One of the modalities I use within humanistic counselling is Transactional Analysis. This is a highly structured yet very accessible form of therapy that is designed to explore your personality, how this has been shaped by experience (particularly in childhood), and what this means in the context of issues like depression, anxiety, or other trauma-related problems. It has been shown to have a number of benefits, and this blog post walks you through three of them.

Structure Your Life Script

An important part of transactional analysis is mapping out your ‘life script’. This is formed by experiences from childhood that laid the foundation for how we think about ourselves. If your parents were stressed workaholics, for example, you may believe that you are not loveable and must always please others so that they will need you. These beliefs continue into adulthood and lead to the same problems occurring in our relationships and how we feel about ourselves. Transactional analysis allows us to look at this internal process and understand why our script developed in the way it did, ahead of using techniques to challenge and change our daily thinking patterns and replace them with new ones.

Be Kinder To Yourself

By giving clients the space to understand their life script and the internal processes that lead to certain ways of perceiving themselves, I encourage an atmosphere of kindness to oneself. Transactional analysis illuminates the extent to which we are mean to ourselves, along with the impact this has on our behaviour, emotions, and relationships with others. Having this knowledge about ourselves gives us greater autonomy over how we think, rather than simply accepting your unconscious thought patterns as inevitable.

Communicate Better

Transactional analysis claims that we have three separate ego states - parent, adult, and child. If one person is acting from an adult state and another person from a child state, communication can break down and cause issues between the two people. These ‘transactions’ happen all the time, often ending in a similarly negative way. Transactional analysis helps people become more mindful of their different ego states, enabling them to flow between them more freely understanding their influence on others. Over time, this will lead to more transparent, honest, fulfilling communication with others and, by extension, better relationships.

If you are interested in learning more about transactional analysis, or other forms of humanistic counselling in Basingstoke, Newbury, and online, feel free to get in touch with me at any time. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.