Transactional Analysis – TA – is a method of communication and understanding of human relationships founded in the 1950s by psychiatrist Eric Berne.
It offers a simple and powerful framework for understanding what happens in our exchanges, our conflicts, our emotions… and even in the inner dialogues we have with ourselves.
TA is used today in:
Psychotherapy
Organizations (management, communication)
Coaching, education, mediation, and daily life
This model, accessible to everyone, helps identify repetitive scenarios we unconsciously put in place – and opens paths to transformation.
📜 The history of Transactional Analysis
Transactional Analysis (TA) was born in the 1950s in the United States, driven by Eric Berne, a psychoanalyst who wanted to make psychology more accessible and understandable to all.
He created a simple language to describe relational dynamics, based on the observation of concrete behaviors.
His work led to key concepts such as:
Ego states
Transactions
Life positions
Psychological games
Emotional rackets and drivers
TA is based on a humanistic vision of the person:
“Everyone has value, everyone can change, everyone can think for themselves.”
👤 The different ego states: Parent, Adult, Child
This is the core of the model. Berne proposed to represent personality through three ego states:
Parent: a set of internalized rules, values, prohibitions or permissions. It can be nurturing (encouraging) or critical (judging).
Adult: the objective, logical part, in contact with present reality. It regulates and makes informed decisions.
Child: the seat of emotions, desires, spontaneity. It can be free and creative… or adapted, submissive, rebellious.
We all shift between these states depending on the situation, but some states are more dominant for certain people.
🔍 Contamination and exclusion: when one state takes over
Sometimes, one ego state takes up too much space or rejects another. We then talk about:
Contamination: the Adult is influenced by the Parent or the Child, without distance. Example: “All people are dangerous” (a parental belief never questioned).
Exclusion: one state is denied. Example: someone cut off from their Child no longer expresses joy, desire, or emotion.
These imbalances can cause relational difficulties, a lack of psychological flexibility, or repetitive scenarios.
🔁 Transactions: how our ego states interact
A transaction is an exchange between two people.
Each message (verbal or non-verbal) comes from an ego state… and is addressed to an ego state in the other.
Types of transactions:
Complementary: the states match, communication flows smoothly.
Crossed: the response doesn’t come from the expected state → discomfort or conflict.
Hidden: a double message is sent → manipulation, irony, innuendo.
Analyzing transactions clarifies misunderstandings, reduces tension, and restores authentic dialogue.
💬 The “stroke” in TA: recognition, a vital need
In Transactional Analysis, a stroke is a mark of recognition: a word, a look, an act of attention.
We need strokes to exist psychologically.
They can be:
Positive or negative
Conditional or unconditional
Example:
“You did this report well” (positive, conditional)
“You are important to me” (positive, unconditional)
👉 A life poor in strokes (or filled only with negative ones) leads to distress or compensation strategies.
🤝 Life positions: how I see myself and others
Eric Berne proposed a simple model to describe existential posture:
| Me | Other | Life position |
|---|---|---|
| + | + | I’m OK, you’re OK |
| + | – | I’m OK, you’re not OK |
| – | + | I’m not OK, you’re OK |
| – | – | I’m not OK, you’re not OK |
These positions influence our attitudes, judgments, and communication.
🎭 Emotional rackets: learned emotions, not chosen
An emotional racket is a substitute emotion expressed instead of the authentic one, because it was more tolerated in childhood.
Examples:
Crying when angry (anger was forbidden)
Being sarcastic instead of admitting sadness
Feeling guilty instead of angry
Identifying rackets helps us reconnect with genuine emotions.
🎭 Psychological games: the drama triangle
Stephen Karpman, a student of Berne, described a typical relational manipulation scenario: the drama triangle, where one rotates between three roles:
Victim
Persecutor
Rescuer
These roles play out in unbalanced relationships and fuel psychological games.
The challenge is to exit the triangle to return to an Adult-to-Adult relationship.
🧭 Drivers: inner injunctions that control us
Drivers are implicit messages received in childhood that turn into powerful internal injunctions:
Be strong
Be perfect
Please others
Hurry up
Make effort
They push us toward extreme behaviors, often at our own expense.
🔄 Process Communication: a practical extension
The Process Com model, created by Taibi Kahler and widely used in professional settings, is an extension of TA.
It helps to:
Understand personality profiles
Identify preferred communication channels
Detect stress signals
Adapt communication to different people
It relies on six personality types and offers practical applications in communication, management, coaching, and teaching.
Complementary to the Enneagram, it is unfortunately not open-source, unlike the Enneagram.
🎓 Training: Transactional Analysis online
Our Institute (IEL) offers a complete training in Transactional Analysis, accessible:
Online (modules + PDFs + free tests + exam and certification)
You will learn how to:
Identify your dominant ego states
Analyze transactions and relational games
Improve communication in personal and professional life
Break free from repetitive scenarios
📚 Bonus: access to all tests (egogram, drivers, life position, emotions, drama triangle) + personalized support.
🔗 Discover the TA training
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