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Article

To Find/Make Meaning: Notes on the Last Permission

Pages 72-81
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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This article extends and complements the work of Jacobs (1987) and English (1979) on autocratic power by expanding on the last of the permissions outlined by Allen and Allen in 1972: the permission to find or make meaning. Three areas are covered: (1) the relationship of the stories by which we live to how we find/make meaning and construct reality; (2) the use of strategic transactions to induce others to accept our reality and the stories we invent for it; and (3) two languages of moral development — the language of justice and the language of care. Exploring these areas offers new connotations for such basic TA concepts as decision, empowerment, and autonomy.

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Author information

James R. Allen

James R. Allen, M.D., is Chief of Psychiatry and Chief of Staff, Children's Medical Center, Tulsa, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Oklahoma. He is a Certified Teaching Member, Instructor and Supervisor.

Barbara Ann Allen

Barbara Ann Allen, M.S.W., M.P.H., Ph.D., is in private practice in Tulsa, and a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma.