Integrative Psychotherapy Books
English language books by Richard Erskine may be ordered from Karnac Books at
http://www.karnacbooks.com/author.asp?AID=3073
English
Spanish
French
Romanian
Serbian
TurkishReview
by Wayne
Carpenter
and Damon Wadsworth,
Transactional Analysis Journal
Theories and Methods of an Integrative Transactional Analysis
Richard G. Erskine
TA Press, 1997, 256 pages, $25.00
This
review was originally published in the Transactional
Analysis Journal, Vol. 29, No. 3, July 1999.
This volume,
published by and of financial benefit to the ITAA, is a useful collection
of 28 articles written by Richard Erskine— fourteen of them with coauthors,
including Rebecca Trautmann, his partner and cotherapist. The assembled
articles span 25 years of theoretical, clinical, and creative development.
This single volume provides access to the breadth and depth of the work
of Erskine and Trautmann, both of whom received the 1998 Eric Berne Memorial
Award for eight of the articles in this compendium.
Those
who wish to read these articles from a historical and developmental perspective
should read the book from back to front. In this way readers will follow
the path of a theorist building on the works of his mentors, adding new
insights and ultimately creating new theory. Those who read the articles
in the order presented will be thrust immediately into the theory, which
gives rise to the idea of integrative transactional analysis as an additional "school" of
transactional analysis.
Part
1, Processes and Methods of an Integrative Transactional Analysis, presents
seven articles by Erskine or Erskine and Trautmann. All demonstrate a deep
commitment to a relationship-based psychotherapy deeply rooted in the theory
of transactional analysis and expand on the clinical methods of contact-in-relation
ship: inquiry, attunement, and involvement. Perhaps more importantly, these
articles articulate the basic concepts of a comprehensive theory of psychotherapy—that
is, those concepts that every school of psychotherapy must, in some way,
account for: motivation, structure (personality structure and time structure),
and a psychotherapeutic method.
The
first article, The Therapeutic Relation ship: Integrating Motivation and
Personality Theories, speaks to the issue of motivation. As with his other
careful readings of Berne, Erskine recovers Berne's ideas of stimulus,
structure, and relationship hunger. Quickly, the reader understands that
an inability to success fully satisfy the hungers for stimulation and relationship
leads to a defensive overstructring of the personality (self). Thus, ego
states and life script are theoretical constructs that reflect the overstructuring
of relationship hungers and internal stimuli. This is a significant way
of describing a theory of personality. The integration of transactional
analysis theories of personality with a theory of motivation paves the
way for a theory of methods that emphasizes a relationship-based psychotherapy,
for human hungers are always recognized in relatedness.
The
ideas in The Process of Integrative Psychotherapy (coauthored with Rebecca
Trautmann) were originally a keynote presentation at the 1993 Eastern Regional
Transactional Analysis Conference; they describe how con tact, ego states,
and life script form the core of a theory of personality. Each of these
concepts is elaborated in other sections of this volume: contact, learned
from Fritz and Laura Perls, and gestalt therapy are discussed throughout;
ego states are discussed in significant detail in Part 2; and life scripts
are discussed in Part 3, with the focus always on
"script cure," either behavioral, intrapsychic, or physiological.
The methods of an integrative transactional analysis are discussed thoroughly
in the balance of the articles in Part 1. Methods of an Integrative Psychotherapy
is a particularly useful, in-depth discussion of a theory of psychotherapy
methods. The balance of this section focuses on the particular applications
of these methods in the treatment of dissociation, shame and self- righteousness,
and developmental perspectives.
Part
2, The Structure of the Ego: Commentaries on Theory, is a rich collection
reflecting Erskine and Trautmann's struggle to define and clarify the notion
of ego states. To those readers following the recent debate about ego states
within the transactional analysis community, these articles are a must
read. The historically significant article Ego State Analysis: AComparative
View recognized the variety of definitions and understanding of the ego
state concept in the transactional analysis literature. Besides offering
a useful schema for analyzing and understanding ego states, this article
start ed Erskine and Trautmann on a journey to raising questions about
the fundamental assumptions regarding ego states. Thus, Ego Structure,
Intrapsychic Function, and Defense Mechanisms: A Commentary on Eric Berne's
Original Theoretical Concepts, published by Erskine in 1988, was the clarion
call to a re view of the concept and its use. Erskine and Trautmann argue
that Eric Berne himself de scribed two distinct models of ego states. At
the core of the debate is this question: Are people born with (or do they
develop) three ego states which have specific personality functions, or
do they have an ego, which be comes fragmented into Child and Parent states
as a protective strategy for coping with need (hungers) frustration? The
therapist's choice of ego state model determines his or her psycho therapeutic
focus: Is the work of a therapist to remedy the dysfunctional processes
in each ego state so that they can function according to their assigned
tasks in the personality, or is the function of therapy to integrate the
fragments of self or "I" into an integrated ego?
The
article Transference and Transactions: Critique for an Intrapsychic and
Integrative Perspective, considers ego state theory in greater depth, adding
significant material that contrasts the psychoanalytic concept of transference
with Berne's ideas on the analysis of transactions. Herein we find ego
states defined as follows: Child ego states consist of fixations of earlier
developmental ages; Parent ego states are the manifestations of introjects
of the personality of actual people as perceived by the child; and the
Adult ego state accounts for and integrates past experiences and psychological
influences with current reality. The reviewers note that this does not
seem to eliminate the existence of three states of the ego. Rather, the
emphasis is on how ego states function, how they are viewed in treatment,
and what constitutes a whole, healthy, functioning person. The analysis
of transactions in an integrative transactional analysis is to therapeutically
identify and resolve conflict between Parent and Child ego states.
Part
3 of this book contains several articles that demonstrate the development
of Erskine as a transactional analyst and an integrative psychotherapist.
The seminal articles "Script Cure" and "The Racket System" (which
won the Eric Berne Memorial Scientific Award for Erskine and his coauthor
Marilyn Zalcman in 1979) provide the reader with basic under standings
of life script. Both of these articles move the concept of life script
from a static to a dynamic understanding, associating the Bernian concepts
of rackets and games with the intrapsychic script system. The reader should
not overlook Transactional Analysis and Family Therapy in this section.
Enjoy some of the little gems along the way, too. Erskine had a lot of "Cowpoke" in
him, and his contributions along that line are delightful and pragmatic.
Part
4, Transactional Analysis in Action, presents articles in which we see
the interests of Erskine as a former special education teacher and university
professor—articles about the process of education give way to those
about evolving transactional analysis and teaching practicing psychotherapists.
Whether teaching secondary students, graduate students, or practicing psychotherapists,
Erskine's love of teaching is apparent. The article on supervision describes
a model of professional development that is basic for anyone in a teaching/supervisory
role. Finally, Erskine's collaborative, relational style is apparent in
two transcripts of roundtable discussions about shame and self- righteousness
and ego state theory found in earlier sections of the book. The reviewers
deeply appreciate his inquiring mind and his attempts to engage others
in dialogue from which all can learn.
We
wholeheartedly recommend this volume, not only as a resource for transactional
analysts at all levels, but also for anyone interested in psychotherapy.
Again and again, as the de tailed bibliographies indicate, Erskine and
Trautmann reach beyond themselves and the basic theories of transactional
analysis to the domains of psychoanalytic self psychology, object relations,
gestalt therapy theory, developmental research and theory, the relational
theories of feminist writers, and the existential philosophers to truly
create an integrated theory that enriches the practice of transactional
analysis. Learning, like navigation, takes place when we compare where
we are with known points in order to move forward with the confidence of
achieving our destinations. Richard Erskine's Theories and Methods of an
Integrative Transactional Analysis has left these two reviewers with a
renewed enthusiasm for the contactful, integrating power of transactional
analysis theory and its genius, richness, and life-changing methods.
Wayne
L. Carpenter, M.Div., M.A., is a Teaching and Supervising Transactional
Analyst (clinical) and a psychotherapist in private practice in Fort
Collins, Colorado. Damon Wadsworth, M.A., a Certified Transactional
Analyst (clinical) and a Provisional Teaching and Supervising Transactional
Analyst, is a practicing psychotherapist in New York City.