At the Interface of Transactional Analysis, Psychoanalysis, and Body Psychotherapy revolves around two intertwined themes: that of the critique and expansion of the theory and practice of transactional analysis and that of the generative richness discovered at the intersection of transactional analysis, psychoanalysis, and somatic psychotherapy. William F. Cornell explores the work of psychotherapists and counsellors through the lenses of clinical theory, practice, supervision, and ethics. The reader is thus invited into a more vivid experience of being engaged and touched by this work’s often deep, and at times difficult, intimacy. The book is grounded in the approaches of contemporary transactional analysis and psychoanalysis, using detailed case discussions to convey the flesh of these professional, and yet all too human, working relationships. Attention is paid to the force and richness of the transferential and countertransferential tensions that pervade and enliven the therapeutic process. Unconscious processes are viewed as fundamentally creative and life-seeking, with the vital functions of fantasy, imagination, and play brought into the foreground. In the era of short-term, cognitive-behavioural, solution-focused, and evidence-based models of counselling and psychotherapy, At the Interface of Transactional Analysis, Psychoanalysis, and Body Psychotherapy seeks to demonstrate the power and creativity of longer-term, dynamically oriented work.

In this fascinating and robust volume, the editors have compiled a collection of articles that provides an account of their individual theoretical journeys as they trace the evolution of relational transactional analysis. They re-examine the term ‘relational’, offering the reader a multiplicity of ways in which to conceptualise the theory of transactional analysis from a truly pluralistic perspective. This collection of 14 stunning articles from the Transactional Analytic Journal, written over a period of nearly three decades, traces the evolutionary process of a way of thinking that incorporates both theoretical innovations and advanced methodological ideas. Central to the themes of this book is a theoretical understanding of the bidirectionality of the relational unconscious, alongside a methodology that not always, but most often, demands a two-person methodology in which the therapist’s subjectivity comes under scrutiny. Uniquely useful as a research tool for psychotherapists interested in the most up to date psychological theories, this book offers a perspective on relational theory that is both respectful and critical. It will be of enormously useful to the trainee, the researcher, the clinician and the supervisor and will help inform the development of a clinical dialectical mind.

This unique book, incorporating both theory and practice, provides an invaluable guide to the assessment of dreams in transactional analysis (TA). Grounded in the latest neuroscientific research, it offers both neophyte and experienced TA practitioners a pathway to incorporate a client’s dreams within individual and group therapy, exploring key issues including trauma, dissociation and nightmares, dreams of change and transformation, dreams of healing, and transference and countertransference in dreams. It will support therapists through the very first steps toward the analysis of more complex interpersonal dynamics and dream analysis in a group setting. Also discussing the direction of future research in the area, as well as an overview of an experiment on dream analysis during the recent pandemic, this will be key reading for anyone working in the field.

This book describes the work and life of Claude Michel Steiner, a close colleague and friend of Eric Berne, the founder of transactional analysis. Steiner was an early and influential transactional analyst, an exponent of radical psychiatry, and the founder of emotional literacy. Steiner also contributed a number of theories and concepts to the psychological literature. The book comprises edited excerpts from his unpublished autobiography, "Confessions of a Psychomechanic", alongside commentaries and critical essays from colleagues on his major contributions to the fields of psychology, transactional analysis, radical therapy, and emotional literacy. Topics covered include script theory and the theory of strokes, recognition hunger, radical therapy, and the concept of power, and emotional literacy and love. In assessing Steiner’s various contributions, the book also identifies central themes in his work and life and considers the autobiographical nature of theory. This unique collection demonstrates not only the range of Steiner’s insights but also his importance to the wider field and will be essential reading for practitioners and trainees alike.

Groups are arguably an essential and unavoidable part of our human lives—whether we are part of families, work teams, therapy groups, organizational systems, social clubs, or larger communities. In Groups in Transactional Analysis, Object Relations, and Family Systems: Studying Ourselves in Collective Life, N. Michel Landaiche, III addresses the intense feelings and unexamined beliefs that exist in relation to groups, and explores how to enhance learning, development and growth within them. Landaiche’s multidisciplinary perspective is grounded in the traditions of Eric Berne’s transactional analysis, Wilfred Bion’s group-as-a-whole model, and Murray Bowen’s family systems theory. The book presents a practice of studying ourselves in collective life that utilizes a naturalistic method of observation, analysis of experiential data, and hypothesis formation, all of which are subject to further revision as we gather more data from our lived experiences. Drawing from his extensive professional experience of group work in a range of contexts, Landaiche deftly explores topics including group culture, social pain, learning and language, and presents key principles which enhance and facilitate learning in groups. With a style that is both deeply personal and theoretically grounded in a diverse range of studies, Groups in Transactional Analysis, Object Relations, and Family Systems presents a contemporary assessment of how we operate collectively, and how modern life has changed our outlook. It will be essential reading for transactional analysts in practice and in training, as well as other professionals working with groups. It will also be of value to academics and students of psychology, psychotherapy, and group dynamics, and anyone seeking to understand their role within a group. See the below link to an interview about the book with Tess Elliott: https://vimeo.com/510266467

This book is a timely and relevant book for psychotherapists and psychoanalysts who process loss both in their own lives and in the lives of their patients, offering perspectives from a range of theoretical backgrounds, clinical vignettes and personal insights. This volume addresses the scope of grief and mourning between the therapeutic dyad, and carefully examines how the patient and therapist experience intersect and imbue the analytic space and the therapeutic process. The book examines personal loss of parents and partners, as well as loss generated by mass trauma through the lens of the Holocaust, the immigrant experience, the COVID-19 pandemic and the environment. There are chapters that cover how the lost other continues to live within one’s mind, and within the analytic relationship, how loss impacts one’s internal self system, and how loss associated with traumatic experience with the deceased continues to reverberate. With a unique focus on the therapist’s personal experience of loss, and how it shapes the clinical situation, as well as a broad range of perspectives on managing and working with loss in patients, this is an invaluable book for all practicing psychoanalysts and psychotherapists.

Grounded in research and clinical experience and with plenty of case examples, this book provides a relational Transactional Analysis diagnosis and treatment strategy to give immediate relief for maternal mental illness. Maternal mental illness is common, painful, poorly understood, misdiagnosed and often unspoken. For many years this condition has been known as postnatal depression. Yet it is so much more than this with countless women experiencing a multitude of different types of distress in pregnancy and for many years post birth. This book covers not only those conditions commonly known but also explores other factors such as Artificial Reproductive Techniques, miscarriage, termination for fetal abnormality, birth trauma, and infertility and how to treat them. It highlights the true breadth, depth and costs of the maternal journey and emphasises the struggles all parents can experience, no matter where in the world they live. Written in a clear and concise style, this book will be valuable reading for TA psychotherapists and students, and anyone wanting to enlarge their knowledge of motherhood and parenting.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of approaches to ego state work within transactional analysis. It is intended to provide a coherent overview of the state of the art in the theory of ego states in transactional analysis.