Eric Berne developed a theoretical explanation of what happens when we shift executive power and our sense of real self between one ego state and another. Berne followed Freud in hypothesizing the concept of psychic energy or cathexis.

1. Berne’s energy theory

2. Prepared By
Manu Melwin Joy
Research Scholar
School of Management Studies
CUSAT, Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
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3. Berne’s Energy Theory
Eric Berne developed a
theoretical explanation of
what happens when we
shift executive power and
our sense of real self
between one ego state
and another.

4. Berne’s Energy Theory
• Berne followed Freud in
hypothesizing the concept
of psychic energy or
cathexis.
• He suggested that this
energy exist in three forms.
– Bound.
– Unbound.
– Free.

5. Berne’s Energy Theory
• Berne followed Freud in
hypothesizing the concept of
psychic energy or cathexis.
• He suggested that this energy
exist in three forms.
– Bound.
– Unbound.
• The additional term “Active
Cathexis” is applied to the sum
of unbound plus free cathexis.

6. Berne’s Energy Theory
• To illustrate the difference
between these three forms of
cathexis, Berne used the
metaphor of a monkey in a tree.
• When the monkey is sitting on a
high branch, it possess potential
energy – the energy that would
be released if the monkey fell to
the ground.
• This potential energy is analogous
to bound cathexis.

7. Berne’s Energy Theory
• If the monkey then does
fall off the branch, the
potential energy is
released as kinetic
energy.
• This illustrates the
nature of unbound
cathexis.

8. Berne’s Energy Theory
• However, a monkey is a
living organism. Rather
than just falling off the
branch, it can exercise the
choice of jump to the
ground.
• Berne suggests that this
voluntary use of energy is
analogous to free cathexis.

9. Berne’s Energy Theory
• Each ego state is
envisaged as having a
boundary.
• Free cathexis can move
readily between one ego
state and another across
these boundaries.

10. Berne’s Energy Theory
• In addition, each ego state
contains a certain measure of
energy which is resident within
its boundary.
• If that energy is not being used at
any given moment, it
corresponds to bound cathexis.
• When the resident energy is
bought into use, the bound
cathexis is converted to unbound
cathexis.

11. Berne’s Energy Theory
• Berne hypothesized that an ego
state will take over executive
power when it is the one in which
the sum of unbound plus free
cathexis (Active cathexis) is
greatest at a given moment.
• The ego state experienced as real
self will be the one which at a
particular moment has the
greatest amount of free cathexis.

12. Berne’s Energy Theory
• At the beginning of my
discussion at work, I had
executive power in Adult and
also experienced Adult as my
real self.
• We can infer therefore, that I
had the highest active cathexis
and highest free cathexis in
Adult during this time.

13. Berne’s Energy Theory
• When I started paying
attention to feeling bored, I
move some free cathexis
into child.
• I continued doing so until
that ego state came to
contain higher free cathexis
than either my Adult or my
parent.

14. Berne’s Energy Theory
• At that point, I begin experiencing
Child as my real self.
• But I kept executive power in Adult,
showing that I still had the highest
total active cathexis in my Adult ego
state.
• If the discussion had gone more
longer, I might have unbound more
and more of the bound cathexis
resident in child until finally that ego
state had more active cathexis than
Adult and so took over executive
power.

15. Berne’s Energy Theory
• It is possible at times for a
person to have some active
cathexis is all the three ego
states at once.
• For instance, I might
continue to keep executive
power in Adult, exchanging
technical information with
my colleagues.

16. Berne’s Energy Theory
• While doing so, I might also
unbind some cathexis in Parent
and start criticizing myself
internally for not
understanding the task well
enough.
• At the same time, I might
unbind some child cathexis
and begin feeling ashamed
that I was not complying with
those parental demands.

17. Thank You

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