Transactional Analysis Journal

A research group was conducted during an intensive one-week workshop in Mexico with the aim being to test the effects of transactional analysis psychotherapy on participants’ self-esteem and quality of life. This article describes the workshop and two transactional analysis instruments that were especially designed and standardized for this study. These instruments—the Diagnosis Inventory of Ego State Boundary Problems and the Quality of Life Inventory—can be used as diagnostic tools in psychotherapy or further research.

This article compares the responses of a group of Chinese high school age girls with the responses of a group of American high school age girls concerning their relationships with friends and family. The same instrument was submitted to each group, with careful attention given to the accuracy of the translation from English into Chinese.

The purpose of this article is to present an overall transactional analysis model of psychopathology in children and adolescents and a framework for rapid treatment planning. A number of authors have presented a variety of transactional analysis treatment methods, but these techniques have not really been synthesized into a larger, encompassing framework. It is the aim of this article to do so.

In this article, the narcissistic defense is presented from the perspective of Spotnitz's (1985) modern psychoanalysis followed by a description of its second-order structural analysis correlate and a discussion of transactional analysis as a treatment to resolve this defense.

This article discusses the problems of student doctors in community residency programs in Brazil and the psychological conflicts and difficulties that arise for them when working in poor neighborhoods. The author describes her application of transactional analysis in process groups to assist these students in working in different cultural environments.

In this article ego states are seen to have their place in the current exciting convergence of views on the way the mind structures itself through the repetitive processing of incoming perceptions. As the receptors in the mind assimilate the similar and filter out the dissimilar, generalized representations of experience are built up and stored. It appears that this fundamental neural process builds up coherent networks of representations that function as wholes, interlinking with each other in increasing mental complexity. Ego states appear to be an evolved example of this impressively powerful process of structuration.

This article analyzes the correspondences and differences between the principal ego state models in recent use—that is, the three ego states model, the integrated Adult model, and the functional model—and offers an integrative view of them.

The ways in which ego states are understood by experts on the treatment of dissociative disorders include a central state that is a source of wisdom. Meditation masters speak of fundamental mind being brilliant and limitless, discovered after going through many distinct states. It is suggested that transactional analysts consider these understandings in their work.

In this article, the concept of symbiosis is described in terms of two parts: the transactional symbiosis and the attachment. This permits us to understand the concept in a new way and demonstrates why symbiosis can be so resistant to change. The suggestion is made that any change in this area requires both behavior change and a change in how one senses one's boundaries.