Sublime

own self-worth to continuous obsession with the children’s wellbeing as a means to earn approval and be “a good mother,” which in turn leads her to mature herself in some key areas, though not all. She may pressure her detached husband to change his behaviors and “become a better father,” but because he does not experience the emotional urgency in

Strictly speaking, the function of transactional analysis is the identification of specific ego states involved in a transaction. People who are aware from which ego state they and others communicate increase their choices and thus their personal effectiveness (Karpman, 1971).

• What does the other do that makes me do what I do? Example: “The other speaks to me from their Parent, so my energy flows to my Child.” • What do others do, in a broad context, whereby I do this and the other does that? In a highly hierarchical culture, much of the communication—certainly between executives and employees—will take place in an

People need encouragement if they are to lead.

Systems of parts and people tend to polarize, form protective alliances, and exclude or cut off from each other whenever they are traumatized and lack effective leadership.

Most people who come to see a psychiatrist are suffering from what is called either a neurosis or a character disorder. Put most simply, these two conditions are disorders of responsibility, and as such they are opposite styles of relating to the world and its problems. The neurotic assumes too much responsibility; the person with a character

The notion of understanding yourself as a system challenges the idea that we each have one “self.”

And then, of course, my father is a man who has a certain amount of worrying to do each day, and sometimes he just has to forgo listening to the conversations going on around him in order to fulfill his anxiety requirement.