The Transactional Analysis Review Survey: An Investigation Into Self-Reported Practices and Philosophies of Psychotherapists.

Since the creation of transactional analysis (TA) in the 1950s,
almost 50,000 handbooks, theoretical articles, and personal perspectives have been published about it. However, the application of TA has not been systematically studied. The research
described in this article involved an online survey titled the
Transactional Analysis Review Survey (TARS), which consisted of
ten open and 45 closed questions. Items were derived from
the most frequently cited TA publications and focused on the
psychotherapist’s perspective on metalevel reflection, a central
clinical phenomenon, etiology of psychological problems, therapeutic mechanisms, and therapist competencies. Data were
analyzed with thematic analysis, principal component analysis,
and latent class analysis. The survey was filled out by 238 TA
therapists, and most reported seeing TA as a therapeutic
approach, a general attitude and view of the world, and their
preferred model in their practice. According to their reports, TA
focused on the client’s ego states and transactions, social functioning, and self-efficacy, which helped improve their psychological health, self-realization, and general and behavioral wellbeing. Clients’ most frequently reported problems were seen as
caused by negative messages early in life (scripts), lack of
development of mature coping mechanisms, transgenerational
messages, life events, denial of existential givens, and genetics/
temperament. Individuals were understood to have some choice
in accepting or rejecting the negative impact of these messages and life events via behavior, emotions, and cognitive
styles. TA was viewed as helping clients via the therapeutic
work with their ego states, social functioning, and self-efficacy.
The changes were facilitated by the therapist competencies of
positive client-practitioner relationship, working at experiential
depth in the here and now, etiological analysis, and providing
treatment structure. Thus, TA seems to offer a coherent conceptual framework for psychotherapeutic practice. Further
empirical validation of this framework is required.