“Awareness requires living in the here and now, and not in the elsewhere, the past or the future”- Eric Berne
I have found that life can become incomprehensible, complicated, overwhelming or confusing at times. No one gives you a blueprint of how to live your life, and comparing yourself to others often complicate matters further.
Personally, as a therapist, I have found Transactional Analysis (TA) extremely helpful, as it enabled me to understand my own feelings and behaviours and others.
TA is underpinned by three values which are its core:
1) People are born OK. This means that both you and I have worth, value, and dignity. We accept each other for who we are. We can disapprove of someone’s behaviour, but recognise the person and his/her value as a human being.
2) Everyone (except people with brain damage) has the capacity to think. This therefore means we can all take responsibility for our own destination and our own self-development.
3) People decide their own future. Not all decisions made in the past are still helpful to us today. Looking at our behaviours and thoughts in order to understand them and then to make positive changes is within our power.
These philosophical assumptions, offer hope and inspiration to everyone. In TA the mutuality between client and therapist is paramount, open communication about the contents and process of the work are developed together. As the client and therapist take joint responsibility for the process of change, TA uses a contractual way of working. Both client and therapist frame how they are prepared to work in order to realise the desired change.
TA is used in psychotherapy, counselling, education and in organisations. Within psychotherapy, TA offers a system in the treatment of psychological disorders, from problems occurring in daily living to severe psychosis. It provides a method of psychotherapy which can be used with individuals, couples and groups.
