Why Transactional Analysis?

Why Transactional Analysis?
I have explained in an earlier piece what exactly is Transactional Analysis. Now I would like to share with you why this specific direction of psychotherapy is so important to me personally and why I chose it for my work – why I found myself responding to it so readily. After all, there are no “better” or “worse” directions in therapy, but there is always something that appeals to us, charges us with energy, makes us tick, vibrates in the same rhythm as ou...

So You Wish to Be Perfect?

So You Wish to Be Perfect?
I don't care if it hurts, I want to have control. I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul. (Radiohead) Sometimes it feels as if you’ve got to do everything perfectly – to be perfect, in fact. It’s like a voice ringing in your head: ‘Don’t you dare get it wrong! Surely you’re capable of doing everything right, so go on, seek options, work hard, pay attention, analyse, and obtain the best result!’ So you set to work, and you’re constantly se

So Who Is Happy Then?

So Who Is Happy Then?
A 12-year-old told me recently how the teacher asked her class to think about whether most people on Earth were happy. As a result, the class ended up discussing what is happiness, actually. A difficult topic, apparently, but one relevant to both schoolchildren and adults. I would like to share a theory from transactional analysis, which, in my opinion, tackles this question best. I must start with a disclaimer: we won’t be talking about feeling happ

Questionnaire to Identify Problematic Stages of Development

Questionnaire to Identify Problematic Stages of Development
Is it true that all psychological problems started in our childhood? According to the theory of transactional analyst Pamela Levin, at different ages children face various development challenges that determine the basic needs and behaviours of children. Knowing this, parents can help children develop harmoniously and to perform tasks that are part of these challenges. Unfortunately it is often the case that due to external circumstances, education, or simp...

Psychological T-Shirts

Psychological T-Shirts
…or, What Is Written on Our Face. Do you like T-shirts with funny captions? Transactional analysis has a theory about “psychological T-shirts”, on whose front we carry the message we send to the world. This is a message people usually notice at once: it is perceived in conversation, tone, behaviour, looks, facial expression, gestures, and sometimes even in dressing style and posture. We all wear such “T-shirts”, but some of us will have a dozen, changin...

Moving According to Pamela Levin Theory or My Spiral Inside Spirals

Moving According to Pamela Levin Theory or My Spiral Inside Spirals
I hope you are familiar with the theory of cyclic development of Pamela Levin. If not, I can briefly explain. The concept suggests that each person develops, passing certain stages. And after all these stages of development people are starting to take the same steps again, but on a different level. Similar to a spiral movement. But still, this same theory says that every important event in our lives, starts a new "branch" of the main spiral, which will ...