How does Transactional Analysis (TA) Reward its Practitioners (1)

Abstract: TA practitioners come from all walks of life. This blog discusses the ways in which TA benefits its practitioners.

1. Improved awareness and consciousness. Being conscious means being aware. It also means being responsive to stimuli. Conscious awareness means being consciously aware. Consciousness represents having a capacity to be consciously aware. 

Persons can be consciously aware within the bounds of limiting beliefs or free of bounds of limiting beliefs. The Parent and Child dominant systems create 'clouded' or 'clouding' conscious awareness. The Parent represents borrowed, copied and learnt standards of evaluation of reality (for 'reality' see my blog of Jan 1, 2018) The Child represents archaic, childlike and mostly subjective and emotionally charged standards of evaluation of reality.  The Adult system facilitates generation of un-biased, updated data based, reality relevant conscious awareness. The Adult is able to evaluate reality using age appropriate capacities based on knowledge, learning and experiences of adulthood. An Adult supported by a permissive Parent and an acquiescent  Child is best empowered to deal with reality. The role of the Adult is also to conduct reality testing. The three systems have a role to play in generating conscious awareness. Practitioners use all the three systems to evaluate reality from different perspectives and choose the one that is most suitable to deal with the presenting reality. Practitioners are able to make decisions, end situations and solve problems effectively - that is sanely, safely and to the extent possible by creating win-wins. 

2. By building a robust, empowered and effective personality. Personality development can be understood in two ways. One way is to learn and know how we have come to possess our personality. The other way is to learn and know how we can repair the dysfunctional constituents of our personality. This, with the aim to possess a robust, empowered and effective personality. The knowledge of the former helps in the service of the latter.  A dysfunctional personality is marked by pathology, compulsiveness and limiting attributes. A healthy personality is energetic, largely free of compulsiveness and being limiting, influential, empowered and effective to execute its functions. TA Practitioners are able to postpone, wait and be patient when confronted by situations that stir the mind. They first assess the reality situation and  weigh the consequences of each of a few possible responses. They then choose the best of them that would end the situation sanely, safely and by generating win-wins. They thus use an empowered personality structure and also keep building it every day as they deal with life situations and problems.

3. By differentiating between person and behaviour. TA practitioners are adept in this art. They uphold value, worth, dignity and esteem unto the person component and deal with the manifesting behaviour in isolation. Eric Berne's major contribution has been to empirically show that most mental, emotional, behavioural and characterological defects show up because of personality anomalies and contents of the personality's structural components. He explains this by saying that every person is a colourful energy system full of dynamic strivings.  (Berne E. The Mind in Action - Chapter 2) Like any energy system he tries to reach a state of tranquillity.  When the energy system is off balance it shows up as tension. It manifests physically and mentally. The personality structures get activated automatically based on their past programming. TA Practitioners are consciously aware about this phenomenon and do their best to use take time to activate a healthy personality system before responding. This while at the same time upholding value, worth, dignity and esteem unto the person component. 

4. By moving to Intimacy. TA Practitioners are aware that slips ups are possible and can get them wrapped up. They put to use the art of intimacy. Intimacy in TA represents a capacity to candidly, honestly and openly express one's thoughts, ideas, opinions and feelings to another. They are able to track events and interactions in real time and take preemptive steps to change their flow to end safely. They are also able to take remedial steps if a slip up happens and implement intimacy. 

5. By promoting neuro-genesis, neuro-synthesis and telencyphalization. TA Practitioners are committed to continuously updating their aptitudes and skills in living their lives happily, efficiently and effectively. They are aware that conviction, commitment, determination and dedication to a purpose pay rich rewards in time. Neuro-genesis is a term for new nerves and nerve end generation. Neuro-synthesis is a term for new nerve connections formations. Telencyphalization is a name for the process that has got us to possess a fore-brain dominant brain over time through stages of brain development. It also means making effort to consciously push a brain-stem dominant response and / or a mid-brain dominant response to a fore-brain dominant response. Telencyphalization promotes neuro-synthesis and neuro-genesis. It helps them to live their life in new ways by continually updating their habitual ways of responding to reality situations. 

This is a blog by 

Ajit Karve

+919822024037

ajitpkarve@gmail.com

taforyouandme@gmail.com

(please email your views and comments to taforyouandme@gmail.com)