Stephen Karpman in his article Options developed the idea that we can choose to transact in whatever way we like. In particular, we can choose new way of transacting so as to break out of familiar uncomfortable locked interchanges with others.

2. Prepared By
Manu Melwin Joy
Research Scholar
School of Management Studies
CUSAT, Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose.
Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public
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3. • Many persons get into locked
transactions with persons
outside of the group and come
into group therapy to get help
on how to handle it.
• The diagram given illustrates a
typical locked transaction that
seemed unbreakable to the
patient.
Options

4. • None of the attempts by the
patient to handle this situation
were effective because no
matter what he thought up,
everything was a variation of
the Child Statement.
• The other person’s responses,
no matter how reasonable
sounding, were all variations
of Parent statements.
Options

5. • No one kind of transaction is
good or bad in itself.
• If you want to maintain a
smoothly predicable flow of
communication, keep your
transactions parallel.
Options

6. • If you find that your
communication with someone
is often jerky and
uncomfortable, check whether
you and she cross your
transactions frequently.
• If so decide whether to
smooth out your interchanges
by avoiding the crosses.
Options

7. • Stephen Karpman in his article
Options developed the idea
that we can choose to transact
in whatever way we like.
• In particular, we can choose
new way of transacting so as
to break out of familiar
uncomfortable locked
interchanges with others.
Options

8. “The object is to change what is going
on and get free in whatever way you
can”.
- Stephen Karpman
Options

9. • Stephen Karpman sets four
conditions that need to be met
to choose to transact.
1. One or both ego states
must actually change.
2. The transaction must be
crossed.
3. The subject must be
changed.
4. The previous topic will be
forgotten.
Options

10. • We would suggest that the
first and second of these
conditions are the essential
ones.
• We think the other two are
optional extras, though they
will usually apply.
Options

11. • The person must either unhook
himself from his own ego state
and switch to another one or
actually hook a different ego state
in the other person.
• If both ego states remain same,
the same locked complementary
transaction will proceed
indefinitely.
One or both ego states must actually change

12. • Normally, Parent to Child
transaction is crossed by first
a child – Child reply, second
and Adult – Adult reply and
third a Parent – parent reply.
• In the Adult to Adult
transaction, both ego states
were changed.
The transaction must be crossed

13. • In the above example, the
subject in each was changed
from whether one person was
“bad” or not to what the
person could do.
The subject must be changed

14. • This goes along with the
change of subject and ego
state.
• The new topic will be more
gripping than the previous
one.
• The object is to change what is
going on and get free in
whatever way you can.
The previous topic will be forgotten

15. • Any time you feel locked into
an uncomfortable set of
transactions, you have the
option of crossing from any of
your five functional parts.
• And you can address any of
those five ego parts in the
other person.
Options

16. • Karpman even suggests that
you can choose to use negative
as well as positive ego state
divisions.
• It is suggested that in
beginning practice with
options, you keep to positive
ego state parts.
Options

17. • At any case, use Adult to decide
which way of crossing is most likely
to get the results you want safely
and appropriately.
• You can never guarantee that your
cross will succeed in inviting the
other person into a new ego state.
• If it doesn’t, test shifting your own
ego state and issuing a different
cross.
Options

18. How to change one’s ego state?
There are three ways of changing ego states.
1. Behavioral way – imitate behaviors which have
been identified as parental, adult and childlike.
2. Phenomenological way – Separate your real self
from operating in the same ego states as your
executive self and to keep it in Adult as monitor for
what you are doing and then shift ego states in
your executive self, first to parent, then to child
and finally to adult.
3. Historical way – Use memories of childhood and
make comparisons with concrete situations you
had then which now seem to have some
connection and then imitate a parental figure or
yourself as a child, to be in the here and now.

19. • Think about a situation where
you have felt locked into a
familiar uncomfortable groove
of parallel transaction with
someone. Using the functional
model, locate the ego states
you and the other person have
been coming from.
• Now work out at least four
ways you could use you ego
state options to cross this flow
of transaction.
• From this list. Select on which is
safe.
Activity

20. Thank You

21. 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.