Core Concepts of Transactional Analysis: An Opportunity Born of Struggle

Abstract

This article presents the history of and some commentary about the theoretical and political polemic surrounding the attempt to determine a set of transactional analysis core concepts. The authors propose that ego state theory inconsistency is at the heart of the theoretical debate and the political struggle. They elaborate this inconsistency in the ego state theory found in the A Compilation of Core Concepts document (Steiner et al., 1999) and assert that the project to establish a set of transactional analysis core concepts should be transformed into an opportunity to clear up such inconsistencies in the fundamental concept of transactional analysis.