The author integrates relational schemas theory (Žvelc, 2009) with central concepts in transactional analysis, including ego states, script, and games theory. Relational schemas derive from relational experiences that give rise to different ego states. Defensive relational schemas manifest in Child and Parent ego states, whereas the Adult ego state is influenced by adaptive relational schemas, which are constantly changing and transforming. Transference involves activation of defensive relational schemas, and life script corresponds with networks of defensive relational schemas. The author explores the concept of the relational unconscious and similarities between games and enactments. He proposes that games are relational enactments of defensive schemas and can lead to reinforcement of script. The author also proposes a new concept—the mindful Adult ego state—to describe a state of presence and acceptance of the present moment. Such a stance can promote awareness and change in defensive relational schemas. Relational schema theory is supported by scientific evidence from neuroscience and research in psychology.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersenS. M.ReznikI.ChenS. (1997). The self in relation to others: Motivational and cognitive underpinnings. In SnodgrassV. J. G.ThompsonR. L. (Eds.), The self across psychology: Self-recognition, self-awareness, and the self concept (pp. 233–277). New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
2.
AronL. (1996). A meeting of minds: Mutuality in psychoanalysis. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
3.
BaldwinM. W. (1992). Relational schemas and the processing of social information. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 461–484.
4.
BaldwinM. W.GranzbergA.PippusL.PritchardE. T. (2003). Cued activation of relational schemas: Self-evaluation and gender effects. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 35 (2), 153–163.
5.
BerneE. (1961). Transactional analysis in psychotherapy. A systematic individual and social psychiatry. New York: Grove Press.
6.
BerneE. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationship. New York: Grove Press.
7.
BerneE. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?: The psychology of human destiny. New York: Grove Press.
8.
BollasC. (1987). The shadow of the object. Psychoanalysis of the unthought known. London: Free Association Books.
9.
BucciW. (1997). Psychoanalysis and cognitive science: A multiple code theory. New York: Guilford Press.
10.
CerneticM. (2005). Biti tukaj in zdaj: Cujecnost, njena uporabnost in mehanizmi delovanja. [Being here and now: Mindfulness, its applicability, and mechanisms of action]. Psihološka obzorja, 14 (3), 73–92.
11.
CozolinoL. (2002). The neuroscience of psychotherapy: Building and rebuilding the human brain. New York: Norton.
12.
ErskineR. G. (1988). Ego structure, intrapsychic function, and defense mechanisms: A commentary on Eric Berne's original theoretical concepts. Transactional Analysis Journal, 18, 15–19.
13.
ErksineR. G. (1991). Transference and transactions: Critique from an intrapsychic and integrative perspective. Transactional Analysis Journal, 21, 63–76.
14.
ErskineR. G.MoursundJ. P. (1988). Integrative psychotherapy in action. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
15.
ErskineR. G.MoursundJ. P.TrautmannR. L. (1999). Beyond empathy. A therapy of contact-in-relationship. Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazel.
16.
ErskineR. G.ZalcmanM. J. (1979). The racket system: A model for racket analysis. Transactional Analysis Journal, 9, 51–59.
17.
FairbairnW. R. D. (1986a). The repression and the return of bad objects (with special reference to the “war neuroses”). In BuckleyP. (Ed.), Essential papers on object relations (pp. 102–126). New York: New York University Press. (Original work published 1943).
18.
FairbairnW. R. D. (1986b). A revised psychopathology of the psychoses and psychoneuroses. BuckleyV. P. (Ed.), Essential papers on object relations (pp. 71–101). New York: New York University Press. (Original work published 1941).
19.
GilbertM. (2003). Ego states and ego state networks: Some questions for the practitioner. In SillsC.HargadenH. (Eds.), Ego states (Vol. 1 of Key concepts in transactional analysis: Contemporary views) (pp. 103–134). London: Worth Publishing.
20.
GinotE. (2007). Intersubjectivity and neuroscience: Understanding enactments and their therapeutic significance within emerging paradigms. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 24 (2), 317–332.
21.
GreenbergJ. R.MitchellS. A. (1983). Object relations in psychoanalytic theory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
22.
HargadenH.FentonB. (2005). An analysis of nonverbal transactions drawing on theories of intersubjectivity. Transactional Analysis Journal, 35, 173–186.
23.
JamesM.JongewardD. (1971). Born to win: Transactional analysis with gestalt experiments. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
24.
Kabat-ZinnJ. (1990). Full catastrophe living: How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation. London: Piatkos.
25.
Kabat-ZinnJ. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York: Hyperion.
26.
KarpmanS. B. (1968). Fairy tales and script drama analysis. Transactional Analysis Bulletin, 7 (26), 39–43.
27.
KobalL. (2004). Ugotavljanje dejavnikov psihoterapevtskega odnosa: Vpliv klientovih in psihoterapevtovih implicitnih odnosnih shem [Discovering psychotherapeutic relationship: Influence of implicit relational schemas of client and psychotherapist]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
28.
LittleR. (2006). Ego state relational units and resistance to change. Transactional Analysis Journal, 36, 7–19.
29.
MitchellS. A. (1988). Relational concepts in psychoanalysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
30.
MoisoC. M. (1985). Ego states and transference. Transactional Analysis Journal, 15, 194–201.
31.
SafranJ. D.MuranJ. C. (2000). Negotiating the therapeutic alliance. A relational treatment guide. New York: Guilford Press.
32.
SchoreA. N. (1994). Affect regulation and the origin of the self. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
33.
SchoreA. N. (2001). The effects of early relational trauma on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22, 201–269.
34.
SegalZ. V.WilliamsJ. M. G.TeasdaleJ. D. (2002). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. New York: Guilford Press.
35.
SiegelD. J. (1999). The developing mind: Toward a neurobiology of interpersonal experience. New York: Guilford Press.
36.
SiegelD. J. (2007). The mindful brain. Reflection and attunement in the cultivation of well-being. New York: Norton.
37.
SillsC.HargadenH. (2002). Transactional analysis: A relational perspective. New York: Brunner-Routledge.
38.
StolorowR. D.AtwoodG. E. (1994). Toward a science of human experience. In StolorowR. D.AtwoodG. E.BrandschaftB. (Eds.), The intersubjective perspective (pp. 15–1). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
TudorK. (2003). The neopsyche: The integrating adult ego state. In SillsC.HargadenH. (Eds.), Ego states (Vol. 1 of Key concepts in transactional analysis: Contemporary views) (p. 201–231). London: Worth Publishing.
41.
VerneyJ. (2009). Mindfulness and the adult ego state. Transactional Analysis Journal, 39 (3), 247–255.
42.
WallinD. J. (2007). Attachment in psychotherapy. New York: Guilford Press.
WoodsK. (1996). Projective identification and game analysis. Transactional Analysis Journal, 26, 228–231.
45.
ZeddiesT. J. (2000). Within, outside, and in between: The relational unconscious. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 17, 467–487.
46.
ŽvelcG. (1998). Razvoj testa objektnih odnosov [Development of the test of object relations]. Psihološka Obzorja, 7 (3), 51–67.
47.
ŽvelcG. (2007). Integrativni model diadnih odnosov [The integrative model of dyadic relations]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
48.
ŽvelcG. (2009). Between self and others: Relational schemas as an integrating construct in psychotherapy. Transactional Analysis Journal, 39, 22–38.
49.
ŽvelcG.ČernetičM.KošakM. (2008). Mindfulness based transactional analysis. Unpublished manuscript, Institute for Integrative Psychotherapy and Counseling, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
50.
ŽvelcM. (2008). Working with mistakes in psychotherapy: A relational model. European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy, 3, 1–9.
