Untangling the Family Tree: Using the Transgenerational Script Questionnaire in the Psychotherapy of Transgenerational Trauma

Abstract

The Transgenerational Script Questionnaire (TSQ) is presented as a helpful tool to reveal the transgenerational script in a family tree. The TSQ may be applied in individual or group psychotherapy and used for treatment planning. Transgenerational trauma, intrapsychically introjected through original nonverbal and verbal transactions between the Child and Parent ego states of family members, is usually present in the client’s internal dialogues. When clients are not aware of the voices in their head, these can be projected through ulterior transactions, psychological games, transference psychodynamics, and projective identification in their current relationships, leading to the reenactment of trauma through further generations. Becoming aware of this sequence may give individuals the opportunity to understand and disentangle their family tree. These ideas are illustrated with a case example.

Keywords:

• Transgenerational Script Questionnaire (TSQ)
• transgenerational scripts
• mechanisms of script transmission
• ulterior transactions
• psychological games
• transference psychodynamics
• projective identification
• internal dialogues
• transgenerational family systems
• unconscious relational patterns

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

Gloria Noriega Gayol

Gloria Noriega Gayol, PhD, is a Certified Transactional Analyst and a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst in psychotherapy. She is the director of Instituto Mexicano de Análisis Transaccional (IMAT) in Mexico City. Gloria is a past president of the ITAA and the 2008 Eric Berne Memorial Award winner for her research on mechanisms of script transmission and codependency as a contribution to the theory and practice of transactional analysis (Noriega, 2009). She can be reached at Agrarismo 21, Colonia Escandon, Mexico City, CP 11800, Mexico; email: [email protected]. The author expresses her appreciation and gratefulness to Dr. Antonella Fornaro for her detailed reading and feedback on the Transgenerational Script Questionnaire before it was presented in this article and to TAJ coeditor Jo Stuthridge for her wise feedback and detailed observations on the text. Readers who want a copy of the TSQ format, please contact Dr. Noriega Gayol by email.