Transactional Analysis Journal

The term “cumulative trauma” identifies a specific childhood wounding resulting from the continuous psychological failures or misattunements that a child endures from infancy through adolescence and beyond. The child, basing reality on these experiences, constructs an infrastructure (life script) that the adult who was this child maintains. Various consequences of these relational failures include the child's loss of trust in and knowledge of self, others, and life. A hidden, deep-seated sense of inadequacy, inequality, and insufficiency is often another result. Psychological defenses created to provide protection from these parental relational ruptures ostensibly promise security but, in fact, require internal isolation and loneliness. A case study is included that illustrates the historical origins and psychological effects of cumulative trauma on the adult client. Psychotherapeutic treatment methods are also presented.

Therapist errors are unavoidable in the psychotherapeutic process. This article examines their impact on the therapeutic relationship, both intrapsychic and interpersonal. The author describes several sources of these errors and examines the process by which these lapses can and should be repaired by the therapist. He questions whether these errors are not only inevitable but also necessary to the therapeutic process.

This article describes the author's understanding of some of the central concepts of integrative psychotherapy and how she applies them in clinical work with clients. Emphasized are the concepts of script cure, inquiry, attunement, involvement, and juxtaposition. Case examples are provided.

This article describes the personal and professional impact of learning an integrative approach to transactional analysis. Therapeutic involvement, inquiry, and attunement are described as key methods in conducting a contact-oriented, relationship-based psychotherapy. A therapy transcript and clinical examples are included to demonstrate use of the methods in clinical practice.

Some of the underlying thinking and objectives in a clinical practice using an integrative approach are briefly outlined. Several samples of clinical application are given.

This case study presents the relationship of the client and therapist in the therapeutic process. Concepts central to the practice of integrative psychotherapy are examined: contact, inquiry, attunement, breaches in the relationship, validation and normalization, and commitment to the client's well-being. The case study includes the client narrative as well as the therapist's experiences in the process.

What helps clients most is not the imposition of a theory to explain their experiences, but the facilitation of self-discovery. This article traces the journey of one transactional analysis therapist's development from one who needed to know concretely how people work and what to do, to one who learned that there are no absolutes in therapy. Each client is unique, and growth will occur within a therapeutic relationship that honors that uniqueness.

The concept of a contactful, interpersonal therapeutic relationship is the central premise in the practice of integrative psychotherapy. Inquiry, attunement, and involvement constitute the methods of a contact-oriented, relationship-based psychotherapy. Eight relational needs are defined, and reciprocal psychotherapeutic responses are described. The theoretical basis for an integrative psychotherapy includes the concepts of ego states, transference, the script system, contact and interruptions to contact, and the significance of interpersonal relationships.

Three approaches to integrative psychotherapy are discussed, and the concept of intragration is defined and applied to models of transactional analysis integration. Kuhn's (1970) concept of paradigms and Burrell and Morgan's (1979) paradigm analysis is developed as an organizing framework for analyzing transactional analysis theory. It is then applied to the practice of transactional analysis as social action psychotherapy.

This article presents a personal voyage through suicidal decision making.