Therapeutic Transactions in Clinical Work With Children

Abstract

The author describes Berne’s eight therapeutic operations, which are therapeutic interventions within transactional analysis that are usually used in working with adults. He translates and reviews them for their efficacy in therapeutic work with children. His reflections are complemented with two case histories, the longer of which concerns a 9-year-old child affected by problems in the area of post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

Keywords:

• Children
• psychotherapy
• Berne’s therapeutic operations
• empathic transactions
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• generalized anxiety disorder
• transactional analysis

Disclosure statement

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stefano Morena

Stefano Morena is a psychologist, psychotherapist, and Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (psychotherapy). He is chairman of the International Transactional Analysts for Childhood and Adolescence (ITACA). He maintains a private practice in Dalmine, Italy, and teaches at various postgraduate schools for psychotherapists. Stefano also works with private and public institutions in northern Italy. He can be reached at Stefano Morena, via Cherubini, 15–24044 Dalmine (BG), Italy; email: [email protected]. An earlier version of this article was published in Ciao, ti stavo aspettando: L’incontro clinico con il bambino [Hi, I was waiting for you: The clinical encounter with a child] [Vol. 2]. Turin: Serra Tarantola Editore, 2018.