This article describes the interpersonal field in terms of strokes and transactions. The evidence for the biological and social importance of stroking is considered, with an emphasis on the importance Berne placed on learning and reinforcement in maintaining the script and on the ulterior or psychological level of communication. The author argues that this mechanism may be best understood in terms of hypnotic induction. The implications of this for TA practitioners are addressed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BerneE. (1966). Principles of group treatment. New York: Grove Press.
2.
BerneE. (1973). Sex in human loving. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin. (Original work published 1970)
3.
BerneE. (1975a). Transactional analysis in psychotherapy: The classic handbook of its principles. London: Souvenir Press. (Original work published 1961)
4.
BerneE. (1975b). What do you say after you say hello? The psychology of human destiny. London: Corgi. (Original work published 1972)
5.
BeutlerL. E., PollackS., & JobeA. (1977, June). On “accepting” patients vs “accepting” therapists. Paper presented at the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Madison, Wisconsin.
6.
CasementP. (1985). On learning from the patient. London: Tavistock.
7.
ChapinH. D. (1915). Are institutions for infants necessary?Journal of the American Medical Association, 64, 1–3.
8.
ClarksonP. (1991a). The place of transactional analysis in psychotherapy. Unpublished manuscript.
9.
ClarksonP. (1991b). Through the looking glass: Explorations in transference and countertransference. Transactional Analysis Journal, 21, 99–107.
(1984). Individual therapy in Britain. London: Harper & Row.
12.
DrydenW. (1987). Counselling individuals: The rationalemotive approach. London: Taylor & Francis.
13.
EllisA. (1958). Rational psychotherapy. Journal of General Psychology, 59, 35–49.
14.
FedernP. (1977). Ego psychology and the psychoses. London: Maresfield Reprints. (Original work published 1953).
15.
GoldfarbW. (1943a). The effects of early institutional care on adolescent personality. Child Development, 14, 213–225.
16.
GoldfarbW. (1943b). Infant reading and problem behavior. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 13, 249–265.
17.
GouldingM. M., & GouldingR. L. (1979). Changing lives through redecision therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
18.
HarlowH. F., & HarlowM. K. (1962). Social deprivation in monkeys. Scientific American, 207, 136–146.
19.
HarréR., & LambR. (1986). The dictionary of personality and social psychology. Oxford: Black well.
20.
HinshelwoodR. D. (1989). A dictionary of Kleinian thought. London: Free Association Books.
21.
HobbsN. (1968). Sources of gain in psychotherapy. Use of interpretation in treatment (pp. 13–21). New York: Grune & Stratton.
22.
KernbergO. F. (1980). Internal world and external reality: Object relations theory applied. New York: Jason Aronson.
23.
LaingR. D. (1976). The politics of the family and other essays. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin. (Original work published 1972)
24.
LandfieldA. W. (1971). Personal construct systems in psychotherapy. Chicago: Rand McNally.
25.
LevineS. (1960). Stimulation in infancy. Scientific American, 202, 80–86.
26.
MelzackR. (1965). Effects of early experience on behavior: Experimental and conceptual considerations & ZubinJ. (Eds.), Psychopathology of perception (pp. 271–299). New York: Grune and Stratton.
27.
NoyesA. P., & KolbL. C. (1958). Modern clinical psychiatry (5th ed.). Philadelphia: Saunders.
28.
OatesK. (1985). Child abuse and neglect: What eventually happens. Sydney, Australia: Butterworths
29.
(1973). The shorter Oxford English dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
30.
ProvenceS., & LiptonR. C. (1962). Infants in institutions. New York: International Universities Press.
31.
SchafferH. R. (1965). Changes in developmental quotient under two conditions of maternal separation. British Journal of the Society of Clinical Psychology, 4, 39–46.
32.
SpitzR. A. (1945). Hospitalism: An inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1, 53–74.
33.
SpitzR. A. (1946). Hospitalism: A follow-up report. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 2, 113–117.
34.
SteinerC. M. (1974). Scripts people live: Transactional analysis of life scripts. New York: Grove Press.
35.
WatkinsJ. G. (1954). Trance and transference. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2, 284–290.
36.
WolmanB. B. (Ed.). (1965). Handbook of clinical psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.
