Transactional Analysis Theory & Therapy: Eric Berne

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Transactional Analysis (TA) is a psychoanalytic theory and method of therapy developed by Eric Berne during the 1950s. Transactions refer to the communication exchanges between people.

Key Takeaways

Definition: Transactional Analysis (TA) is a psychological theory and therapy method that examines how people exchange messages, helping to improve communication and relationships.
Origins: Developed by psychiatrist Eric Berne in the 1950s, TA was designed to be a practical, easy-to-understand alternative to traditional psychoanalysis.
Ego States: TA identifies three modes of thinking, feeling, and behaving – Parent, Adult, and Child – that shape how we interact with others in any conversation.
Transactions: Communication exchanges are classified into complementary, crossed, or ulterior transactions, each affecting how smoothly or effectively a conversation flows.
Strokes: TA emphasizes the human need for recognition, called “strokes,” which can be positive or negative, verbal or non-verbal, and influence self-esteem and relationships.
Life Scripts: TA explores unconscious life plans formed in childhood that influence adult choices, helping individuals identify and change patterns that limit growth.
Applications: TA is used in therapy, education, business, and everyday life to increase self-awareness, resolve conflicts, and create healthier patterns of interaction.

Origins and Founder

Eric Berne, a Canadian-born psychiatrist trained in psychoanalysis, created TA in the late 1950s.

Berne was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s view that childhood experiences shape adult personality and emotional well-being.

He built on this idea to create a model that was more practical and accessible than traditional psychoanalysis.

Berne believed that the way we were parented directly influences the development of three distinct ego states – Parent, Adult, and Child – which form the foundation of TA.

He proposed that many dysfunctional behaviors stem from self-limiting decisions made in childhood as survival strategies.

These decisions create an unconscious life script—a mental blueprint that shapes how we live, relate, and respond to challenges.

The goal of TA therapy is to help individuals rewrite their life script, replacing destructive or limiting patterns with healthier, more cooperative behaviors.

Over time, other psychologists – such as Thomas Harris and Claude Steiner – expanded TA theory and its applications.

Ego States

In Transactional Analysis, the Ego States are three distinct ways we think, feel, and behave.

The Parent holds the rules, values, and attitudes we learned from authority figures.
The Adult is our rational, problem-solving self that focuses on the present.
The Child carries our emotions, creativity, and early coping patterns from childhood.

In daily life, we switch between these states – sometimes within the same conversation.

By understanding these three ego states and their subcategories, you can:

Identify unhelpful patterns in yourself and others.
Shift toward more productive communication styles.
Balance structure, empathy, logic, and creativity in your relationships.

Parent Ego State

The Parent ego state contains the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors we absorbed from authority figures during our formative years – parents, teachers, relatives, or other influential adults.

It’s like an internal voice that plays back instructions, rules, and moral codes from childhood.

Subcategories:

Critical/Controlling Parent – This side enforces rules, sets boundaries, and often evaluates or corrects others. It can be protective and ensure order but can also become harsh, judgmental, or authoritarian.
Nurturing Parent – This side offers care, comfort, and encouragement. It provides emotional support and protection, but if overused, it may “rescue” others unnecessarily, discouraging independence.

Examples:

A manager saying, “You must submit this report by 5 pm,” is acting from the Critical Parent.
A teacher staying after school to help a student prepare for an exam is using the Nurturing Parent.
A parent telling their child, “Always wear a coat outside, you’ll catch a cold,” demonstrates a blend of nurturing concern and controlling instruction.

Strengths:

Provides structure and order: The Parent state helps set clear rules and expectations, which can make environments—such as classrooms, workplaces, or families—more predictable and manageable.
Promotes safety and protection: By passing on values, warnings, and protective behaviors, it can prevent harm and guide others toward wise decisions.
Encourages responsibility: The Parent state can instill discipline, a strong work ethic, and moral standards that help individuals function effectively in society.

Drawbacks:

Risk of oppression through over-control: When the Critical Parent dominates, it can create a stifling environment where others feel micromanaged or unfairly judged, which often triggers resistance, resentment, or passive-aggressive behavior.
Potential to foster dependency: Excessive Nurturing Parent behavior, while well-intentioned, can discourage others from taking initiative, solving their own problems, or developing resilience.
Possibility of outdated or unhelpful beliefs: Because the Parent state often repeats messages learned in childhood, it may unintentionally pass on prejudices, rigid rules, or behaviors that no longer fit the present situation.

Adult Ego State

The Adult ego state is our calm, clear-thinking side that deals with the world as it is right now. It listens, gathers facts, weighs options, and makes balanced decisions.

It’s the part of us that can step back from emotional reactions, see the bigger picture, and choose the most constructive way forward.

This state is more open, more rational, and less quick to make harsh judgments on a situation or person.

When communication occurs in the adult state, we are more likely to be respectful, make compromises, listen fully to others, and have more healthy social interactions.

Subcategories:

None. The Adult state functions as a single, rational mode.

Examples:

When a colleague misses a deadline, the Adult might say, “The deadline was yesterday. What happened, and how can we fix it?” rather than assigning blame.
Deciding between two job offers by comparing salary, benefits, and career opportunities is an Adult approach.
Planning a family trip by checking weather forecasts, budget, and everyone’s schedules is another example of the Adult in action.

Strengths:

Promotes rational decision-making: Weighs evidence and considers all perspectives before acting.
Encourages fair and balanced communication: Keeps discussions focused on facts rather than emotional biases.
Resolves conflict constructively: Can mediate between emotional needs and practical realities, fostering understanding between different ego states.

Drawbacks:

Risk of emotional detachment: May seem cold or uncaring if it ignores the emotional tone of a situation.
Potential underuse in high emotion: In heated moments, people may slip into Parent or Child modes instead of staying in the Adult state.
Can frustrate highly emotional individuals: Those wanting empathy or validation may view Adult responses as overly logical or dismissive.

Child Ego State

The child ego state is the part of us that carries the emotions, curiosity, and imagination we had as children.

It’s where our playful energy, creativity, and natural impulses live – but it also holds the fears, defenses, and habits we developed to cope with rules, authority, and the need for approval when we were young.

It’s shaped by:

Felt emotions in early life – The raw joy, wonder, fear, anger, and excitement you experienced before learning to filter or hide them.
Personal interpretation of events – How you, as a child, made sense of what was happening around you, whether through imagination, daydreams, or self-created rules about the world.
Play and creativity – Games, pretend play, and exploration that sparked curiosity and self-expression.
Early coping habits – Ways you soothed yourself, sought comfort, or adapted to keep yourself safe when situations felt overwhelming.
Conditioning through experiences – Repeated outcomes in childhood (being comforted, ignored, rewarded, or punished) that shaped how you learned to respond emotionally and behaviorally.

Subcategories:

Adapted Child – Adjusts behavior to please others or avoid negative consequences. It may be compliant and cooperative, or rebellious when feeling controlled.
Free/Spontaneous Child – Expresses creativity, curiosity, and fun without self-consciousness or inhibition. This side is playful, imaginative, and emotionally open.

Examples:

Laughing uncontrollably at a funny joke comes from the Free Child.
Sulking after being criticized or refusing to follow instructions as an act of defiance shows the Adapted Child in rebellious mode.
Dancing freely in the living room just because you feel happy is a Free Child expression.

Strengths:

Brings creativity and spontaneity: Fuels innovative thinking, playfulness, and joy.
Encourages emotional authenticity: Expresses genuine feelings openly and directly.
Adds warmth and energy to relationships: Can create bonds through shared fun, humor, and emotional connection.

Drawbacks:

Impulsivity and poor judgment: May act without considering long-term consequences.
Over-sensitivity to criticism: Can lead to defensiveness, withdrawal, or low self-esteem.
Potential for rebellion or resistance: In its rebellious Adapted form, it may reject authority even when rules are reasonable, causing unnecessary conflict.

Transactions

In transactional analysis, transactions are the basic units of communication—one person sends a message (transaction stimulus), and the other replies (transaction response).

Each message comes from one of three ego states: Parent, Adult, or Child.

Transactions can be complementary (matching), crossed (mismatched), or ulterior (containing hidden messages).

Analyzing them helps explain why conversations succeed, break down, or repeat unhelpful patterns.

Complementary Transactions

A complementary transaction happens when the reply comes from the exact ego state the first person was expecting, so the conversation flows smoothly without any confusion or clash.

When this complementary transaction happens from an adult-to-adult state, it is thought to be the best type of communication, as it is respectful and reduces conflicts.

For example, if you ask from an Adult state, “What time does the meeting start?” and the other person answers from their Adult state, “It starts at 2 p.m.,” that’s complementary.

Your question and their answer are in sync.

The same applies if someone in a Child state says, “I’m worried about my test,” and gets a Nurturing Parent reply, “You’ll do great—you’ve studied hard.”

It’s important to note that “complementary” describes the structure of the exchange, not whether it’s healthy.

A Critical Parent criticism met by an Adapted Child apology is still complementary because it follows the expected pattern, even if it’s unhelpful.

While complementary transactions keep conversation moving, their quality depends on the ego states involved.

In TA, Adult-to-Adult complementary transactions are considered the healthiest because they’re respectful, balanced, and based on the present situation rather than past conditioning.

Crossed Transactions

Crossed transactions occur when the sender’s message is aimed at one ego state, but the receiver replies from a different one. In other words, the communication lines don’t match.

This mismatch creates tension or misunderstanding, which can be visualized in TA diagrams as arrows that cross rather than run parallel.

In a crossed transaction, it requires one or both of the people in the interaction to shift ego states for communication to be able to carry on.

For example, imagine a customer complaining about a recent purchase.

They speak in a Critical Parent tone, using belittling language, assuming the mistake was intentional, and threatening to report you.

Their goal is to pull you into a Child position—apologetic, submissive, and reinforcing their authority.

If you respond instead from your Adult state – calm, factual, and focused on solving the problem – you break their expected pattern.

This creates a crossed transaction, and for the conversation to move forward, one or both parties must adjust their ego state.

TA holds that responding from the Adult state can help guide the other person back into their Adult state as well.

This shift transforms a potentially hostile or defensive exchange into a more respectful, problem-solving Adult-to-Adult conversation, which is generally the healthiest and most effective form of communication.

Ulterior Transactions

Ulterior transactions occur when a sender delivers two messages at the same time – one overt and one hidden.

On the surface, the message appears to come from the sender’s Adult state to the receiver’s Adult state, suggesting a straightforward, rational exchange.

Beneath the surface, however, there’s a subtle message coming from the sender’s Parent or Child state, aimed at the receiver’s corresponding Parent or Child state.

This means the transaction operates on two levels at once: the open, explicit message and the hidden, psychological message.

The hidden message can be intentional or unconscious, but it often has more influence on how the receiver actually responds.

For example, a teacher or friend might say, “You can choose to study subjects that lead to becoming a doctor; however, it’s very hard and requires a lot of intelligence.”

Outwardly, this sounds like a respectful Adult-to-Adult statement with a cautionary note.

But underneath, the real intent might be to trigger the listener’s Rebellious Child – prompting them to think, “I’ll prove I’m smart enough to do it,” and work harder as a result.

In TA, ulterior transactions are not just about words.

Tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions can all carry the hidden message. Recognizing these subtle cues is essential for understanding the true dynamics of an interaction.

Life Script

In transactional Analysis, a life script is an unconscious plan for living – an internal “storyline” created in childhood that guides a person’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors well into adulthood.

A life script is a powerful, invisible influence on how we live.

It begins in childhood from a mix of external messages and internal decisions, and it shapes much of our adult behavior until we consciously choose to rewrite it.

Scripts also have themes or roles people play – such as rescuer, victim, rebel, caretaker—which can repeat across relationships, careers, and life stages.

Examples

1. Winner’s Script

Theme: “I can succeed and be happy.”
Childhood Messages: Encouraging and supportive—“You can do it,” “You’re lovable.”
Adult Pattern: Seeks opportunities, perseveres through challenges, and maintains healthy relationships.
Example: A person who changes careers mid-life to follow their passion, trusting they can adapt and thrive.

2. Non-Winner’s Script

Theme: “I’ll get by, but I won’t aim too high.”
Childhood Messages: “Don’t take risks,” “Be satisfied with what you have.”
Adult Pattern: Avoids challenges, chooses safe paths, and often settles for “good enough” rather than stretching potential.
Example: Someone who stays in a secure but unfulfilling job for decades to avoid uncertainty.

3. Loser’s Script

Theme: “Things never work out for me.”
Childhood Messages: “You’ll never amount to much,” “Why can’t you be like your brother?”
Adult Pattern: Repeats self-sabotaging behaviors, interprets setbacks as proof of inadequacy.
Example: Someone who consistently leaves projects unfinished, reinforcing a belief they can’t succeed.

4. “Always” Scripts

Theme: Rigid rules—“I must always…” or “I must never…”
Childhood Messages: “Always be polite,” “Never cry,” “Always finish what you start.”
Adult Pattern: Follows rules even when they no longer serve them, leading to stress or missed opportunities.
Example: Turning down a dream opportunity because “you don’t quit what you’ve started,” even if the current path is harmful.

5. Hero/Martyr Script

Theme: “I must sacrifice myself for others.”
Childhood Messages: “Put others first,” “Don’t be selfish.”
Adult Pattern: Over-gives, neglects own needs, and may feel resentful when unappreciated.
Example: Always taking on extra work to help others, even at the cost of personal health.

6. Rebel Script

Theme: “No one can control me.”
Childhood Messages: May react to overly strict parenting with internal defiance—“Don’t tell me what to do.”
Adult Pattern: Resists authority, avoids commitments, and may sabotage opportunities that require structure.
Example: Quitting a job suddenly after a minor disagreement with a manager.

7. “Until” or “After” Scripts

Theme: Happiness or success is conditional on meeting certain requirements or enduring certain hardships.
Childhood Messages: “You can relax after you’ve worked hard,” “You can have fun when your chores are done.”
Adult Pattern: Postpones enjoyment or fulfillment until a self-imposed condition is met.
Example: Refusing to take a vacation “until” they hit a certain income goal—then setting a new one.

How Scripts Show Up in Adult Life

Relationships: Choosing partners who confirm the beliefs in the script (e.g., “I’m not worthy” leading to accepting disrespect).
Career: Setting goals that align with early messages (e.g., “You must always work hard” leading to overwork or burnout).
Self-Esteem: Interpreting successes or failures in ways that match the script’s predictions.

Even harmful scripts can feel “safe” because they are familiar. People may unconsciously recreate situations that match their script, even when they consciously want something different.

How Life Scripts Form

Life scripts develop from a complex mix of early experiences, emotional needs, and interpersonal messages:

Parental Messages – These are the beliefs, attitudes, and rules absorbed from parents or caregivers, either directly through spoken instructions (“Always be polite,” “You can’t trust people”) or indirectly through behavior, tone, and emotional responses.
Injunctions – Restrictive, often unconscious messages that tell the child what not to do or be (e.g., “Don’t fail,” “Don’t feel,” “Don’t be important”). Injunctions may be conveyed subtly through disapproval, withdrawal of affection, or critical comments.
Drivers – Positive-sounding but pressure-filled rules like “Be perfect,” “Try hard,” “Hurry up,” or “Please others.” These create a sense that love or acceptance must be earned.
Child’s Interpretation – In the Child ego state, the young person interprets these messages emotionally, not logically. They make early decisions about how to act in order to feel safe, accepted, or in control.
Reinforcement – Over time, life events, parental reactions, and the individual’s own choices reinforce the original script, making it feel like “the way life is” rather than a set of learned responses.

How is Transactional Analysis used in therapy?

The main aim of TA therapy is to strengthen the client’s Adult ego state.

This allows them to respond to situations with clarity, balance, and awareness, rather than reacting automatically from their Parent or Child states.

Therapists achieve this through skillful questioning and practical tools that help clients identify what triggers them to shift into Parent or Child modes.

Together, they develop strategies for returning to—and staying in—the Adult state during challenging interactions (Berne, 1958).

TA places strong emphasis on the influence of childhood, particularly the formative years from birth to age five.

These early experiences shape our beliefs, behaviors, and social responses, making our upbringing and parenting environment a central focus of therapy.

A key method in TA is script analysis – the exploration of life scripts, or the unconscious belief systems and worldviews we formed as children to make sense of our environment.

These scripts are shaped by:

Reinforcements – The praise or criticism we received for certain behaviors.
Life messages – Core beliefs like “Only lucky people become rich” or “You have to suffer to succeed.”
Modeled behavior – Patterns we copied from parents or authority figures.
Injunctions – Subtle, limiting messages such as being told to “be quiet” when adults are speaking, which can lead to beliefs like “No one wants to hear me.”

In therapy, clients examine how these early influences affect their current communication, relationships, and self-image.

The Parent–Adult–Child structural diagram—developed by Berne—is a key visual tool in TA.

It helps clients see how these three states operate within them and how they shift between states in different situations.

TA can be applied flexibly. It may be brief and solution-focused, helping clients address specific issues quickly, or it can be used in longer-term therapy for deeper exploration of unconscious patterns.

Its versatility extends beyond psychotherapy, with applications in couples and family counseling, education, nursing, and even business or sales training – anywhere improved communication and healthier relationships are goals.

Improving Relationships

Transactional Analysis can improve relationships by helping people understand and change the patterns in how they communicate and respond to one another.

Identifying ego states: TA teaches individuals to recognize whether they are speaking or reacting from the Parent, Adult, or Child state. By becoming aware of these states, couples, friends, or colleagues can avoid slipping into unhelpful roles—like Critical Parent or Rebellious Child—that cause conflict.
Promoting Adult-to-Adult communication: TA encourages balanced, respectful exchanges based on facts and present realities rather than past conditioning. This reduces misunderstandings and creates space for problem-solving.
Breaking “games” and negative cycles: In TA, “games” are recurring, dysfunctional interaction patterns. Recognizing and stopping these games can prevent repeated arguments or manipulative dynamics that erode trust.
Improving emotional recognition: Understanding the concept of strokes—units of recognition—helps partners give each other more positive reinforcement, which strengthens emotional bonds.
Challenging life scripts: TA explores early decisions and beliefs formed in childhood that affect adult relationships. By rewriting unhelpful scripts, people can choose healthier, more supportive ways of relating.

In short, TA helps people communicate more clearly, reduce defensiveness, and build stronger, more respectful connections—whether in romantic relationships, friendships, families, or workplace teams.

Current research on Transactional Analysis

Recent research into Transactional Analysis (TA) shows promising results in improving relationships, reducing conflict, and boosting both life satisfaction and self-esteem.

Studies also highlight its value in workplace settings, helping professionals interact more effectively with clients.

Romantic relationships:

Nayeri, Lotfi, and Noorani (2014) worked with 15 couples who attended eight 90-minute group TA sessions. Initially, these couples reported very low levels of intimacy.

After completing the program, all couples showed significant improvements in intimacy, with gains still present three months later.

This suggests TA can be a powerful educational and therapeutic approach for strengthening romantic bonds.

Similarly, Alkasir et al. (2017) provided eight TA sessions to 20 married women.

Results showed significant reductions in marital discord, conflict, and controlling behaviors – such as economic, emotional, and intimidation-based control.

Participants also reported higher marital satisfaction and found the skills learned in TA useful in other areas of life.

Parent–child relationships:

Saberinia and Niknejadi (2019) gave 15 mothers of children with oppositional defiant disorder eight weekly TA sessions.

The program significantly improved mother–child relationships, reduced conflict, and stopped recurring “games” by encouraging more frequent Adult-to-Adult interactions.

Eghbali, Mousavi, and Hakima (2017) found TA training helped mothers shift toward a healthier authoritative parenting style (Baumrind’s model), improving emotional regulation and communication.

This led to better child well-being compared with authoritarian or permissive approaches.

Other contexts:

Torkaman et al. (2020) reported that eight weekly TA sessions significantly improved self-esteem in 35 prisoners, as measured before and after the program.

Ertem and Eker (2016) showed that psychiatric nurses trained in TA concepts – ego states and transaction types—communicated more effectively with patients.

This helped patients feel more relaxed and improved their responsiveness to treatment.

Critical Evaluation

Advantages

TA was designed to be straightforward, with concepts that are easy to understand.

Eric Berne developed TA to be accessible to the average person, using clear language and visual models such as the Parent–Adult–Child diagram.

This simplicity means people without a background in psychology can quickly grasp the core ideas and begin applying them to their own lives.

This accessibility makes TA suitable for a wide range of clients and settings, increasing its potential reach and impact.

It also allows for quicker engagement in therapy, reducing the initial learning curve and making the approach appealing to educators, managers, and community workers.

TA increases self-awareness.

Through tools like ego state diagnosis and script analysis, TA helps clients uncover hidden patterns in their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Many people discover motives or triggers they were previously unaware of, which can be a turning point for personal growth.

Higher self-awareness empowers individuals to make conscious choices rather than repeating automatic patterns, leading to healthier relationships and improved emotional regulation.

TA improves communication skills and reduces conflict.

By recognizing ego states and transaction types, people can choose more constructive ways to respond in conversations.

Current research supports TA’s ability to improve intimacy, reduce marital discord, and strengthen professional interactions.

These skills can have lasting benefits, enhancing not only personal relationships but also workplace efficiency and team dynamics.

TA is highly versatile.

Its concepts can be applied in many contexts—psychotherapy, education, business, healthcare, and family life.

Whether it’s a teacher addressing classroom dynamics or a manager resolving workplace conflict, TA offers a flexible framework.

This adaptability increases TA’s relevance across cultures and industries, making it a valuable tool for improving communication and relationships in almost any environment.

Disadvantages

TA requires a relatively high level of self-awareness.

The approach depends on clients being able to reflect on their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

People who struggle with introspection – due to developmental stage, emotional state, or cognitive limitations—may find TA challenging.

Without this self-awareness, clients may not fully benefit from TA, leading to slower progress or disengagement from the process.

TA demands motivation and personal responsibility.

Successful TA work often requires clients to take ownership of their patterns and actively practice new ways of thinking and interacting.

This can be difficult for individuals who are resistant to change or who prefer to attribute problems solely to external factors.

Low motivation can limit TA’s effectiveness, making it less suitable for clients who are not ready to engage in active self-work.

TA’s simplicity has been reduced over time.

While Berne’s original model was intentionally simple, later contributions from other psychologists have added complexity.

These additions can enrich the theory but may also make it harder for beginners to understand.

This increased complexity could deter those who are initially drawn to TA for its accessibility, potentially limiting its appeal to the general public.

References

Alkasir, E., Jafarian Dehkordi, F., Mohammadkhani, P., Soleimani Sefat, E., & Atadokht, A. (2017). Effectiveness of Transactional Analysis Group Training in Reducing Control-oriented Behaviors of Spouse in Marital Conflicts. Iranian Rehabilitation Journal, 15 (1),57-64

Berne, E. (1957). Ego states in psychotherapy. American journal of psychotherapy, 11 (2), 293-309.

Berne, E. (1958). Transactional analysis: A new and effective method of group therapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 12 (4), 735-743.

Eghbali, M., Mousavi, S. V., & Hakima, F. (2017). The effectiveness of transactional analysis on mothers” parenting styles. Journal of Family Psychology, 3 (2), 17-26

Ertem, M, Y., & Eker, F. (2016). Therapeutic Approach in Psychiatric Nursing: Transactional Analysis. Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Research, 4 (1:56)

Nayeri, A., Lotfi, M., & Noorani, M. (2014). The effectiveness of group training of transactional analysis on intimacy in couples. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 152, 1167-1170

Saberinia, S., & Niknejadi, F. (2019). The Effectiveness of Transactional Analysis on Parent-Child Relationship in Mothers of Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Avicenna Journal of Neuropsychophysiology. 6 (2), 83-90

Torkaman, M., Farokhzadian, J., Miri, S., Pouraboli, B. (2020). The effect of transactional analysis on the self-esteem of imprisoned women: a clinical trial. BMC Psychology, 8 (3)