Reprint of original 1961 edition.

Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy by Eric Berne, M.D. introduced psychiatrists and analysts to a new way of understanding the motivations and social interactions of their clients and patients. By using this model, Berne believed that therapists could help their patients to better understand themselves and improve their relationships and their lives.

Canadian-born psychiatrist Eric Berne (b. May 10, 1910 - d. July 15, 1970) spent his early career working with patients in sanitariums before serving as a psychiatrist in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he set up a private practice, in addition to conducting his own research and serving as a psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration and Mental Hygiene Clinic in San Francisco.

After being denied admittance to the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute in 1956, Berne was spurred to make his own mark on the field. He wrote several papers that year as he developed his theories, and he was invited to present his article Transactional Analysis: A New and Effective Group Therapy to the Western Regional Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles in 1957.

The next step was to put these ideas down into a book - 1961's Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy. Berne's theory, while built on a foundation of Freudian principles, was clearly different. Where Freudian psychoanalysts focused on the balance between the emotional id, rational ego, and moral superego that make up one's personality, Berne instead assigned interpersonal relationships to the three ego-states of his clients - the Parent, Adult, and Child inside each.

The way we interact with each other, Berne proposed, influences which of our three ego-states is prominent at any given time. Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy begins by identifying these ego-states and explaining how to diagnose them. It then explores the way social intercourse (called transactions) can stimulate the different ego-states.

Common social interactions are described in the language of games - different predictable patterns of communication that may appear normal on the surface, but conceal tension and self-serving - or self-destructive - motives beneath. Often counterproductive, these games indulge one of our ego-states and can damage our mental well-being and relationships.

An example of a game is called, Why Don't You...Yes, But. In this game, one person makes suggestions in order to solve a person's problem, and the other rejects each with a Yes, but... type statement. Instead of an Adult-Adult interaction, with one offering reasoned suggestions and the other engaging in a meaningful dialogue, the suggester takes on a Parental role of problem-solver, and the other that of an attention-seeking Child who wants reassurance, not a solution.

One of the most important aspects of transactional analysis is the contract. This tool is an agreement made by both client and therapist that the client will work on specific changes to achieve their desired outcome.

Although some in the psychoanalytic community ignored Berne's work, many therapists used his ideas with their own clients. His later works include A Layman's Guide to Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis, Games People Play, and What Do You Say After You Say Hello?, published in 1975 after Berne's death.

Berne's development of transactional analysis was a major influence on Thomas Harris's 1967 New York Times bestseller I'm OK - You're OK, which introduced many laypeople to the concept of the Parent-Adult-Child model.

We think we're relating to other people-but actually we're all playing games.

Forty years ago, Games People Play revolutionized our understanding of what really goes on during our most basic social interactions. More than five million copies later, Dr. Eric Berne's classic is as astonishing-and revealing-as it was on the day it was first published. This anniversary edition features a new introduction by Dr. James R. Allen, president of the International Transactional Analysis Association, and Kurt Vonnegut's brilliant Life magazine review from 1965.
We play games all the time-sexual games, marital games, power games with our bosses, and competitive games with our friends. Detailing status contests like Martini (I know a better way), to lethal couples combat like If It Weren't For You and Uproar, to flirtation favorites like The Stocking Game and Let's You and Him Fight, Dr. Berne exposes the secret ploys and unconscious maneuvers that rule our intimate lives.
Explosive when it first appeared, Games People Play is now widely recognized as the most original and influential popular psychology book of our time. It's as powerful and eye-opening as ever.

2015 Reprint of 1961 Edition. Full Facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Berne is the originator of transactional analysis, which he made famous with his landmark publication Games People Play. In this work Berne lays the groundwork for a rational method for understanding and analyzing human behavior. Transactional analysis (TA), is a theory in psychology that examines the interactions, or 'transactions', between a person and other people. The underlying precept is that humans are social creatures and that a person is a multi-faceted being that changes when in contact with another person in their world. Berne developed the concept and paradigm of TA in the late 1950s and it has gone on to have continuing influence in popular psychology.

Reprint of original 1961 edition.

Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy by Eric Berne, M.D. introduced psychiatrists and analysts to a new way of understanding the motivations and social interactions of their clients and patients. By using this model, Berne believed that therapists could help their patients to better understand themselves and improve their relationships and their lives.

Canadian-born psychiatrist Eric Berne (b. May 10, 1910 - d. July 15, 1970) spent his early career working with patients in sanitariums before serving as a psychiatrist in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he set up a private practice, in addition to conducting his own research and serving as a psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration and Mental Hygiene Clinic in San Francisco.

After being denied admittance to the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute in 1956, Berne was spurred to make his own mark on the field. He wrote several papers that year as he developed his theories, and he was invited to present his article Transactional Analysis: A New and Effective Group Therapy to the Western Regional Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles in 1957.

The next step was to put these ideas down into a book - 1961's Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy. Berne's theory, while built on a foundation of Freudian principles, was clearly different. Where Freudian psychoanalysts focused on the balance between the emotional id, rational ego, and moral superego that make up one's personality, Berne instead assigned interpersonal relationships to the three ego-states of his clients - the Parent, Adult, and Child inside each.

The way we interact with each other, Berne proposed, influences which of our three ego-states is prominent at any given time. Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy begins by identifying these ego-states and explaining how to diagnose them. It then explores the way social intercourse (called transactions) can stimulate the different ego-states.

Common social interactions are described in the language of games - different predictable patterns of communication that may appear normal on the surface, but conceal tension and self-serving - or self-destructive - motives beneath. Often counterproductive, these games indulge one of our ego-states and can damage our mental well-being and relationships.

An example of a game is called, Why Don't You...Yes, But. In this game, one person makes suggestions in order to solve a person's problem, and the other rejects each with a Yes, but... type statement. Instead of an Adult-Adult interaction, with one offering reasoned suggestions and the other engaging in a meaningful dialogue, the suggester takes on a Parental role of problem-solver, and the other that of an attention-seeking Child who wants reassurance, not a solution.

One of the most important aspects of transactional analysis is the contract. This tool is an agreement made by both client and therapist that the client will work on specific changes to achieve their desired outcome.

Although some in the psychoanalytic community ignored Berne's work, many therapists used his ideas with their own clients. His later works include A Layman's Guide to Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis, Games People Play, and What Do You Say After You Say Hello?, published in 1975 after Berne's death.

Berne's development of transactional analysis was a major influence on Thomas Harris's 1967 New York Times bestseller I'm OK - You're OK, which introduced many laypeople to the concept of the Parent-Adult-Child model.

Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy by Eric Berne An important book . . . a brilliant, amusing, and clear catalogue of the psychological theatricals that human beings play over and over again.

Dr. Eric Berne, as the originator of transactional analysis, has attained recognition for developing one of the most innovative approaches to modern psychotherapy. Discover how many of these secret games you play everyday of your life: Iwfy (If it weren't for you); Sweetheart; Threadbare; Harried; Alcoholic, and many more. A groundbreaking book that bores deep into the heart of all our relationships.

2021 Hardcover Reprint of 1961 Edition. Full Facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Berne is the originator of transactional analysis, which he made famous with his landmark publication Games People Play. In this work Berne lays the groundwork for a rational method for understanding and analyzing human behavior. Transactional analysis (TA), is a theory in psychology that examines the interactions, or 'transactions', between a person and other people. The underlying precept is that humans are social creatures and that a person is a multi-faceted being that changes when in contact with another person in their world. Berne developed the concept and paradigm of TA in the late 1950s and it has gone on to have continuing influence in popular psychology.

Contents: Psychiatry of the Individual and Structural Analysis -- The structure of personality -- Personality function -- Psychopathology -- Pathogenesis -- Symptomatology -- Diagnosis -- Social Psychiatry and Transactional Analysis -- Social intercourse -- Analysis of transactions -- Analysis of games -- Analysis of scripts -- Analysis of relationships -- Psychotherapy -- Therapy of functional psychoses -- Therapy of neuroses -- Group therapy -- Frontiers of Transactional Analysis -- Finer structure of the personality -- Advanced structural analysis -- Therapy of marriages -- Regression analysis -- Theroretical and technical considerations -- A terminated case with follow-up.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

A Montreal Childhood is a recently discovered memoir by Eric Berne about growing up and coming of age in Montreal in the first decades of the 20th century. The first new book by the well-known psychotherapist and author since his death in 1970, it offers an affectionate and revealing portrait of the city's immigrant community on lively Ste. Famille St. during and after WWI.
The evocative and humorous depictions of the many social and cultural differences which reigned in Montreal at the time are among the books most memorable passages, as are the anecdotes recounting just how the children of Ste. Famille St. often painfully learned to cope with these differences.
So there was I, a direct descendant of Adam and Eve, facing the world at seventeen. I had few material things and no spending money, but I had lots of relatives, a card admitting me to college, a job and a girlfriend. The most important things I owned were in my head. First, all the things that had been put there by my parents and teachers, by books and by friends: freedoms and duties, aspirations and prohibitions. Second, all the knowledge of the world and its ways, and of the things it had to offer and could take away. Third, all the memories and desires that had grown in me since birth, all the hopes and ideals and strivings and creations that welled up from my youthful soul. So I could stride down the street, head up, swinging my arms straight and firm like a free British subject, and feel myself a part of the world, with all its trees and birds and beasts and people that pulsated and strove on the earth and above it, and yes, the questing roots below its surface as well
Eric Berne.

Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy: A Systematic Individual and Social Psychiatry is a comprehensive book written by Eric Berne, a renowned psychiatrist and psychotherapist. The book presents a detailed analysis of transactional analysis as a therapeutic approach to help individuals understand their behavior and improve their relationships. Berne explains the key concepts of transactional analysis, such as ego states, transactions, and games, and how they can be used to identify and address psychological issues. He also discusses the importance of social psychiatry and how it can be used to address societal problems. The book provides practical guidance on how to apply transactional analysis in psychotherapy, including case studies and examples. It also explores the use of transactional analysis in group therapy and in the workplace. Overall, Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy is a valuable resource for mental health professionals, students, and anyone interested in understanding human behavior and improving relationships. It is a classic text that has stood the test of time and remains a seminal work in the field of psychotherapy.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.