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Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Principles-Group-Treatment-Eric-Bern…Quote:BERNE’S MOST EXTENSIVE APPLICATION OF TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS TO GROUPSBy Steven H. Propp – Published on Amazon.comFormataperbackEric Berne (1910-1970; born as Eric Bernstein, he changed his name in 1943) was a Canadian-born psychiatrist, who wrote many popular (even “trendy,” in the 1960s) books such as A Layman’s Guide to Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis, Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy, Structure and Dynamics of Organizations and Groups, Games People Play, etc. He wrote in the Foreword to this 1965 book, “There are three reasons for writing this book: 1. It deals with group ‘treatment’ rather than with group ‘therapy’… 2. There is no other systematic treatise on the use of transactional analysis in groups. 3. A large number of people who have observed the writer’s groups or have heard him discuss them want more information… The book is based on more than twenty years of experience in practising group psychotherapy in a variety of settings…” (Pg. vii)He observes, “Group treatment, as the term is intended here, is contractual rather than institutionalized. After a patient presents himself for treatment, the therapist in some way or other … clarifies what he might be able to do to ameliorate the patient’s condition. If and when the patient accepts the stated or implied offer, in whatever form it is made, the treatment can proceed according to the therapist’s plan.” (Pg. 209) He notes, “Transactional analysis meets these criteria for an improved method of group treatment. It requires less training of the therapist than psychoanalysis; it is effective for the large majority of psychiatric patients of all types;… and it evolved indigenously from the group-therapy chamber.” (Pg. 212)He clarifies, “Transactional analysis does not pretend to be a restatement of Freudian, Jungian, or other psychology… The most fruitful application of psychoanalytic thinking finds its place in group treatment after the patient has been properly prepared by transactional analysis. It is also a profitable preparation for Jungian, Adlerian, existential, and other specialized terminologies and ways of therapeutic thinking. Transactional analysis… leaves room for all of them in appropriate contexts. Transactional theory is simpler and more scientifically economical in its statements than many other psychotherapeutic theories, but its clinical use requires conscientious study.” (Pg. 216)He summarizes, “Every human being has… a limited reportoire of ego states, which fall into three types: Parental ego states are borrowed from parental figures… Adult ego states are concerned with … the estimating of probabilities as a basis for action. Child ego states are relics from the individual’s childhood… Superego, ego, and id are inferential concepts, while ego states are experiential and social realities… The term ‘transactional analysis’ is used to describe the system as a whole, which is divided into a logical … sequence of phases: structural analysis, transactional analysis proper, game analysis, and script analysis. The diagnosis of ego states… is a special art to be cultivated by the therapist.” (Pg. 220-221) Later, he allows, “Structurally, the two systems can be reconciled by regarding superego, ego, and id as determinants in the formation of Parent, Adult, and Child ego states: the Parental ego state being most heavily influenced by the superego, and Adult ego state by the ego, and the Child ego state by the id.” (Pg. 298)He suggests, “The transactional theory of personality is also a theory of life. For the transactional analyst to plan his work systematically he must be familiar with the sequence of events by which each human being has arrived at his current human condition. He learns … to infer from clinical manifestations where the indivdiual is and how he got there.” (Pg. 259) He outlines “The Four Basic Positions… of the polarity ‘OK — not-OK.'” [These were later popularized in Thomas Harris’s bestseller, I’m Okay, You’re Okay.] Later, he states, “Freud was right: outside of the clearcut transference neuroses, psychoanalysis is ‘more or less’ unsuitable… Transactional analysis, in qualified hands, has turned out to be a happy remedy for this defect in the treatment of conditions outside the classical triad.” (Pg. 293)He admits, “the patient comes to the therapist in the hope that if he behaves in a certain way and follows the instructions of the therapist, the therapist will eventually present him with the magic orb… however… one of [the therapist’s] chief duties is to inform the patient … that he is not capable of gratifying this particular need… In certain cases it is possible to soften the blow by telling the patient that… he might be able to catch an occasional glimpse of it if he can form a game-free relationship with a member of the opposite sex…” (Pg. 284)This book is extremely useful for persons wanting a fuller understanding of Berne’s ideas.Group Buy for more material: