Almost any game can form the scaffolding for married life and family living. Some of these games are tolerated longer, under the legal force of contractual intimacy. Marital games can only be arbitrarily separated from sexual games .

1. Marital Games

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. Marital Games
• Almost any game can
form the scaffolding for
married life and family
living.
• Some of these games
are tolerated longer,
under the legal force of
contractual intimacy.
• Marital games can only
be arbitrarily separated
from sexual games .

4. Corner
• Corner illustrates
more clearly than
most games their
manipulative aspect
and their function as
barriers to intimacy.
• Paradoxically, it
consists of a
disingenuous refusal
to play the game of
another.

5. Courtroom
• Courtroom is essentially
three handed, with a
plaintiff, a defendant
and a Judge,
represented by a
husband, a wife and the
therapist.
• In everyday form,
courtroom is easily
observed in children as
a three handed game
between two siblings
and a parent.

6. Frigid Woman
• In this game, the
husband makes
advances to his wife
and is repulsed.
• After repeated
attempts, he is told that
all men are beasts, he
doesn’t really love her
and all he is interested
is in sex.
• When he resigns, wife
tempts him and the
game continues.

7. Harried
• This is played by a
housewife who is
proficient in ten or
twelve different
occupations.
• The thesis of this game
is that she takes on
everything that comes
and even asks for more.
• This ultimately results
in her burn out and
being ready for
hospitalized.

8. If It Weren’t For You
• Briefly, a woman
marries a domineering
man so that he will
restrict her activities
and thus keep her from
getting into a situation
which frighten her.
• She takes advantage of
the situation to
complain about the
restrictions , which
makes her spouse feel
uneasy and gives her all
sorts of advantages.

9. Look How Hard I Have Tried
• This is a three handed
game played by a
married couple with a
psychiatrist.
• Husband is bucking for
a divorce and he comes
to the therapist to
demonstrate that he is
cooperating.
• He ends up by saying “
Look how hard I have
tried” and ask for
divorce.

10. Sweet Heart
• Husband exposes the
deficiencies of the
wife and save her
from embarrassment
of having to expose
them herself.
• He ends the comment
by saying “ Isn’t that
right, sweetheart?”.

11. Thank You

12. Other TA topics available on slideshare
1. Strokes - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/strokes-24081607.
2. Games People Play - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/psychological-
games-people-play.
3. Structural Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/the-ego-state-model.
4. What is TA? - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/what-ta-is
5. Cycles of Development - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/cycles-of-
developement-pamela-levin-transactional-analysis.
6. Stages of Cure - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stages-of-cure.
7. Transactions - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/transactions-33677298.
8. Time Structuring - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/time-structuring.
9. Life Position - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/life-position.
10. Autonomy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/autonomy-33690557.
11. Structural Pathology - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/structural-pathology.
12. Game Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/game-analysis-33725636.
13. Integrated Adult - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/integrated-adult.
14. Stroke Economy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stroke-economy-
33826702.