The author compares the languages of transactional analysis and psychoanalysis and argues that in his break with psychoanalysis, Eric Berne took leave, primarily, of the linguistic and therefore conceptual style of psychoanalysis. He sought to write, speak, and think about observable phenomena with the use of verbs and concrete nouns instead of adjectives and abstract nouns, which he characterized as “jazz.” This initial linguistic transformation profoundly affected transactional analysis methodology.
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