CLAUDE STEINER

People are born princes and princesses, until their parents turn them into frogs.

The “I’m O.K., You’re O.K.” life position is the position people need to have in order to achieve their fullest potential

transactional analyst will try to cure his patient in the first session. If he does not succeed he will spend the next week thinking about it and then will try to cure him in the second session, and so on until he succeeds or admits failure.

only one paper to write, which is called How to Cure Patients—that’s the only paper that’s really worth writing if you’re really going to do your job.”

The most complete diagnosis of an ego state includes three sources of information: 1) The behavior of the person being observed; 2) the emotional reaction of the observer; and 3) the opinion of the person being observed.

Parent is ideally suited where control is necessary—control of children, of unknown situations, of fears, of unwanted behavior, and of the Child. The Adult is suited to situations in which accurate prediction is necessary. The Child is ideally suited where creation is desired—creation of new ideas, procreation, creation of new experiences, recreation, and so on.

It is little wonder that most people who get into emotional difficulties are loath to consult a psychotherapist. We do not want to hear that the trouble is to be found entirely within us and that, at the same time, we have no control or understanding of our difficulties. We do not want to hear these things about ourselves not because we are “resistant to change” or “unmotivated” for psychotherapy, but because they are not true, because they insult our intelligence, and because they rob us of our power to control our lives and destinies.

The building blocks of the theory of transactional analysis (TA) are three observable forms of ego function: the Parent, the Adult, and the Child. They may seem to resemble three basic psychoanalytic concepts—the superego, the ego, and the id—but they are, in fact, quite different

The Child ego state tends to be fleeting in grownups because of a general societal injunction against “childish behavior.” However, Child ego states can be observed in situations which are structured to permit childlike behavior, such as sports events, parties, and revivals.

In the Child ego state, a person tends to use short words and expletives like “golly,” “wow,” “gee,” and “nice,” delivered in a high-pitched voice. He adopts stances characteristic of children: a downward tilt of the head, upturned eyes, feet apart or pigeon-toed. When sitting, the person may balance on the edge of the chair, fidgeting, rocking, or slouching. Jumping, clapping, laughing expansively, or crying are all part of the repertoire of the Child ego state.