Autonomy with Integrity

Abstract

Using Eric Berne's description of autonomy as a starting point, this article presents a reorientation that places transactional analysis and some other psychological models in a broader context. Integrity, in relation to wholeness and morals and ethics, is seen as central to autonomy and a freeing force in people's lives. Awareness, spontaneity, and intimacy, Berne's original capacities, continue to play profoundly necessary parts in understanding autonomy. The orientation proposed here does not replace transactional analysis and other personal change systems but encompasses them by placing them in a simultaneously transcendent and worldly context that honors their ongoing value. Specific techniques by which people may develop and expand their capacities for awareness, spontaneity, intimacy, and integrity are also elaborated.