Transactional Analysis Proper?and Improper: Selected and New Papers

Transactional Analysis Proper―and Improper: Selected and New Papers offers a critical reading of transactional analysis (TA), which analyses, deconstructs, and reconstructs its foundational theory.

Keith Tudor’s work is detailed, informative, and critical, and written with deep affection for TA and its founder, Eric Berne. Beginning with its philosophical foundations, Tudor considers TA’s ontological assumptions about the essence of human beings, its method and methodology, and its treatment philosophy. A series of chapters then review and advance TA’s theory of transactions, ego states, life scripts, and psychological games, and the book concludes with two chapters which both honor TA’s traditions and look forward to what TA might do differently.

This book offers a unique ‘insider but independent’ perspective on transactional analysis. It will be essential reading for students and practitioners of transactional analysis and encourages free, independent, and critical thinking about TA and its place in the world.

Keith Tudor is professor of psychotherapy at Auckland University of Technology, Aotearoa New Zealand where he is also a co‑Lead of Moana Nui―Centre for Research in the Psychological Therapies. He has been involved with transactional analysis (TA) for over 40 years and is a Certified and a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst in the field of psychotherapy. He is a well‑published author and editor in the field, with over 100 publications about TA, including most recently an edited book: Claude Steiner, Emotional Activist (Routledge, 2020). He has a small private practice as a therapist, trainer, and supervisor, based in West Auckland.