Transactional analysis was unlike most other types of psychotherapy in that it was not developed through intensive observation and work with patients. Instead, it was the brainchild of California-based psychiatrist, Dr. Eric Berne, a practicing Freudian psychiatrist in the 1950s who suddenly had an epiphany when a patient declared one day, "I'm not really a lawyer, I'm a little boy" (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 54). Following this outburst, Berne developed his transactional analysis, or TA, theory and capitalized on it by writing a top-selling book, Games People Play (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 54). He developed a three-factor personality model that centered on the adult, parent, and child and subsequently identified more than 100 games that people play in their interpersonal relationships (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 54). Berne acknowledged that he had learned TA from his patients (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 54). Berne's goal for TA was to develop an affordable method of therapy featuring eclectic training programs that would produce a higher number of mental health workers as well as a special language that would promote discussion of social problems (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 55).
Berne was the first and most noted contributor to the theory of TA, and his greatest contribution was to unify individual and social psychiatry in TA (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 55). Unlike Freud's focus on the id, ego, and superego, which was concerned with the analysis of human instinct, Berne's TA analyzed relationships to gain an understanding of the human condition (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 55). Following Berne's death, his work was taken up by Dr. Thomas Harris, a Sacramento, California psychiatrist trained in the disciplines of medicine and psychiatry as well as psychoanalysis (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 56). Harris was a Presbyterian layman who added a theological perspective to TA and led to his writing the book I'm OK-You're OK (Schweigerdt, 2004, p. 56). Hi...