Transactional Analysis Approaches to Brief Therapy or : What Do You Say Between Saying Hello and Goodbye?

`This book, edited by Keith Tudor (who is also one of the ten contributors) is excellent reading for a number of reasons: for those who know nothing about TA, it is a highly informative and readily accessible introduction. For those who read or studied it some time ago, it is an excellent refresher.

I am impressed by the diversity of people and applications of TA, and the developments outlined in this book are, certainly for me, cause for hope because, as well as offering frameworks for making ′simple′ sense of humans in action – and human inaction – TA is a complex and profound system that offers people a way of solving the problems of the present, re-evaluating the struggles of the past, and reshaping the future with permission and power based on a greater sense of self′ - Nurturing Potential

`I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all therapists as enriching and interesting reading′ - European Association for Transactional Analysis Newsletter

`It is a book which would offer helpful introductions to both the practice of transactional analysis, and the attitude needed when planning brief therapy of any kind′ - The Jounal of Analytical Psychology

Of all the approaches to therapy, transactional analysis is arguably one of those most suited to time-limited work. At a time when short-term therapy is increasingly dominant as a form of practice, Transactional Analysis Approaches to Brief Therapy provides an insightful guide which both informs and challenges.

Rather than a single theory, TA has developed as a group of four schools which share a common philosophy, but place different emphasis on what occurs during the therapeutic process. Written by therapists at the leading edge of developments in TA, the book presents and differentiates each of these four approaches. Through transcripts and commentaries, it shows how theory applies to practice, for example in treating post-traumatic stress or in achieving a one-session cure. The book also includes a useful glossary of TA terms, as well as an appendix of Eric Berne′s short script-questionnaire.

In some ways critical of the zeitgeist of short-termism and the commercial pressures for therapy to be brief, the book seeks a balance between the challenge TA offers as an actionistic approach to quick and efficient therapy and the importance of relationship in therapy which is time-conscious. It will be enlightening reading for all those training and those already trained as therapists and counsellors in TA.

Keith Tudor is a Professor of Psychotherapy at Auckland University of Technology. He is author of Transactional Analysis Approaches to Brief Therapy (SAGE, 2001) and Group Counselling (SAGE, 1999).