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Abstract

Although Eric Berne was psychoanalytically trained, there are two concepts common in psychoanalytic thinking that have received little attention in the transactional analysis literature: anxiety and projection. This article discusses: (1) development of self-image, (2) anxiety and its causes, (3) responses to the lack of love in childhood, (4) the anxiety-projection process, and (5) the role of projection in scripts and games. Some of Freud's intrapsychic theories and the interpersonal theories of Harry Stack Sullivan and Karen Horney are integrated with transactional analysis and the authors' theory of the role of projection in scripts and games. Projection is a defense mechanism used to maintain script decisions and is the internal process which precedes, and continues, the playing of psychological games.

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References

Berne

(1964). Games people play. New York: Grove Press.

Homey

(1936/1964). Culture and neurosis. In Varieties of personality theory, Ruitenbeek

(Ed.) New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. (Original work published 1936).

Horney

(1937). The neurotic personality of our time. New York: Norton & Co.

James

(1976). Positive payoffs after games. Transactional Analysis Journal, 6, 259–262.

Karpman

(1968). Fairy tales and script drama analysis. Transactional Analysis Bulletin, 7(26), 37–43.

Sullivan

H.S.

(1953). The interpersonal theory of psychiatry. New York: Norton & Co.

Sullivan

(1970). The psychiatric interview. New York: Norton & Co. (Original work published 1954).

Anxiety and Projection as Related to Games and Scripts

Abstract

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References