Transactional Analysis

Transactional Analysis is an approach to psychology and psychotherapy that was introduced by Canadian psychiatrist Eric Berne in the 1950s. It is considered an integrative form of therapy because it combines psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches to therapy.

The basic theory of TA theorizes that within every adult exists three states, the "Parent," the "Adult," and the "Child" and that these three parts of the personality interact with each other, and with other people in various and alternating ways to create interpersonal interactions and relationships. These interactions are generally composed of "strokes" (reactions) and "transactions" (communications) under the theory that people use communications to to seek "positive" strokes.