Reexamining Social Psychiatry as a Foundational Framework for Transactional Analysis: Considering a Social-Psychological Perspective

Abstract

Berne (1961b, 1963, 1964) proposed a social psychiatry and contrasted it with social psychology. He construed social psychiatry as focused on individual psychodynamics and pathology or discomfort as persons transact. He both viewed social psychology as a more neutral approach and suggested that social psychiatry might be a branch of social psychology. While Berne expanded understanding of psychodynamics and interactions in his social psychiatry, he did not integrate his conceptualizations of individual psychodynamics and group dynamics. Social-psychological processes serve as the bridge interconnecting self, others, and social structures. In his social psychiatry, Berne advanced knowledge about groups. Social psychology adds to comprehension of the contexts—families, systems, cultures—in which persons both experience difficulties and develop constructively. Assessment and interventions in the clinical, counseling, educational, and organizational fields are effectively broadened by considering the more encompassing social-psychological processes partially explained by social psychiatry.

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Notes on contributors

Robert F. Massey

Robert F. Massey, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Professional Psychology and Family Therapy at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, United States. He can be contacted at Dept. of Professional Psychology and Family Therapy, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, 07079, U.S.A.; e-mail: [email protected].