Inside Out: A Transactional Analysis Model of Trauma

Abstract

This article presents a transactional analysis model of trauma located within a relational paradigm. It proposes that the Adult ego state enables us to form a narrative self or coherent sense of identity. Trauma interferes with this integrative capacity, creating excluded ego states and a disorganized self. The child's experience of abusive caregivers is internalized in a series of toxic Parent/ Child ego states. This inner world shapes the child's view of the world outside, leading to patterns of transferential enactment that reinforce a traumatic script. Therapy is concerned with developing the Adult capacity to create a coherent narrative that allows the client to move from enacting to reflecting.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jo Stuthridge

Jo Stuthridge, M.Sc, is a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (psychotherapy) and member of the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists. She is codirector of the Physis Institute and maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Dunedin, New Zealand. She can be reached at PO Box 1205, Dunedin, New Zealand; e-mail: [email protected]