Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy

Eric Berne, the founder of Transactional Analysis (TA) described it as ‘a theory of personality and a

systematic psychotherapy for personal growth and change’.

In Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy, we adopt the philosophical principles that:

– People are fundamentally OK, even if they sometimes behave in not-OK ways;

– Everyone (with rare exceptions) has the capacity to think, and can decide what they want from life;

– We make decisions early in life as a result of our experiences, and these decisions can be changed.

In TA, both client and therapist take joint responsibility for achieving the changes that you want to make in therapy.

Central to TA are equality, transparency and open communication, and these underpin our therapeutic work throughout.

The ultimate therapeutic aim of TA Psychotherapy is to achieve autonomy. The definition of autonomy being: awareness, spontaneity and the capacity for intimacy.

In addition to the above, some of the main advantages of TA as a therapeutic method are:

– It helps us easily understand the psychological dynamics within people and between people.

– It embraces cultural diversity and is known world-wide

– It can be used both in short- and long-term psychotherapy

– It’s flexible and applicable with individuals, couples, groups, families and organisations. And finally,

– TA brings together both the depth of psychoanalysis and the warmth of a relational approach.