The Therapeutic Relationship: Integrating Motivation and Personality Theories

Abstract

This article suggests that transactional analysis is enhanced by a consistent and unified theoretical link between motivation and personality theories from which methods are directly derived. The drives for stimulus, structure, and relationship, as described by Eric Berne, are significantly interwoven, interactive, and interdependent, forming the foundation for a theory of human motivation. The premise that healing is in the relationship is presented as the basis for a theory of method that emphasizes the significance of the therapeutic relationship.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Richard G. Erskine

Richard G. Erskine, Ph.D., TSTA (clinical), is the training director of the Institute for Integrative Psychotherapy in New York City and Visiting Professor of Psychotherapy, University of Derby, United Kingdom.