mind.

In his book “Heal Thyself” Dr. Bach considers the human Soul as man’s real Self, which guides
him in life, taking him towards his greatest virtues. “We, as we know ourselves in this world, are personalities down here for the purpose of gaining all the knowledge and experience which can be obtained through earthly existence, of developing virtues that we lack, and of wiping out all that is wrong within us, thus advancing toward the perfection of our natures.

The Soul knows what environment and what circumstances will best enable us to do this, and hence It places us in the branch of life most suited for that object… So long as our Souls and personalities are in harmony all is joy and peace, happiness and health. It is when our personalities are led astray from the path laid down by the Soul, either by our worldly desires or by the persuasion of others, that a conflict arises. This conflict is the root cause of disease and unhappiness”.

Another aspect considered by Dr. Bach is the Unity of all things, according to which we are all
made by a creative force driven by Love. Each of our actions directed against other people
affects the whole, and ourselves at the same time since we are a part of the whole. According
to Edward Bach, the true primary diseases of man are defects - such as: pride, cruelty, hate,
self-love, ignorance, instability and greed. Taking insight into mistakes we made to harm
ourselves and others and making a serious effort to correct them lead us not only to happiness
but also to health.

Dr. Bach did not see a solution in struggling against the defect itself, or directing energy toward surpressing the wrong. According to him, a combat against the defect only increases its power.
The solution is to persistently develop an opposite virtue that counteracts the defect and
completely replaces it over time.

Accordingly, Dr. Bach’s key idea was to make remedies that are completely safe, accessible to
all, easy to use, and as such help people to nurture the positive qualities of the human race
such as: Love, Compassion, Peace of the Soul, Persistence, Strength, Modesty, Understanding,
Tolerance, Wisdom, Forgiveness, Courage…

3. How were the Bach Flower Essences first developed?

Creating his philosophy and healing method based on previous homeopathic findings, Dr. Bach believed that nature has a simple solution for all, including our health, and that the solution lies in plants. This belief derives from the idea that plants are one of the oldest living beings on the planet and as such have a great deal of experience of survival, adaptation and life in the most different environments. Plants “remember’ this experience inside them, and we humans, can receive it and use it through energy vibrations.

Do you wonder how Dr. Bach chose plants for his floral essences?
First, he carefully observed the plants in their natural environment. He looked at how a specific plant behaves during different seasons, weather conditions and how it survives in relation to its environment overcoming obstacles such as other plants, animals stone, road, livestock, water, etc. Whenever he gathered enough information about a plant, he used to select the best representatives of the species – specimens that “know best how to do it”.

Dr. Bach first remedies were developed based on the knowledge he gained in the field of homeopathy, by using so-called “potentiation” method. However, he believed that a simpler and more accessible way of making and treating essences could be found.

He began his research by collecting dewdrops from the selected plant specimens, considering that it was the water that remembered the information. As you can guess, this method was not economical not practical. Soon, Dr. Bach came up with the idea of submerging selected plants in a bowl or stream. He used to do this by picking the selected plant during the early sunny morning and by leaving it submerged and exposed to the direct sunlight for 3-4 hours at the place where the plant was picked.

When the time of sun exposure was over, he would filter the liquid and add it to the brandy, which had the role of preserving the structure of the water - he believed that only fresh water could convey the information of the essence. This is called mother tincture. From the containers in which the mother tincture was stored, the liquid was poured into 10/20ml glass bottles which were then placed in a kit that each Bach practitioner had for their work.

Long-range research was followed by several volumes of manuals, scientific studies and articles, many of which had already been published and presented in scientific conferences. Wishing to make his work accessible and understandable to all, Dr. Bach summarized all his writings in a 32-page book called “The Twelve Healers”.

The Bach Flower Essence System contains of only 38 remedies, which is significantly less than the number of remedies used in homeopathy and allopathy. The essences are categorized into 7 groups which according to Dr. Bach cover all unwanted human mental and emotional states.

Such states are related to those who suffer from: fear, insecurity, lack of interest in current events, loneliness, hypersensitivity to the influence and ideas of others, despondency and despair and over-care for the welfare of others.

There is also a 39th remedy which is a blend of 4 Bach essences created to deal with the situations of acute shock and stress. This product is called Rescue Remedy. The Rescue Remedy is also used to make a cream to heal painful skin damages caused by shocks, bites, allergies, burns, etc.

The client who comes to a consultation with already present physical injuries or physical illness symptoms will continue to be treated with the treatment prescribed by a specialist doctor, while his/her accompanying negative emotional and mental states will be treated by the Bach’s remedies. The blend of the Bach essences always deals with what person is aware of or becomes aware of when talking to a Bach practitioner. It works by removing layer after layer of a mental block…

4. How to use Bach Flower Remedies?

When we make a blend of the Bach essences for a client, we fill the dropper bottle (usually plastic, 30ml) with water and pour two drops of each selected essence from the stock bottles. The only exception is Rescue Remedy, 4 drops of which are always taken. A maximum of 9 different essences can be found in one bland, while the most common maximum given in practice is 7 remedies. It is important to know that none of the remedies affect the influence of the other.

From the dropper bottle the remedy can be used in two ways: - orally: by dropping it directly under the tongue or – externally: by rubbing the drops in the pulse points or in an injured and painful skin area, as well as soaking a gauze in solution and placing it in painful places.

In case of the babies up to 18 months old, the solution is rubbed in by massaging their parietal bone, a palm or behind the ears. For breastfed babies, it is enough if the mother takes the drops so the baby will receive the essences information from the milk. The standard dose is 4 drops at least 4 times a day.

In case an individual gets overwhelmed by acute negative emotion or pain, an emergency dose is applied by taking the remedy (4 drops) every minutes until relief is obtained. 

The Bach drops are completely safe to use and there is no danger of overdose or contraindications. The remedies are easy to store because they are not sensitive to external influences coming from radiation, mobile phones, light, airport X-ray machines, etc.

The Bach essences are safe to use with other medicines and remedies, whether of pharmaceutical or alternative origin. They can be used even by babies, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, old and chronically ill patients. Considering that they have a beneficial effect on animals, they can also be taken in treating pets and even plants.

Art Therapy

A world of playfulness

There is a place, somewhere between the inner and the outer world, between fantasy and reality, where the world of play and playfulness unfolds. Right there, in this precious place the magic of the expressive art therapy (EAT) happens.

During the 70's of the last century, the British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott developed a very influential theory of the game, within which, among other things, he tried to explain "where" the game takes place and what it serves.

According to him, the sphere of play is not an inner psychic reality. She is outside the child, but she is not a part of the outside world that is completely out of his control. The game takes place between the child's inner subjective world and the outer objective reality, in a space where the imagination can shape the world.

The role of play for the development of a child is valuable because it allows him to safely explore how he can become active in shaping his own world, without feeling helpless or dependent on him. In this way, the game increases the child's awareness of himself, his abilities and the ability to change the reality in which he lives.

However, this space of imagination and play is also important for an adult, because the human need for the inner and outer world to be re-examined and harmonized never ceases. This tension that exists between the inner and the outer opens, what Winicott calls, "potential space." For an adult, this space becomes more than just a child's play. It grows into a sphere of discovery and creativity that has given birth to something as great and miraculous as the entire culture of human civilization, from art to science. Viewed in this way, culture is a collective extension of a person's creative process that began in early childhood. (Winnicott)

  In art therapy, the door to the world of playfulness and imagination opens and the person steps into this space of the game, getting the opportunity to freely re-examine and explore their ideas and feelings. One of the roles of the therapist is to keep this space safe and help the client to interpret and integrate the experiences he has experienced while creating his artwork. When he has gained significant insight, the client, with the support of a therapist, will discover the connection that this knowledge has with his current life.

The method of EAT is based on the techniques of gestalt therapy and psychology of Dr. Carl Gustav Jung.

Empirical example

Once the art work was done there was the moment for the footprint to tell its story... Each component of the art work represents potential aspect of our psyche. As thus it bears an important message that our uncounciousness is communicating us through the art work. Once we give it a life and voice "to speak" this message reaches us…

The Mind has its history, it lives within us…

“We are so captivated by and entangled in our subjective consciousness that we have forgotten the age-old fact that God speaks chiefly through dreams and visions”.  (Jung)

Man has developed consciousness slowly and laboriously, in a process that took untold ages to reach the civilized state (which is arbitrarily dated from the invention of script in about 4000B.C.). And this evolution is far from complete, far large areas of the human mind are still shrouded in darkness. (Jung)

Just as the human body has changed and evolved throughout history, so too does the psyche. The archaic mind of prehistoric man, whose psyche was still close to that of animal, formed the whole of men’s personality. By developing consciousness, man gradually lost touch with a part of the primitive psychic energy. However, this “original mind” has never ceased to exist, it is equally present and still acts in the child, as are the developmental stages of man contained in his embryo… (Jung)

Unfortunately, modern man having lost the contact with this precious part of his psyche, which has become a part of a sphere of the “unconscious”, has also lost his ability to understand its language. If you are wondering what kind of language an archaic psyche could have and how it communicates with us, remember your dreams. The language of the archaic psyche is based on symbols whose meanings needs to be interpreted in order for the message they carry to be understood. According to Dr. Jung, dreams are one of the ways in which our consciousness addresses us by conveying to us through pictorial symbols the messages that are essential to our entire life, development and survival. “The recollection of infantile memories and the reproduction of archetypal ways of physic behavior can create a wider horizons and a greater extension of consciousness on condition that one succeeds in assimilating and integrating in the conscious mind the lost and regained contents. Since they are not neutral, their assimilation will modify the personality, just as they themselves will have to undergo certain alterations. In this part of what is called “the individuation process” where the interpretation of symbols plays an important practical role. For the symbols are neutral attempts to reconcile and unite opposites within the psyche”. (Jung)

The Self

The SELF “the most hidden part of the human psyche”, “the basic principle of the whole world”, divine in us, the eternal enigma, “the nuclear atom” of our psyche woven into the whole world, both outer and inner, a voice of our Soul that always has the right answer for us…

  Jung saw the process of human growth as an unbreakable interaction between the unconscious and the conscious mind. The unconscious has insights and knowledge that are essential for our life and which the ego (conscious part of our psyche) has not yet become aware of. A self that is in each man “knows” what his innate human nature is. During man’s lifetime it sends him messages that guide a man towards the realization of the essence of his existence. The regulating center brings about a constant extension and maturing of the personality. However, this process of growth (individuation) occurs only as an inborn possibility. It becomes real only if the individual is aware of it and if he establishes a living connection with it. 

  What exactly is the mentioned bond between the conscious and the unconscious mind? If there is a certain potential in us (for art, philosophy, science, parenthood…) but the ego is not aware of it, that potential cannot be used. In vain are all the messages that the Self sends us through symbols through dreams, fantasies, associations, etc. If the ego refuses to see them or does not understand their language, they remain “invisible” to us. In order to achieve the integrity of the psyche, it is necessary for our ego to open up to the messages that the unconscious/Self sends us, to understand them and find a way to live in harmony with them. The man who does that in time becomes a more complete human being. 

  “The whole inner psychic reality of each individual is ultimately oriented toward this archetypal symbol of the Self. In practical terms this means that the existence of human beings will never be satisfactorily explained in terms of isolated instincts of purposive mechanism such as hunger, power, sex, survival, perpetuation of the species, and so on. That is, man’s main purpose is not to eat, drink, et., but to be human.” M.-L. Von Franz.

How do I connect with the Self within me?

  An original solution that Dr. Jung devised as a direct answer to this question is the so-called “active imagination”. It consists of conscious focusing on a mental image that comes from a dream, vision or fantasy, and then person carefully monitors what is happening with the inner image, how it gets rich in details, how it changes and how our imagination starting from, it, through a series of connected spontaneously created representations and symbols, creates one complete story...”(Ž. Trebješanin)

The obtained material (images, symbols) is then analyzed in order to discover its meaning and significance. But, what to do in a situation when a person fails to go through this process independently and does not know how to interpret the meaning of the symbols that appear? This is the place when we come to a direct connection with art therapy. An individual EAT session lasts one hour during which 20 to 40 minutes are reserved for creating an artwork. While creating his/her art , which can be in the form of drawing, painting, photograph, movements, song or a written word, a person enters the sphere of play where strong focus on the creative process develops. This leads to the control of the conscious mind declining, and the unconscious mind gaining space to express itself. Thus, the artwork that a client creates during a session consist of messages sent to him/her by the Self on a given topic. (By “topic”, I refer to the problem that the client raised at the beginning of the session). 

Significant insight and relief can certainly occur when a person independently enters the creative process, outside the context of psychotherapy. The difference is that the presence of the therapist offers an opportunity to explore the acquired insight on a deeper emotional level and to consciously integrate all newly acquired experiences (emotional, mental, physical) into the current life context of the client, In EAT we explore this messages using gestalt techniques and Jungian psychology.