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Article

Transactional Analysis as a Humanistic Therapy

Pages 36-41
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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This article outlines those characteristics of transactional analysis that qualify it as a humanistic psychotherapy. The central role and responsibility of the client is highlighted, as are TA's concern with psychological health, phenomenology, and psychotherapeutic relations beyond the transference. Berne's unique and neglected contribution–physis as the third great unconscious drive–is emphasized. Physis as a generalized creative drive toward health is linked with the omitted aspiration arrow in the script matrix diagram and described as a potentially unifying symbol for all of humanistic or third-force psychology (Maslow, 1962/1968). The I'm OK–You're OK position is understood as the tragic position–the existential realization that we all share “la condition humaine” (Symington, 1986, pp. 275–276).

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Petrūska Clarkson

Petrūska Clarkson, M.A., Ph.D., is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and practicing psychotherapist, a Certified Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (Clinical), and Principal Consultant Clinical Psychologist Director of the metanoia Psychotherapy Training Institute in London. She has served on the ITAA Board of Trustees, is Chairperson of the Gestalt Training Institute of Great Britain, and is Chair for the British Institute of Integrative Psychotherapy (BIIP), which is affiliated with the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) International.