Lost in Translation: Neo-Bernean Or Neo-Freudian?
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Lost in Translation: Neo-Bernean or Neo-Freudian? Stephen Karpman Abstract a crossed transaction in a two-handed game, or This article offers a historical perspective a three-handed game if we include the childhood and novel insights into the theoretical and scriptor’s forward playing game of “Let’s You organizational issues currently at play be- And Him Fight,” would the relational therapist tween the neo-Bernean and neo-Freudian avoid this proper TA interpretation because it schools in transactional analysis with the would be seen as an “intellectualization” inter- hope of fostering the ongoing preservation fering with the discovery of the true Self? To of theory and treatment diversity in transac- charges of “intellectualization,” Berne’s response tional analysis. was, “We respect our patient’s intelligence.” ______ If mutual intersubjectivity includes, as is suggested, having the patient help the therapist The Problem with his or her reality testing and countertrans- Somewhere, sometime, in the past 20 or ferences, who pays for the sessions? Usually a more years, there has emerged a version of therapist seeks an outside therapist for help, not transactional analysis that seems alien to the a patient. The Freudian psychoanalysts re- transactional analysis that Eric Berne devel- quired up to 5 years of personal analysis to oped. People I know refer to many recent clear up their countertransferences because of Transactional Analysis Journal (TAJ) articles the involved sensitivity of the sessions. I would as “tedious,” “boring,” and “irrelevant.” Many like to see the written requirements for the neo- transactional analysts I have talked to rarely Freudians. read it. They want articles written with Berne’s Granted, there is opportunity in new TA the- crisp style of vivid imagery, scientific dia- ory for the transactional explanation of this en- grams, and the simple language of transactional hanced intimacy and trust in the therapeutic rela- analysis that attracted them to TA in the first tionship and how it leads to a “cure,” and credit place—a lively and popular TA that diagrammed must be given to those who have approached the depth of human relationships and destiny, this. But I would like to see more of it dia- rich in the imagery of the games people play. grammed and written up in the everyday lan- Instead, in the recent TAJ articles on psycho- guage of transactional analysis. If this is not done, analytic transactional analysis—in particular I their work, to most of us, is “lost in translation.” refer to last year’s April 2005 TAJ theme issue The Real World. Some relational therapists entitled “Transactional Analysis and Psycho- write of their existential philosophy and a new analysis”—the writers focus on what Berne enhanced intersubjectivity that gently guides might describe as socially invisible “skull clients to the discovery of their inner Self. That games,” that is, fantasies and imaginings, such sounds good. But these approaches, as written, as transference, countertransference, and now, appear to be self-limited goals in themselves. “intersubjectivity in the transferential field,” Often there is no reference to applying this dis- with a focus centered on the therapist and not covery to the patient’s real world. Is it possible on the people that the patients have to deal with that the existentialist or constructivist philo- in the real world or even in group therapy. A sophy behind this could rationalize that the relational therapist’s “sweatshirt” might read, therapeutic relationship is the real world, or “Don’t talk about your outside world, talk that there is NO real world? Berne defined real- about my countertransferences,” with the The- ity as something you can photograph and tape sis, “The door is locked, you can’t get out of record. What we actually see in the TAJ is the here until we like each other.” If transference is unfortunate omission of over 40 years of well- properly interpreted in transactional analysis as established transactional analysis tools that, if 284 Transactional Analysis Journal LOST IN TRANSLATION: NEO-BERNEAN OR NEO-FREUDIAN? used, could result in game-free relationships expensive stranger in an expensive office? Or, and script-free lives for our patients in their after presenting a problem in the real world, real world. I have not seen the written theo- how many then get a counter offer to spend retical explanation of why these proven tools their time focused on talking about their fanta- are not needed. sies of the therapist? If they openly complained A Leap of Logic. Is it assumed that if the Self about a bait and switch, would they be labeled gets discovered and transferences resolved, the as having a “transference” problem requiring outside relationships will then become game more therapy? The egocentricity of the therapy free without the further use of transactional should be discussed in advance so the patient analysis education, game, and script analysis? would be able to make an informed consent and I do not see where this assumed leap into socie- demand apples for apples or move on. The tal health and social-skills proficiency has been checks and balances, with the boundaries ex- given a TA explanation and diagram. I would plained, need to be written up and diagrammed like to see it. Inner health does not necessarily in TA terms so we can know how that en- translate into outer health. It is the in vitro ver- hanced intimacy can stay professional and not sus the in vivo argument. Are we to assume that become a self-indulgent affair as the intimate if you can relate to a well-paid and relatively language could suggest. These ethical issues sane professional in the control of an office need to be spelled out in clear TA language, closed system, you will then, automatically, be not obscured in the psychoanalytic insider jar- able to successfully deal with an unpredictable gon. Some complicated psychoanalytic para- partner or business adversary in the outside graphs seem to require a machete and pith hel- world? Inner strength may not be enough. The met to dig out what is going on. We need to see assumption that the leap would just happen for ourselves what is happening, which is not magically was the well-known criticism of the entirely possible now. original psychoanalytic approach. Another leg- Two Treatment Goals. Eric Berne offered endary criticism of psychoanalysis was that if two brilliant breakthroughs with regard to patients came in for apples, they were given transactional analysis treatment goals; these oranges; they wanted help in the real world but may be more difficult for neo-analytic transac- were only given help in their childhood world tional analysts if they are working under the and the transference world. long shadow of Sigmund Freud. One Size Fits All? There are, perhaps, bor- 1 . “Cure patients faster.” Analysis was time- derline and third-degree impasse therapy situa- consuming. Berne wanted to change that. To tions, or others, in which the transference ap- accomplish “faster,” he simplified the treatment proach works best, yet in most others direct process by using Occam’s Razor to whittle away therapy with transactional analysis works bet- the inessentials, naming and assembling short- ter, cheaper, and quicker. Most therapies taught cuts that cut through the lengthy process he re- today do deal with the real world; this includes ferred to as a “Gordian knot.” Earlier transac- cognitive-behavioral therapy, limited managed tional analysts followed these principles with care brief therapy (with or without medication), breakthrough theory and simplifying treatment group therapy, relapse prevention therapy, an- methods. To the end of “cure,” given the exist- ger management and coping skills groups, cri- ing world in which treatment success was as- sis supportive therapy, family and couples’ sumed to be unmeasurable, the pragmatist Berne counseling, grief counseling, and others. Even devised a way to put the criteria of success into psychodynamically trained therapists, when concrete terms, for example, a lonely person unobserved, will ask about the real world. The would make a contract to “get two friends that neo-analytic relational approach may be a lux- you can talk to on the phone each week.” That ury in the classic “ivory tower.” was measurable. Berne mocked “making pro- Bonding and Attachment for Sale. One won- gress” in therapy as opposed to “getting the job ders, how many patients would voluntarily pur- done.” He used the analogy of an airline pilot an- chase artificial mutual intimacy with an nouncing that he was “going toward New York.” Vol. 36, No. 4, October 2006 285 STEPHEN KARPMAN 2. “Is it a treat or a treatment?” A “treat” school. In the background of his creativity was was an approach that was too comfortable for the rebellious 1960s of hippies, cults, and revo- the therapist and not necessarily a “treatment” lutions. Berne’s San Francisco seminars met that got the patient to his or her stated goals only a few blocks from the Haight-Ashbury quickly. The love of philosophical approaches district where this revolution was centered. by the neoanalysts, as written, may be their Within those rebellious times, twentieth-cen- “treat,” but it may not provide a treatment for tury Californians discovered something new, the patient. the opposite of the tradition-bound nineteenth- Does It Work? How do you measure treat- century European psychoanalysis. Freud was ment success? Is an effective form of transac- propped up as the “straw man” whom we tional analysis being replaced by a less effec- eagerly overthrew. tive form of transactional analysis? Core TA I’m Young and I’m Free and I Don’t Need requires objective contracts that can be mea- You.