TA in Pills - 1-8.4 - TA Script Theory 4 - Scripts and their Types -1

TA Script Theory 4

(Script is a self authored life plan written in early childhood. It governs the general course of a person's life. It is 'directed' to achieve a life goal or script payoff. )
"Words with special meaning are marked * in text and explained in Notes"

Scripts and their types -1

Script is a mechanism that provides a structure to live our life in accustomed ways. It can be healthy or unhealthy. It is both life promoting, goals achieving, conducive to living successfully as well as life denying, failure promoting, hurting, injuring and in the extreme hamartic*.

Transactional Analysis is a treatment theory. Therefore the dark sides of human personality, interactions, behaviours, thinking-feeling patters and life plans are covered in detail. The beneficial ways are largely ignored.

Script as a freedom, independence, endowments denying system 

We live a life with 'sort of' within bounds of restrictions. These restrictions are structured by our :

• Value systems, principles and beliefs.
• Religious, social and family dos and don'ts.
• Own self-imposed rules of right and wrong.
• What we believe as being moral and immoral.
• Attitudes.

Parents, unknowingly or with a view to disciplining the child, say things (more by expression) that the child takes to be an 'injunction'*. It becomes part of script belief system. It is intense in a few of us, moderate in most of us and absent in a few of us. 

The damaging nature of the outcome - physical, mental, emotional, psychological, financial and of relationships determines the degree of script. Script shows up strongly in the type of life we live, in family and married relationships, in our occupation, profession and business, and in the sanity, feelings, emotional state of our mind.  Thus scripts are categorised as being first degree, second degree or third degree scripts. The third degree scripts are in the nature of a 'curse' that the person faithfully lives out.

Script ridden persons express helplessness. I used to tell my wife that road accidents happen because the driver of one vehicle is a matchbox and that of another a matchstick. It is only a matter of time that the two encounter each other and an accident takes place. Thus I used to tell her that accident prone-ness is a fact of life. They justify, even promote what they think to be the only right thing or way. They even profess others to follow their ways.

Here are some of the ways Script affects people. Script denies permission to:

• Live and to exist
• Think
• Feel and experience
• Be well
• Enjoy sexuality i.e. belong to the sex one is born into
• Grow up
• Enjoy the many joys, meals and freedoms
• Enjoy fun and frolic
• Succeed
• Feel important and be respected
• Be close to others
• Have esteem and be accepting of oneself
• Belong to a family, class, religion
• Pardon, forgive and let go

Eric Berne classifies scripts as being Winner, Non-Winner and Loser Scripts. They are also called Winner, Banal (Uneventful and flat), and Hamartic* or Tissue* Scripts.

Claude Steiner classifies third degree scripts as being mindless, joyless and loveless scripts.

The types of scripts will be covered in the next two blogs.

This blog comes from Ajit Karve from Pune. I am a qualified TA Practitioner. I specialise in using TA for personal growth, personal development, personal effectiveness and for transformational change. I can be reached on +919822024037. Please feel free to seek clarifications by writing to me on ajitpkarve@gmail.com or taforyouandme@gmail.com. 

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Notes:

*Hamartic: Causing tissue damage. Serious injuries to body and mind. Addictions of a variety of types. Abuse and criminal activities. These are all manifestations of Hamartic Scripts.
*Tissue Script: Harming body, mind, heart or soul. Besides the known ones addictions and substance abuse are also tissue scripts.
*Injunction: A court decree that asks the parties to maintain status quo or not to do anything in the matter.  It is a negative message stored in our personality structure that gets activated spontaneously and stops us in our path from engaging in otherwise useful activities. 

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