Transactional Analysis : The TA Model

Imagine that your personality has three big divisions. In one is stored all your childhood thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. In another is stored all your memories of your parent's thoughts, feelings and behaviors. And the third section is your current thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These areas of your personality have been called your Child, Parent, and Adult ego states.

Have you ever seen a mature person (perhaps yourself) act like a child, expressing thoughts, feelings, or behavior like a child? Odds are that person was 'in' the Child part of their personality, which would be very similar to the way they were as a child. Maybe you've experienced this when you go back home for a visit: you walk in the front door and feel like a kid again, relating to your parents the same old way you used to, not at all like the adult you normally are. You're in your Child ego state.

Same goes for when you find yourself acting just like your mother or father; standing in the same posture, hand on a hip, pointing and wagging your finger, lecturing. Maybe even lecturing the same tired old reasons that you heard for doing something. Well you're in your Parent ego state, replaying what you saw in your parents.

As for the Adult ego state; when you are responding to the present with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are appropriate for a mature grown up person who has many options and decision making capabilities, then you are in your Adult. Typically, the Adult collects information and estimates the probabilities of consequences of various alternative courses of behavior, then chooses the most appropriate one.

You have your unique PAC (Parent Adult Child) ego states, and I have mine. So when we get together to communicate or relate to each other, any of my PAC ego states can be interacting with any of your PAC ego states. For example I could start out in Child with a whiney sound to my voice "I need you." And you might respond from your Parent with a soothing sound to your voice "I'm here honey." Imagine the possibilities! Once you get the idea of ego states relating to each other, figuring out what's going on between people is a whole lot easier. This is one of the strengths of TA (Transactional Analysis).

Not only can the ego states of one person interact with the ego states of another; but they interact within a person. Your Parent ego state, and your Child ego state are constantly relating to each other. For example have you ever had this kind of internal dialogue: "Get out of bed lazybones." "Just a few more minutes." "Come on, up and at em. The early bird gets the worm." "But I'm so tired." "You'll have plenty of rest after you're dead, now get up!" Understanding these internal conversations can go a long way to solving many personal problems -and this is another strength of TA, especially as a psychotherapy.