Transactional Analysis in American College Psychology Textbooks

Abstract

Today's college students will comprise one of the main populations—as clients, parents, administrators, organizational leaders, legislators, etc.—on which transactional analysis will depend for its growth in the twenty-first century, only a decade away. An evaluation of current academic trends in the U.S.A. in educating these students in transactional analysis theory and therapy methods suggests important considerations for the future growth of TA as a psychotherapeutic modality. Based on a review of 62 textbooks, readers, and workbooks in four courses—Introductory Psychology, Theories of Personality, Psychology of Adjustment, and Abnormal Psychology—this descriptive research article provides data and generalizations about the way that transactional analysis is presented to students in American college psychology textbooks.

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Notes on contributors

Howard J. Douglass

Howard J. Douglass, Ph.D., is on the faculty of the Department of Psychology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and has a private practice in clinical psychology in Albany, New York.