Kristina Stojanović Čehajić CTA-P
Keith Tudor TSTA-P
Field of audience: All

Language: English
Level of audience: Advanced

Whether we are aware or not, each of us holds certain basic conceptions and assumptions about human beings, society, and the world, as well as health, disease, care and cure. These conceptions or assumptions can be classified as our own personal and professional philosophies about the mind. However, with few exceptions, transactional analysis and transactional analysts have not embraced philosophical thinking.
Berne himself was dismissive of intellectuals and of certain dialects in psychotherapy (E. Berne, 1972), and relegated his few references to philosophy to endnotes in chapters in some of his books (e.g., E. Berne, 1968). Clearly, he was in a hurry to lay the foundations of a new and effective approach to psychotherapy and prioritised its practical implications regarding which he promoted democracy, simplicity, brevity, and effectiveness. In doing so, he embodied certain philosophical presumptions, but did not spend a lot of time elaborating them – and, indeed, some of his methods and the methods he supported were based on contradictory philosophies. In short, while asking a question “What do you say after you say hello?” he didn’t explore why we say hello.
In terms of being ‘theoretically based transactional analyst[s]’ (ITAA IBoC, 2023), we consider that being aware of our own personal philosophy as well as that of TA theory is both practicaly useful and ethically necessary. In this workshop we will present our ideas about the philosophies and methodologies that underpin TA, and invite you to explore your own views about the key concepts of TA. We will help you consider your own values and views in relation to these philosophies.