Tony White’s Weblog

RESUME  2008

Name: Anthony (Tony)  G.B. White

Born: Subiaco, Western Australia,  5th March, 1957

Website: www.ynot1.com.au

 

Degrees:

1980: Bachelor of Arts - Major in Psychology & Certificates

1981: Clinical Membership - The International Transactional Analysis Association

1983:  Honours  (psychology)

1989:  Advanced Diploma in Counselling, Level 7

1989:  Teaching Membership (Instructor and Supervisor)  - The International Transactional Analysis Association

1996:  Certificate in general and addictions counselling - Curtin University

2006: Senior First Aid Certificate – St John Ambulance Australia

2006: Authorized Mental Health Practitioner (Mental Health Act 1996). Office of the Chief Psychiatrist, Department of Health.

2008: Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. 

Australian Qualifications Framework

 

Registration:

1986:  Psychologists Registration Board of Western Australia

1988: Australian Psychological Society - member

1995: Member of the APS division of Independently Practising Psychologists

 

Occupational History:

1980 - to date: Career Guidance Counsellor

1980 - 2000: Manager of TA Bookshop and book publisher

1981 - to date: Transactional Analyst

1978 - 1988: Co-ordinator, The Transactional Analysis Workshop Institute

1986 - to date: Registered Psychologist in private practice

1989 – to date: Training program and supervisor for counselling and psychotherapy. Training counsellors for an Advanced Diploma in Counselling, Level 7

1991 - 2000: Consultant to St. John Ambulance Service (WA). Trauma debriefing

1991 - 2000: Co-ordinator of St. John Ambulance Service (WA) employee support program.

1996 - 1997: Volunteer Counsellor, Palmerston Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

1999 - 2004. Acting Respite Co-ordinator - Level 6. Association of Relatives and Friends of the Mentally Ill.

1999 – 2001: Evening Counsellor Supervisor, Palmerston Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

2002 to date: YMCA Perth, Employee Support Counsellor

November 2004: Consultant to YMCA Perth. Review of Youth and Family Services – The LYNKS counselling Service

January 2005 to date: Consultant to YMCA Perth. Psychological profiles of applicants for Big Brother Big Sister mentor programme.

2005: Carer for reunification trips. Christian Brothers’ British Child Migration Scheme

2005 - 2008: Invitational lecturer, Murdoch University  Psychology Programme

2005 to 2007: Senior Psychologist, Medical Centre, Acacia Prison.

2008 to date: Consultant psychologist to MyAcademy Education Services

 

Professional Activities

1981 - 1982: Committee member: Western Australian Transactional Analysis Association

1981: President of the Murdoch University Psychological Society

1981: Student representative on the Murdoch University Psychology Programme Committee

1982 - 1983: Member of the Organisational Affiliation Committee with the International Transactional Analysis Association

1985:  Co-ordinator of the Australasian Board of Transactional Analysts

1989 - 1992: Treasurer of the Western Pacific Association of Transactional Analysis

1992 - 1994: Editorial Committee Member, Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society  (WA Branch)

1993 - 1995: Committee Member for the Eric  Berne Memorial Award

1995 - 1998: Editorial Board Member, Transactional Analysis Journal

1997: Board Member, The Dyslexia - SPELD foundation, W.A.

2000 – 2005: Board member of the Western Pacific Association of Transactional Analysis

2000 – 2006: TA TIMES editor. Newsletter of the Western Pacific Association of Transactional Analysis

2001 - 2004: Editorial Board Member, Transactional Analysis Journal

2003 – 2004: UWA Press Club committee member

2003 – 2004: InPrint editor. Newsletter of the UWA Press Club.

2007: Mental health columnist for “Boost Juice” health magazine.

 

 

Private practice: 

1980 to date: Counselling and psychotherapy. Individual, group, family, residential, marital modes of counselling

1985 to date: Organisational trainer and consultant

1983 to date: Child and adolescent treatment and psychometric testing

1996 to date: Treatment of addictions.

 

 

Invitational workshops:

1985: Sydney, Australia. Four day workshop

1986: Sydney, Australia. Eight day workshop

1986: Singapore counselling and care centre. Four day workshop

1987: Singapore, International Transactional Analysis Association World Conference. One day pre-conference institute

1989: Hawaii, International Transactional Analysis World Conference. Half  day pre- conference institute

1985 to date: Various other workshops and courses  (Australia and overseas).

 

Honours:

The Inaugural Goulding Award for Excellence in T.A.   Presented for excellence in the theory of T.A. at the 8th Australasian Transactional Analysis Conference (November 1988), by the Western Pacific Association of Transactional Analysts. See -  http://video.google.com.au/videoplay? docid=-2719041059081447006 (Access at - http://www.ynot1.com.au/links.html)

1994: Inclusion in the “International Who’s Who in Medicine (2nd Ed)”. International Biographical Centre, England

2001: Honorary Member of the Transactional Analysis Association of Singapore

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Journal publications

“Intimacy Re-Visited”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol. 12, No. 1, January 1982.

“Intimacy Re-Visited”.  Actualities en Analyse Transactionelle.   Accepted for publication, 1982.

“Three Chair Self-Parenting”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 13, No. 2, 1983.

“Three Chair Self-Parenting”. Actualities en Analyse  Transactionelle.  Accepted for publication, 1983.

“Who’s OK?” in Talking TA (L. Cameron ed.) 1988. WPATA Publications.

“The two ego state model”. WPATA Bulletin. 1988, 1, 45 - 55.

“Ego states revisited - Once again” in  Practical TA (L. Cameron  ed.) 1990. WPATA  Publications.

“Life Positions”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 24, No. 4, 1994, 268 - 275.

“I’m OK, You’re OK: Further Considerations”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 25, No. 2, 1995, 234 - 236.

Three responses to commentaries on ‘I’m OK, You’re OK: Further Considerations’. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 25, No. 2, 1995, 241 - 243.

“Life Positions”. Actualités en Analyse Transactionelle. Accepted for publication. 1995.

“Character Feelings”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 26, No. 2, 1996, 167 - 174.

“I’m OK, You’re OK: Further Considerations”. Actualités en Analyse Transactionelle. Accepted for publication. 1996.

Three responses to commentaries on ‘I’mOK, You’re OK: Further Considerations’. Actualités en Analyse Transactionelle. Accepted for publication. 1996.

“Treatment of the I+U? and I-U? life positions”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 27, No. 1, 1997, 57 - 64.

“Is a happy teenager a healthy teenager?: Four levels of adolescent anger”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 27, No. 3, 1997, 192 - 196.

“Symbiosis and attachment hunger”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 27, No. 4, 1997,  300 - 304.

“Transference, attachment and the transactional symbiosis”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 28, No. 2, 1998, 121 - 126.

“Psychotherapy and the art of being human”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 28, No. 4, 1998, 321 - 330.

“Treatment of the I+U? and I-U? life positions”. Actualités en Analyse Transactionelle. Accepted for publication. 1998.

“Symbiosis and attachment hunger”. Actualités en Analyse Transactionelle. Accepted for publication. 1998.

“Homophobia: A misnomer”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 29, No. 1, 1999, 77 - 83.

“Some psychotherapeutic collisions”. Voices.  Vol 35, No. 1, 1999, 84 - 94.

“No-Psychosis Contracts”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 29, No. 2, 1999, 133 - 138.

“Heroin Use as a Passive behaviour”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 29, No. 4, 1999, 273 - 277.

“Un adolescent heureux est-il un adolescent en bonne sante?: les quatre niveaux de la colere adolescente”. Actualités en Analyse Transactionelle. Vol 24, No. 94, 2000, 60 - 64.

“The Contact Contract”. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 31, No. 3, 2001, 194 - 198.

“Contracts do non-psychose”. Actualités en Analyse Transactionelle. Vol 26, No. 102, 2002, 53 - 58.

“Developing a two person psychology”. Transactions Issue No. 7, 2007, 18 - 24.

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Self published books 

1984. New Ways in Transactional Analysis TA Books: Perth

1985. Transference Based Therapy: Theory and Practice. TA Books: Perth

1986. How Kids Grow Up And Leave Home TA Books: Perth

1986. Creative Feeling: How to Understand and Deal With Your Child’s Feelings TA Books: Perth

1987. The Treatment of Character. TA Books: Perth

1990. Adolescence, Anger and What To Do. TA Books: Perth

1991. Employee Support Programme. TA Books: Perth

1992. Staying Alive: A Handbook of the No Suicide Contract. TA Books: Perth

1994. Psychotherapy and the Art of Being Human. TA Books: Perth

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Magazine Articles

“The infant ballet”. Mind Magazine. Issue 7, 1990, Page 4.

“Effects of the new baby in the family”. Infant Times. Spring, 1990, Page 47 - 51.

“Children’s self-esteem”. Infant Times.  Summer, 1991, Page 63 - 67.

“The life of an ambulance officer”. Psychologically Speaking. Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society (WA Branch), April, 1991, Page 1 - 2.

“Effective parenting. A review of parent education in Western Australia. Report to Dr. Carmen Lawrence, MLA”. The Office of The Family. Written contribution. July, 1991.

“Adolescence - The stage of storm and stress”. Papers of the 10th Australian and New Zealand Transactional Analysis Conference. East Coast Transactional Analysis Association. November, 1991, Page 209 - 212.

“Teenage suicide”. TA Times. February, 1992  Page 6 - 7.

“The battered sibling syndrome”. TA Times. August, 1992,  Page 11 - 13.

“Postnatal depression”. Infant Times. Spring, 1992, Page 49 - 55.

“Maslow’s motivators”. Psychologically Speaking. Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society (WA Branch), December, 1992, Page 1 - 2.

“Where have all the psychologists gone?”. Psychologically Speaking. Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society (WA Branch), December, 1992, Page 4.

“Coping with temper tantrums”. Infant Times Summer, 1993, Page 45 - 46.

“Men with absentee fathers”

Psychologically Speaking Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society ( WA Branch). June 1993, page 5. 

“The myth of I’m OK, You’re OK”. TA Times May, 1993, Page 8.

“Side effects of negative stroking”. TA Times February, 1994, Page 8 - 9.

“The actuality of I’m OK, You’re OK”. TA Times August, 1994, Page 11 - 12.

“Homophobia and the Paranoid personality”. TA Times November, 1994, Page 5 - 7.

“The demise of the scientific model”. TA Times. February, 1995, Page 11 - 13.

“What men want  [Some of them]“. TA Times. May, 1995, Page 13.

“Born unwanted. The developmental effects of denied abortion”. TA Times. August, 1995, Page 9 - 10.

“Combining training and treatment”. TA Times. November, 1995, Page 15 - 17.

“Stalking”. TA Times. May, 1996, Page 7 - 8.

“Can therapists be real with their clients”. TA Times. August, 1996, Page 10 - 11.

“Critical incident stress debriefing”. The Bulletin. [Australian Psychological Society]. December, 1996, Page 8.

“Heroin use as a passive behaviour”. Drugwise. Autumn, 1997, Page 25.

“CISD debate”. In-Psych. [Australian Psychological Society Newsletter]. April, 1997, Page 16 & 19.

“Memory: Fact & Fiction”. TA Times. May, 1997, Page 10 - 13. Co-authored with Dr M.A. Collins.

“No-psychosis Contracts”. TA Times. February, 1998, Page 11 - 14. 

“Stigma: Society’s impact on the mentally ill.” Concern. [Magazine of the Association of Relative and Friends of the Mentally Ill]. October 1999, Vol. 4, No. 5, Page 27 – 28.

“Transactional Analysis and Drug Use”. Drugwise. October, 2000, Page 53 - 54.

“Conversations: An interview with a sex worker”. TA Times. January, 2001, Page 9 - 17.

“Where WPATA came from”. TA Times. August, 2001, Page 4 - 8.

“Serial Monogamy”. TA Times. August, 2001, Page 13 - 25.

“Drugs in society – a commentary”. TA Times. November, 2001, Page 16 - 22.

“Drug treatment: The Singaporean approach from an Australian perspective”. Drugwise. November, 2001, Page 36 - 38.

“Where WPATA came from. Part 2 – A Pictorial”. TA Times. February, 2002, Page 13 - 27.

“Eros and Thanatos”. TA Times. February, 2002, Page 28 - 33.

“Eros and Thanatos”. Psychologically Speaking. Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society (WA Branch), March, 2002, Page 10 - 11.

“Transactional Analysis – What, Where and Who“. Psychotherapy in Australia. May, 2002. Page 62 – 64.

“Where WPATA came from. Part 3 – The Redecision Connection”. TA Times. May, 2002, Page 30 - 43.

“Where WPATA came from. Part 4 – Sydney & “Lifeskills”". TA Times. August, 2002, Page 14 - 27.

“Where WPATA came from. Part 5 – The Final Chapter”". TA Times. November, 2002, Page 18 - 23.

“Racist or Racish”. TA Times. November, 2002, Page 10 - 11.

“Racist or Racish – Part 2″. TA Times. January, 2003, Page 28 - 31.

“WPATA Biography – Tony White”. TA Times. January, 2003, Page 36 - 41.

Written Submission. Joint Inquiry into the Protection of Human Genetic Information. Australian Law Reform Commission. NHMRC, Australian Health Ethics Committee. February, 2003.

“Racist or Racish”. Psychologically Speaking. Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society (WA Branch), March, 2003, Page 13 - 15.

“The Americanization of Culture. Racist or Racish – Part 3″. TA Times. May, 2003, Page 11 - 14.

“The developmental/conceptual model of ego states: The developmental history of the Adult ego state”. TA Times. May, 2003, Page 15 - 21.

“The Americanisation of Culture: Racist or Racish”. Psychologically Speaking. Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society (WA Branch), July, 2003, Page 13 - 15.

“Can Iraq be a Democracy?”. TA Times. August, 2003, Page 19 - 25.

“The life span stages of change model; Normalising drug use in society”. TA Times. November, 2003, Page 24 - 29.

“Guilt. The therapist’s Parent ego state in psychotherapy”. TA Times. January, 2004, Page 12 - 19.

“Personality Adaptations”. TA Times. May, 2004, Page 19 - 28.

“Assessing suicide risk”. TA Times. August, 2004, Page 23 - 37.

“Mandatory Reporting – Psychology or Policing”. Psychologically Speaking. Newsletter of the Australian Psychological Society (WA Branch), September, 2004, Page 3.

“Object Constancy”. TA Times. November, 2004, Page 10 - 14. (Co-authored with Wendy Tarrant)

“The Three Transferences”. TA Times. January, 2005, Page 41 - 51.

“Leadership and group membership. Eric Berne’s combat state”. TA Times. May, 2005, Page 28 – 36.

“The Godzilla Effect”. TA Times. May, 2005, Page 38 – 41.

“Games Children Play”. TA Times. August, 2005, Page 37 – 52.

“Reunification: from a carer’s perspective”. EX-PRESS.   Newsletter of Chrisitian Brothers Ex-residents and Student Services. August, 2005. Page 5.

“The Adolescent Mind”. TA Times. November, 2005, Page 70 - 80.

“Developing a two person psychology. A model for therapeutic change”. TA Times. January, 2007, Page 6 - 9.

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Web Log articles 

(Available on - www.ynot1.com.au (Blog postings))

1. Madness, genius & the creative mind: How these 3 people think and the relationship between them. (10 March, 2007)

2. The lurker and group dynamics: The lurker or silent bystander and their effects group dynamics. (10 March, 2007)

3. Narcissism: A study on aspects of narcissism (10 March, 2007)

4. The narcissistic psychotherapist: The role narcissism plays for the psychotherapist. (10 March, 2007)

5. On becoming a psychotherapist: The goal of incorporating psychotherapy into the personality of the therapist (26 March, 2007)

6. Being who I am: The goal of psychotherapy. (26 March, 2007)

7. The stigma of counselling: The changing role of counselling in society. (26 March, 2007)

8. Eating disorder: The processes and psychological dynamics in eating disorders. (26 March, 2007)

9. Sex, torment and violence: The inadequacy of the law to deal with human emotions - Violence Restraining Orders. (March 26, 2007)

10. Women in politics: The senseless debate (March 26, 2007)

11. Public mis-information about drugs use: The public is mis-informed about drugs to try and scare them off using. (4 April, 2007)

12. Methadone - A chemical solution to a chemical problem: The contradiction in using a drug treatment to cure a person’s drug problem. (4 April, 2007)

13. The Rebellious Child: Managing the Rebellious Child. (4 April, 2007)

14. The Free Child ego state: Changing from Free to Conforming Child. The Free Child in prison. (10 April, 2007)

15. Dreams and the Free Child: How the Free Child shows up in our dreams. (10 April, 2007)

16. Mother and child. The mother and child relationship - an autobiography. (10 April, 2007)

17. “Cutters” - Self harm. The dynamics and motives for self harming. (12 April, 2007)

18. Suicide. Various aspects of suicidal behaviour. (16 April, 2007)

19. Deliberate suicide risk. Personality features of the suicidal person and their assessment. (19 April, 2007)

20. Two chair work. Various uses and considerations in the Gestalt technique of two chair work. (25 April, 2007)

21. More about two chair work. Dangers in two chair work and two chair work for integration of the personality. (24 April, 2007)

22. Paranoid and paranoiac. Explains features and dynamics in the paranoid and paranoiac personalities. (2 May, 2007)

23. Confidentiality under threat Confidentiality in counselling is coming under more threat. (2 May, 2007)

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Electronic Publications 

1. Finite Marriage. An examination of contemporary marriage. DVD. (May, 2007)

2. Child sex offenders. A new and innovative approach to this area. DVD. (July, 2007)

3. Procrastination and the Parent Contract. What procrastination is and ways of dealing with it. DVD.  (July, 2007)

4. Anxiety and panic attacks. Understanding and stopping panic attacks. DVD. (August, 2007)

5. Feelings, anger and their management (eBook). 2007. TA Books: Perth. CD

6. Counselling. How and why counsellors do what they do. (eBook). 2008. TA Books: Perth. CD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parent Adult Child

There are three parts to the personality, sometimes called the ego states. The Parent ego state, the Adult ego state and the Child ego state. They are sometimes represented by three circles and labelled P, A and C

The Parent ego state is where we have modelled on parent type figures in our life. So it is where we have our values and morals about life. When we have our own children we sometimes find that we are doing and saying things to our own children that were said to us. These are all in our Parent ego state.

The Adult is how you processed reality , made decisions and understood what was going on around you. Sometimes it is seen as the computer of the personality.

The Child is where the feelings and child like aspects of us remain. In all of us there is an ‘inner child’ that remains with us a to our dying day. Sometimes it remains unchanged and the feelings and thoughts that you had in childhood stay with us and can interfere with our everyday life in adulthood. If as a child life was scary and frightening then in adulthood the person may develop anxiety conditions like phobias or repetitive nightmares.

Childhood experiences stay with us for ever.

 

 

The more the Adult is used in everyday life the more effectively one will problem solve and make productive decisions. People with a mental illness can be described as having a small Adult ego state and one can draw the diagram as such.

This person will find it difficult to do basic activities like maintaining a job. The Child feelings and thinking patterns dominate the personality. They do not make Adult reality based decisions. This person needs to reduce the influence of the Child in the personality and then the Adult will increase its influence.

Ego state functions

The Parent is divided into two parts

CP (Critical Parent) - Blames, attacks, criticises, set limits and takes control

NP (Nurturing Parent) - Helpful, caring, comforts, rescues

A (Adult) - Listens, observes, is objective, organises, solves problems

FC (Free Child) - Feels, wants, spontaneous, intuitive, intimate

AC (Adapted Child) - Divided into two parts which are both adaptations to authority.

CC  (Conforming Child) - Pleases others, conforms, obeys

RC - (Rebellious Child) - Oppositional, defiant, naughty, rejects authority

The more effective ego states are NP, A and FC and the less effective ego states are CP, CC and RC.

At birth a new-born only has one ego state, the Child ego state and it is all Free Child. Over time this changes and and the Conforming Child increases more and more as the youngster learns it has to fit in with others needs and there are rules about life. Thus as the youngster grows the Free Child gets less and less.

In western society from a psychological point of view most adults tend have too much Conforming Child. There are some groups in society who are exceptions to this and two of those is the criminal population and the drug using population. These people are not socialised enough and thus they have too much Free Child and not enough conformity to authority.

Conforming Child

 

 

The good employee is the person with good Adult function and quite a bit of Conforming Child. Those with criminal histories or drug use histories need to be more Conforming Child and less Free Child. As one moves up in an organisation more Free Child is required as the Conforming Child can only function if there is someone there telling it what to do. The Free Child has its own initiative and creativity and thus can be more in a leadership position.

Free Child

 

Tony White

Sunday, 15 June 2008

The next supervision group night will be:

 

Tuesday July 1st, 2008

7.00 - 9.00pm

136 Loftus Street, North Perth.

Cost $45

 

This group provides an opportunity to get supervision on clients or any other counselling issues one may have.

 

Other topic of discussion could include:

 

Change in the adolescent stage of development

http://graffiti99.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/05/30/change-in-the-adolescent-stage-of-development.html

 

Eating disorders and pro-ana groups

http://graffiti99.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/05/02/pro-ana.html

 

At the recent Richard Erskine workshop, much was said about attachment styles. Here is some ideas on that workshop and attachment styles

http://graffiti99.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/05/23/vine-swingers.html

http://graffiti99.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/05/24/isolated-attachment.html

http://graffiti99.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/05/25/human-attachment-and-marriage.html

http://graffiti99.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/06/03/attachment-and-proximity.html

 

these topics can be discussed at the study group or other issues you may like to raise.

 

If you wish to attend please contact me -

 

email: agbw@bigpond.com

 

Ph: 9328 8993

Workshop by

 Tony White

 

 

The 15 - 24 years age group is one of the highest risk groups in terms of completed suicides and suicide attempts. Also teenage girls in particular are prone to self harming such as by cutting self.

 

Obviously there are special features of these age groups that make them particularly susceptible to such actions compared to the general adult population. These will be described and discussed in the workshop.

 

There are many different reasons why a teenager would want to harm self or take their own life. These will be described and ideas on how you deal with the different causes will be highlighted.

 

The link between harming self and harming others is also considered. Why do kids kill?. Psychologically there are some close similarities between killing self and killing others. A young adult called Martin Bryant killed 35 people at Port Arthur in Australia and then attempted to take his own life. Teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot dead 30 students a Collumbine high school in the USA and then killed themselves. Why these events happened provide valuable insight into dealing with teenage suicide.

 

Harming self and harming others (bullying) are also closely linked. Psychologically they are quite similar. Looking at why teenagers harm others provides insight into why they harm them self and thus strategies for dealing with self harming can be devised.

 

 

 

Date: Tuesday May 27th, 2008. 7.00pm (1 to 2 hours)

Venue: 136 Loftus Street, North Perth

Cost $45.00

Contact: Tony White 

Email  agbw@bigpond.com   

Phone  9328 8993

Website: www.ynot1.com.au

 

Tony White

Relational TA Therapy Group

Study group

 

 

 

The next group night will be:

 

Tuesday April 15th, 2008

7.00 - 9.00pm

136 Loftus Street, North Perth.

Cost $45

 

Firstly there is supervision provided for anyone who wants to discuss a particular client or counselling issue

 

Relational therapy group

 

Article on group process and group dynamics on March group

 

http://graffiti99.blogspirit.com/archive/2008/03/17/relational-group-therapy-part-2.html

 

 

If you wish to attend please contact me -

 

email: agbw@bigpond.com

 

Ph: 9328 8993

Assessing suicide risk

 

Tony worked in a prison where his main task was the assessment and management of suicidal people. There are many systems by which one can assess how much of a risk a particular individual is of suicide or self harm. Most systems that set about assessing suicide risk do it in a  mathematical fashion. They highlight certain factors that are statistically related to suicide. 

 

For instance, 

* in Australia the highest daily average for suicide is Monday, followed by 

Tuesday and the lowest is Saturday 

* people who have a history of depression are more likely to suicide 

* there are higher suicide rates in Australian cities than in rural areas 

* people who have poor coping skills 

* those who are not thinking in a future oriented way

* people who have little social and family support 

* people who have a history of substance abuse have a higher suicide rate 

 

In these assessment systems one then sets about adding up the number of “boxes 

ticked” for the person. The assumption is the more ticks for the person the more 

likely the person is a suicide risk. Whilst this is a productive thing to do it fails to look at the individual psychology of the person at the time which also happens to be one of the most important factors in such an assessment.

 

In this workshop two ways to do that will be shown. And then how to combine that information with the usually gathered information to assess for the level of suicide risk.

 

 

Date: Tuesday March 18th, 2008. 7.00pm (1 to 2 hours)

Venue: 136 Loftus Street, North Perth

Contact: Tony White - email  agbw@bigpond.com   

or phone  9328 8993

Tony White.
“Homophobia: A misnomer�. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol 29, No.1. Pp 77 - 83.

INTRODUCTION
This paper is based on clinical observation of 30 to 40 cases on what has historically been called homophobia. Thus it must be recognized as not an extensive study of the area, and the conclusions must be taken in that light. The great majority of these have been males although some females have been treated.
Examined will be some of the features and processes of homophobia. In everyday discussion the term ‘homophobia’ is used widely. Those somewhat delusive journals called newspapers not infrequently mention homophobia in their coverage of ‘gay bashings’, and of police who travel around the ‘gay beats’ also bashing or harassing homosexuals.
An initial internet search found 49 site matches for ‘homophobia’. Not one described the condition. The matches were all related to political organizations such as ‘Citizens Against Homophobia’ and ‘Greeks United Against Homophobia’. It appears these organizations seek to stop or reduce homophobia yet it is not defined.
A survey of dictionaries and thesauruses, technical and otherwise were found not to define this term along with many texts on anxiety, phobias, homosexuality and psychology in general. It is not mentioned in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-III or DSM-IV.
It appears we have a situation where the term ‘homophobia’ is used in common language and even political groups are based on it. Yet a definition of it is elusive and a more in depth examination of the concept is virtually non-existent.
HOMOPHOBIA
As mentioned previously a definition of homophobia is hard to find. This has been noted previously by Baraff(1984) who concludes the same. After some searching he settles for the definition of homophobia as: “Homophobia: literally, a phobia about men who are threatened by overt male homosexuality” (P89).
An internet search of ‘phobias’ produced many sites yet a definition or description of homophobia remained elusive. One short definition did come from Culbertson (1995) - “Homophobia - fear of sameness, monotony or of homosexuality or of becoming homosexual”. [no page number].
More insight into the term ‘homophobia’ is provided by Keeton & Gould(1986) . In the biological sciences terms like ‘hydrophobic’ and ‘hydrophilic’ are used. In the term ‘hydrophobic’ we have the Greek roots of hydro - “water” and phobos - “fear’. On the other hand we have hydrophilic molecules meaning “water-loving”. This however is problematic because we have represented in these two terms the concepts of ‘loving vs fearing’. These are meant to represent opposites. However according to Schwarz(1991) and Foreman(1971), the antonym of ‘love’ is hate or loathing. It is not fear. The antonym of ‘fear’ is courage or unconcern. It is not love. It should be noted that in the English language there are very few true antonyms, most are approximations. However, love and fear are not even approximate opposites or antonyms.
One dictionary definition of ‘phobia’ is, “an irrational fear or hatred of something”. “A very strong dislike of something”[P1075], Sinclair(1987). The synonyms for ‘phobia’ are words such as - dislike, dread, fear, hatred.
This demonstrates that there are two concepts for the term ‘phobia’. The first being dislike and hate which are more of the angry family of feelings. Second there is fear or anxiety which are the scared family of feelings. This is further supported by the Chapman(1977) who actually separates the synonyms for ‘phobia’ into two distinct groups - one being ‘fear’, and a second being ‘hated thing’.
These ‘literary’ definitions are generally at odds with the technical definitions which equate phobia only with anxiety and fear. The idea of hatred is not included as such in the DSM-III and DSM-IV. An arachnophobic fears spiders he does not hate spiders. A phobia is not an angry or oppositional condition it is an anxiety condition.
An individual may fear an object but not hate or dislike it. Alternatively and individual may hate an object and clearly not fear it. Indeed some individuals who hate something may actively seek it which the phobic rarely does. For example some people hate or dislike homosexuals and will actively seek them in order to assault them. Hardly phobic avoidance!
Finally a search of the TAJ for the last 10 years shows that ‘homophobia’ is only mentioned in one sentence in a discussion of AIDS patients. “Underlying homophobia and self-hatred may surface, and they may experience themselves as pariahs even to other gay men”[P180], Simerly & Karakashian(1989). They do not discuss the definition or what the concept entails.
In summary this leaves us with an poorly defined term - ‘homophobia’. Also there is confusion over what a definition should include. For example, the more literary definitions equate a ‘phobia’ with fear of an object and hatred or dislike of an object. On the other hand the clinical or technical definitions are quite consistent in equating a ‘phobia’ with the fear of an object and not hatred or anger at that object.
CLINICAL DEFINITION OF ‘PHOBIA’.
One can readily find a definition and description of what constitutes a phobia. One need not look further than the DSM-III.
A phobia is defined by the psychological and physical reactions to the
object or situation feared rather than the object itself. Symptoms of a
phobia include the following:
The victim suddenly feels persistent and irrational panic, dread,
horror, or terror when he or she is in a situation that is harmless. The person recognizes that the fear goes beyond normal boundaries and the actual threat of danger. The phobic reaction is automatic, uncontrollable and pervasive, practically taking over the person’s thoughts in a barrage of imaginary threats and dangers. The person suffers from all the physical reactions associated with extreme fear: rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling and overwhelming desire to flee the situation. The person flees the feared object or situation and goes out of his or her way to avoid it.
IF NOT HOMOPHOBIA, WHAT?
I have never seen an instance of a person being phobic of a homosexual as is described above. Thus one is left with the question - If people who have difficulties with homosexuals are not homophobic what are they? In order to answer this question we need to look at the behaviours that are seen to represent these difficulties.
Bell & Weinberg (1978) talk about ‘homoerotophobia’. They describe such phobics in the following way, “…many persons feel free to rob or assault homosexuals, knowing that their victims are not likely to press charges and even feeling that they are getting just what they deserve” [P188]. Some examples of what they found in their research are as follows:
“How many times has money been illegally demanded of you by the police [or persons believed to be police] for reasons related to your homosexuality?”
One or more times: 5% males, 0% females
“Number of times rolled or robbed in connection with homosexuality”
One or more times: 29% males, 3% females
“Number of times someone has threatened exposure of homosexuality in order to get something of value”
One or more times: Males 14% Females 18%
The Western Australian AIDS Council (1997) conducted research into homophobia in rural youth. They found that in 1996, in Australian high schools in rural areas, 65% of male students and 40% of female students had homophobic thoughts. This homophobia was expressed in forms such as verbal taunts and abuse along with open physical assaults. Commonly homophobia was also observed amongst the homosexual students themselves. They had thoughts such as - “I am what I detest”.
Quite clearly some people have enmity with homosexuals. Also quite clearly the examples described here are not the actions of a phobic. The phobic individual does not seek the phobic object they run away from it. Clearly this is not happening in these examples.
So what is happening? I have identified three sets of reactions from people who have problematic feelings about homosexuals.
First there is homoaggression, second there is homoanxiety and third there is homorevulsion. Homoaggression is the most obvious. Verbal and physical assaults are clear behavioural examples of this attitude. This is the most dangerous of the three attitudes as is shown by the examples of what can be done to homosexuals. The bully type individual can have this attitude as he/she can readily rationalize such actions, and indeed much of society can be seen as confirming their beliefs and actions. Homoaggression from bullying is very apparent in high school aged children.
Homoanxiety may seem odd as I have just spent time stating that homophobia is a misnomer, and a phobia is a disorder of anxiety. However there are individuals who experience anxiety in reaction to homosexuals, yet no where near what could be seen as phobic anxiety. The anxiety can be that they may be affected or influenced by homosexuals. They are concerned that they maybe turned into one in some way. There may also be anxiety that a homosexual may influence or attack his/her children. This attitude is not as dangerous as can be homoaggressive attitudes. Usually it takes the form of a vigilant watch for the presence of homosexuals and then watching them and being careful in transactions with them.
Homorevulsion. Usually this takes the form of feelings of revulsion or disgust about homosexual acts such as oral and anal sex. Such feelings and thoughts can be used as rationalizations for the expression of homoaggressive impulses.
It would seem that any of these three attitudes could also be held by homosexuals themselves. This is particularly evident in the homoaggressive impulses. Simerly and Karakshian(1989) state that gay men with AIDS can at times experience themselves as pariahs to other gays. As was mentioned before the Western Australian AIDS Council(1997) research report homosexuals having thoughts such as - “I am what I detest”. In addition suicidal and self mutilative acts may be a reflection of the homosexual also possessing homoaggressive feelings. More research needs to be conducted to discover if the other two attitudes of homoanxiety and homorevulsion also exist in homosexuals themselves.
CASE EXAMPLES
Each case example described here is of a male client. All these men had been in, or have had long term heterosexual relationships, most producing children. None of them have ever expressed a lack of sexual feelings, or such attraction to females as male homosexuals can. They clearly had sexual attraction to females and none expressed any such attraction to males. None have ever had a voluntary homosexual experience. Whilst it is possible that some men may have homoaggressive impulses due to a denial of their own homoerotic tendencies, I have not observed this. Instead I have seen the homoaggressive impulses coming from traumatic episodes in childhood.
FOUR EXAMPLES
Case 1. 40 year old male. Married 12 years with 2 children. From a Mediterranean culture. Displayed clear homoaggressive feelings. Stated that in his culture homosexuals would be beaten up and if any of them approached him he would deal with them in an aggressive manner. In childhood he was molested by an uncle over about a year when he was seven years old. This was fondling of the genitals by the uncle as he was minded by him. There was no penetration and he was not required to perform acts on the uncle. He also had strong homorevulsion attitudes stating the homosexuality was disgusting.
Case 2. 42 year old male. Married 15 years with four children. Demonstrated homoanxiety, homoaggressive and homorevulsion attitudes. As an adolescent he was ridiculed by his relatives if he ever brought a girl home from school, which he rarely did as a result of this ridicule. He had difficulty establishing relationships with females as he felt self conscious and shy. Also as a teenager, at times he was called a ‘homo’ by his peers because he did not have girlfriends. His homoanxiety stemmed from the feelings that homosexuals make him question his identity which is already insecure. Also he feels that if he is seen with them he states that - “People will think I am homosexual”. In addition he finds the idea of men having sex revolting - homorevulsion feelings.
This client reported a dream which displays some of these attitudes and was to become a central part of the therapy regarding his homoanxiety, homorevulsion and homoaggressive feelings. He wrote this dream down at 3.00am on a Monday morning. He found it quite distressing, and very difficult to tell it. He could not bring himself to write the word homosexual(s) so he used the notation of ‘H’ instead.
“I went looking for my son and his friend. I came to a dark street with a doorway in a building. Some “h” were standing outside. I went down the stairs inside. It was dark and dingy. I noticed an angled floor at the same angle as the stairs on the right. A large number of “h” were lying on it on their backs getting photo lamp suntans.
Just at the bottom of this sloping floor were two “h” sitting face to face. They looked sleazy in their leather. I noticed a doorway next to them. I called out to my son. He was in the little room with his friend. There were two “h” there with them. I called out to my son again. He said, “Wait dad”. I thought to myself, NO, he must come out of there.
I went in. He and his friend had semen all over their faces. There were two “h” there. I punched one away and started to pull my son away and his friend. The “h” did not want this to happen. I pushed them away and punched them at least twice in the head. I kept pulling my son away.
We came out into the larger room. Other “h” came towards us. I pulled my son away and punched the “h” at least once or twice. I think we got out of the building. I woke up.”
This dream allowed him to acknowledge his problematic attitudes to homosexuals and provided a number of options for dealing with them.
Case 3. 35 year old male. Married 3 years with 2 step children. Homoanxiety and homoaggressive attitudes are evident. As a young child he was physically violated by a very domineering mother. This included being given enemas and probably some genital molestation by her. Mother also displayed sexual overtures to him throughout adolescence. Has a history of being passive in relationships with females. In adolescence when there was any intent shown by peers to touch his underpants {”Daking or wedging”} or grab his genitals or bottom he reports that he used to go into a blind rage. Consequently it did not happen often but he was hyper vigilant to any signs that it may, such as in ‘locker room’ situations or school camps. The same vigilance and anxiety about homosexuals exists to date. He also has aggressive attitudes towards them, such as speaking about them in a derogatory manner.
Case 4. 45 year old male. Married 20 years with 1 child. Had his genitals fondled in his early teens by a male adult in a sporting team. Also from the ages of 5 years to 11 years of age, he probably suffered some sexual abuse. There is a considerable loss of memory around this time, yet he does recall some events as an altar boy and with a high profile media personality who he met whilst hitch hiking at age 10. He has strong aggressive feeling about feminine gay men, but not other homosexual men. He feels revulsion at the thought of male homosexual sex acts. He can not watch two males kissing on television and yet is very liberal minded about the great majority of other sexual acts. Any personal advertisements that involve male to male contacts he can not bring himself to read. He automatically feels very squeamish and nauseous.
It should be noted that sexual assault or molestation on male children does not necessarily lead to any attitudes such as homoaggression, homoanxiety or homorevulsion. I have counselled many such men who demonstrate no such feelings. It does seem safe however to conclude that in the four examples described above the sexual assaults that occurred in childhood, did contribute to the three attitudes under discussion. The four men described certainly believe that it did.
OTHER CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONS
1. None of the men who had such attitudes about male homosexuals possessed the same attitudes about female homosexuals.
2. The dream cited in case 2 shows some other features found in these males. The homoaggressive and homorevulsion attitudes are reflective of the I-U– life position. The feelings about their own not OKness resulting from the sexual abuse or ridicule is projected onto homosexuals in an attempt to make self feel OK. This has been found to be a more productive approach to treatment than using the diagnosis of I+U-. This is sometimes seen as confirming the ‘truth’ as they see it. “Well I am better than they are so that is a true statement”, is often the thinking. The I-U– diagnosis is more confrontative of the script beliefs.
3. There are also some features of a paranoid personality structure in these men, although by no means would all of them be diagnosed as such. There is the fear of boundary invasion. In the male, this can involve the fear of oral or anal rape by another male. This was clearly symbolized in the dream reported.
Indeed the client in case two originally stated that he felt, “homosexuals encroach on my personality”. This is a perceived psychological boundary invasion. However in the dream this encroachment is physically sexualized, as came out with subsequent work on the dream. (i.e. the son being forced to engage in oral sex, and the homosexuals moving in on them when they tried to escape).
4. The three attitudes described are rarely felt as ego dystonic by the individual. That is the feelings of homoaggression, homorevulsion and homoanxiety are not seen as a problem by the individual. They see them as ego syntonic - the attitudes are not at odds with the rest of the personality. They feel that the problem is that there are homosexuals and if they all disappeared or became heterosexual then the problem would cease. This illustrates another way in which these three attitudes do not resemble a phobia. The phobic individual commonly sees the phobic feelings very much as a problem and wants to do something about them. They are not syntonic with the personality at all.
5. It has been found however, that dealing with the various homoerotic difficulties is relatively easy, in that the attitudes do not appear particularly resistant to change. Once they have been discussed and some of the childhood memories have been resolved the attitudes to homosexuals eases and the aggression, anxiety or revulsion diminishes. It appears that at least those who develop these negative attitudes as a result of early sexual abuse seem quite amenable to change.
This is a further reason why the concept of ‘homophobia’ needs to be understood for what it is. Phobias are most commonly dealt with by systematic desensitisation. If the three attitudes under discussion are seen as a phobia then the wrong form of treatment will be applied.
6. Another observation about these clients is that in three of the four cases, they were ‘Boyhood Orphans’, (White(1994)). These individuals are males who have grown up with an absentee father [figure]. As a result in adulthood they often have an ongoing need to have a close relationship with a male authority figure. However often such a need is frightening and is therefore avoided. Indeed one such man had had a succession of female therapists and had originally ended up as a client of mine only by accident. His previous female therapist had suddenly left at a crisis time for him, and I was the only one available at that point.
As mentioned such men have a desire to be close to a male authority figure. However this can then be interpreted as meaning they are homosexual. Also these ‘boyhood orphans’ often have a high feminine side to the personality and the adolescent sexual identity crisis is often incomplete. Henceforth, one can see why in this case, homoaggressive feelings would develop.
7. Western Australian AIDS Council (1997) research has highlighted the fact that homoaggressive impulses are particularly evident in adolescents, especially male adolescents. This then begs the question - Why is this so?. The triphasic separation/individuation theory as presented by White(1985) provides some insight into why this happens. The adolescent, being in the Juvenile Negativistic Stage, is endeavouring to establish his ‘altruistic sexual identity’. He should have previously established who he is sexually - ie male; but he is still to establish who he is in a sexual relationship. In an attempt to establish his own heterosexuality there can be a severe reaction against any idea of homosexuality. One way to achieve this is to view homosexuals in and aggressive manner. “I am NOT that!”, is the approach in order to establish who he is.
This is a common ploy used by adolescents in establishing their identities. That is, being definite and oppositional allows one to gain at least a sense of what they are not, thus helping to clarify what one is. So if the teenager is oppositional to homosexuality then he is establishing what he is not, sexually.
CONCLUSION
This paper suggests that ‘homophobia’ is not a phobia. Instead it is suggested that there are three attitudes - homoaggression, homoanxiety and homorevulsion - which explain the ‘homophobic’ behaviour more precisely. Some of the clinical manifestations of such a theory are also considered. This includes the observation that in some instances these three attitudes result from early childhood trauma.
It is however recognized that homoaggressive attitudes can result from parental and cultural script messages and modelling. In such instances, work with the Parent ego state would seem appropriate. Inaddition it appears quite reasonable that such attitudes may also result in those individuals who are denying their own latent homosexual qualities. This also merits further investigation.

REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Baraff, A. (1984). Male homophobia. Voices, 20, 89 - 91.
Bell, A. P. & Weinberg, M. S.(1978). Homosexualities. South Melbourne:Macmillan.
Chapman, R.L. (1977). Roget’s international thesaurus. London: Harper & Row.
Culbertson, F. (1995). Internet. Phobia list. http://www.sonic.net/~fredd/phobia1.html
Foreman, J.B. (1971). Dictionary of synonyms & antonyms. London: Collins.
Keeton, W.T. & Gould, J.L. (1986). Biological science. New York: W.W. Norton.
Schwarz, C. (ed.) (1991). Chambers Thesaurus 1988. Edinburgh: W & R Chambers.
Simerly, R. T. & Karakashian, S. J. (1989). Psychotherapy with HIV - positive, ARC, and AIDS patients: Clinical issues and practice management. Transactional Analysis Journal, 19, 176 - 185.
Sinclair, J. (1987). Collins cobuild english language dictionary. London: Collins.
Western Australian AIDS Council. (1997). Cited in video - The cutting edge - “Out in the bush”. Produced by G. Willison. Rantan Productions.
White, Tony. (1985). Transference based therapy: Theory and practice.
Perth: TA Books.
White, Tony. (1994). Psychotherapy: and the art of being human. Perth: TA Books.

ABSTRACT
This paper examines the structural distinctions made in contemporary ego state theory. Freud (1900) consciously avoided placing boundaries between the superego, ego and id, whilst Berne openly attacked the problem of concretely delineating the three psychic sub- systems. As will become obvious, descriptively Berne achieved suc- cess, yet structurally he had major problems.

INTRODUCTION
Ernst (1971) believes Eric Berne’s most significant contribution to psychotherapy was the delineation he made between the Parent and Adult ego states. This, he says, allowed us to distinguish opinions from objectivity. This view is consistent with the general view that science held up to date. However, at present, the social sciences are experiencing much confusion in certain areas (Strauss and Hafez [1981]; Morgan [1983]; John [1984]; Eysenk [1983]). It is this distinc- tion between Parent and Adult that illustrates why the confusion
exists.

Steiner (1971) defines the Adult ego state as essentially a computer, an impassionate organ of the personality, which gathers and processes data for the purpose of making predictions. The Adult gathers data through the senses, processes them according to a logical program, and makes predictions where necessary. The Parent ego state is essentially made up of behaviour copied from parents, or authority figures. It is taken as a whole, as perceived at an early age, without modification. A person in his Parent ego state, is merely playing back
a tape of early internalized parent figures. It is a repository of traditions and values.

The above definition of ego states implies that the Adult is not a collection of tapes; that it is not comprised of the incorporation of parental figure information. This paper contends that the above proposal, simply stated, is incorrect. When ego attends school and acquires information, this involves the incorporation of the teacher’s instructions. Later on in high school, when ego has more knowledge, he may critically evaluate what he is being taught, yet he can only do this if he has previously incorporated, or learnt how to critically eval-
uate.

The acquisition of language and basic mathematical principles also involves the incorporation of tapes. The most obvious example is the rote learning of multiplication tables and the alphabet. Bruner (1964) agrees with this, stating that all the techniques of data processing are passed down from generation to generation, in each culture. Each child incorporates data processing methodology from his parents.

THE ADULT AND THE ADULT IN THE PARENT
It now becomes apparent that the Adult ego state and the Adult in the Parent ego state are the same. Thus the two ego state model may be represented geometrically, as in Figure 1b.

For further elaboration, it is necessary to examine Stuntz’s (1972) paper on the second order structure of the Parent ego state. He states that the Adult in the Parent (AP) “is an external pro- gram of how to use the computer (Adult)� (p. 60). It is the contention of this paper that the Adult in the Parent (AP) is the Adult, and that any division is unnecessary and leads only to confusion. Stuntz suggests that each time Adult Processing is required that ego state must consult the Adult in the Parent. See Figure 2a. Figure 2b illustrates that the Adult ego state outside the Parent is redundant, doing only what it is told by the AP. Thus it is an unnecessary middleman that creates four processes instead of two.

In Figures 1b and 2b, it is seen that the two ego state model places the Adult ego state inside the Parent ego state. This is meant to indicate that those internalized tapes, specifically referring to data processing and manipulation, are encompassed within the A2. Those tapes not referring to data processing are encompassed within the P2 but outside the A2. Processing which is not based on taping, falls within the realm of the ‘Little Professor’ or A1.

THE ADULT AS A COMPUTER
The Adult ego state is often described as being a computer; this metaphor illustrates the notion presented in Figure 2. Computers are programmed by computer programmers. A computer’s computational ability is entirely dependent on the computer programmer’s logic. (In this case the ‘computer’ is defined as that part of the whole system which the computer user communicates with—most commonly the keyboard and visual display unit.) The computer will only process data according to instructions from the ‘tapes’ or ‘disks’, to which it is connected. It is these tapes that contain the computer programmer’s logic (that is, his opinions, assumptions and beliefs on correct data processing).

As an obvious example—assume the computer user asks the com- puter; “What is 1 + 1?� As indicated in Figure 2a, the computer now asks the tapes, “How do I respond to the stimulus, ‘What is 1 + 1?’� If the computer programmer believed the answer or response should be ‘3’, then the computer will respond with ‘3’. It will see nothing wrong with this. The computer blindly and unquestioningly accepts anything that it is told from the tapes held in its head—as does the Adult outside the Parent. The only function the computer (i.e. the keyboard and visual display unit) serves is to convert computer language into human language. If humans could ‘talk’ computer language, then they could talk directly to the magnetic tapes. Parent ego state tapes are stored in human language, which allows us to talk directly to them. We do not need a conversion process; therefore the Adult ego state outside the Parent serves no purpose.

THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC DEBATE
Consider a more relevant example. Eysenk (1983) states that it is necessary to eliminate all theories of personality that do not have strong empirical support. That is, any theory that does not have empirically verifiable high validity and reliability coefficients. Transactional Analysis theory, and indeed the vast majority of humanistic theories, do not fulfil this criteria. Therefore if we assume that Eysenk is making this statement from an impassionate data proces-
sor, that is not based on any parental tapes, then Transactional Analysis must be eliminated.

However, if the contention of this paper is accepted, then we see that his statement comes from parental tapes that define impassionate data processing for him. For instance his parental tapes must firstly state that one can only know or understand the world through what he considers ‘good or accurate’ scientific method. Any other form of scientific method or intuitive knowledge is useless. Secondly, Cattell and Scheier (1961) argue that inordinately high coefficients and the pursuit of strict statistical rigor make for a theory of personality that is of little or no use in the clinical setting. Eysenk’s parental
tapes must tell him that this is incorrect. Thus the debate is unresolvable as parental tapes are based on opinions or views.

THE SECONDARY GAIN OF SCIENCE
The contention that an Adult ego state exists outside parental programming has led to the secondary gain of science. That is, scientists can argue their personal beliefs and assumptions under the guise of impassionate data processing, so that these beliefs and assumptions do not appear to be beliefs and assumptions. Such is the nature of scientific debate, which is seen to result from Adult ego states that are external to the Parent.

Such debate, as shown in Figure 3a, allows scientists to present their opinions as though they were not opinions. (This occurs when it is forgotten that the Adult outside the Parent is only a middleman.) If it is realized that data processing is dependant on parental programming, then scientific debate occurs from Adult ego states inside the Parent (Figure 3b). This realization immediately suggests to ego, that scientific debate is based on different parental programming, and is
not free of opinions or beliefs about data processing. From this the two scientists are in a position to investigate their findings, based on what their opinions offer to the scientific community. Debates which scientists believe occur from the Adult ego state outside the Parent, are usually conflictual; and approach science from the position of theory A versus Theory B. Such debates most often are not resolved, and have a polarizing affect as both parties believe they are processing data as though it were not dependant on beliefs or opinions.

THE GREAT PROMISE OF SCIENCE
The great promise of science as presented by Cohen and Nagel (1934) is illustrated by the notion of an Adult ego state external to the Parent ego state. They suggest the major attribute of science is that it is self-corrective, and free from human caprice and wilfulness. In the field of psychology this promise of self correction has not been fulfilled. A quick examination of scientific journals is testimony to this. Instead we have theoreticians wanting to eliminate other theories as they believe that their method of data processing is correct
and others are incorrect. This is permitted within the three ego state model, not the two ego state model.

PROBLEMS WITH THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE.
Steiner (1971) states that the Adult may perceive in black and white, often in two dimensions, and from several points of view at the same time. This ability to perceive reality from different points of view at the same time must also have been programmed. If ego has accepted this sort of programming, then she would agree that absolute truth does not exist, and that it is possible to have the same phenomena viewed from different paradigms or perspectives. However, as soon as
she does subscribe to the notion of paradigmatic truth, then it may be invalid. Alternatively, as soon as one accepts the two ego state model, this immediately implies that the three ego state model may be correct.

This apparent paradox, although it appears to contraindicate the presence of a two ego state model, in fact provides the major philosophic support for it. For instance, one may state: The Adult external of the Parent can perceive reality from different points of view. Yet, what if reality in this case happens to be the Adult. Thus the con- struct ‘the Adult external of the Parent can perceive reality from different points of view’ can be perceived from different points of view; and one of those views may suggest that the construct is wrong.

This explains the problems presently experienced by philosophers of science. Their dilemma can be summed up from a statement made by Bronowski (1976): “There is no absolute knowledge� (p. 353). In essence he is saying: it is absolute truth that there is no absolute truth. This implies that he believes there is an Adult ego state external of the Parent. That is, that he can make a statement that is free of parental programming, assumption and opinions. Philosophers of science have also consistently done this.

Ever since Kuhn (1962) coined the concept of ‘paradigms’ there has been much confusion as to its nature. In that book, it has been shown that he defined the term in 21 different ways (Shapere [1964]). Since then, many writers have attempted to define it. A good example comes from Cedarbaum (1983). His succinct and detailed analysis of ‘paradigms’ raises many good points; one being that ‘paradigms’ are basically philosophic in nature. Yet, when one examines his paper, it becomes apparent that it also is philosophic in nature; indeed, that is why it is published in a journal of philosophy. He has no choice, as a philosophic examination of paradigms, must conclude that paradigms are philosophic in nature.

Therefore, the paradigms by which one examines the concept of ‘paradigms’ will determine the conclusions arrived at. Up to date philosophers of science have examined the role that parental programming plays in the acquisition of knowledge, from the point of view that their examination is not based on parental programming. In T.A. terms, they have suggested that the Adult does reside in the Parent. Yet they have suggested this from an Adult that they believe is outside the Parent.

ASSUMPTIONS OF THIS PRESENTATION
Logically, this paper is written from the Adult in the Parent. It is based on beliefs, programming and information, that is different to those used by Berne, when he outlined the three ego state model. There does appear to be a definite informational difference. When Eric Berne first published his paper outlining three ego state theory, it was the mid 1950s: (Berne [1957]), at that time, there was little evi- dence to suggest that the great promise of science, was not true. Scientists and theoreticians generally believed that reality could be viewed free of parental programming. However, with the knowledge explosion over the past one and a half decades, it has become obviously apparent that the promise has not, and will not ever be fulfilled.

It is the assumption, belief, and opinion of this writer that an Adult external of the Parent illustrates the great promise of science; and the Adult internal of the Parent illustrates why this promise has not been fulfilled. The basis of this belief is presented in the preceding pages.

The second assumption of this presentation is that it believes it is necessary to propose an ego state theory which considers the problems of contemporary social science. This is based on the belief that it offers something to the scientific community, both theoretically and therapeutically, that is not already offered by the three ego state model. The reasons for this assumption will become evident over the next four or five presentations. There are undoubtedly many more assumptions of this presentation; these will become more obvious as the concept of two ego states is further discussed.

REFERENCES.
BERNE, E. “Ego states in psychotherapy�, The American Journal of
Psychotherapy. 1957, 11, 293-309.

BRONOWSKI, J. 1976. The Ascent of Man. Angus and Robertson: Sydney.

BRUNER, J.S. “The course of cognitive growth�, The American Psychologist. 1964, 24, 1-15.

CATTELL, R. & SCHEIER, J.H. 1961. The Meaning and Measurement of Neuroticism and Anxiety. Ronald Press: New York.

CEDARBAUM, D.G. “Paradigms�. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. 1983, 14, 173-213.

COHEN, M.R. & NAGEL, E. 1934. An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method. Harcourt Brace: New York.

ERNST, F.H. “The diagrammed Parent. Eric Berne’s most significant contribution�. Transactional Analysis Journal. 1971, 1, 49-58.

EYSENK, H.J. “Personality as a fundamental concept in scientific psychology�.
Australian Journal of Psychology. 1983, 35, 289-304.

FREUD, S. 1900. Interpretation of Dreams . Unwin: London.

JOHN, I.D. “Science as a justification for psychology as a social institution�,
Australian Psychologist. 1984, 19, 29-37.

KUHN, T.S. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolution. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

MORGAN, A.H. Editorial. Australian Psychologist. 1983, 18, 7-8.

SHAPERE, D. “The structure of scientific revolutions�. Philosophical Review. 1964, 73, 383-394.

STEINER, C. 1971. Games Alcoholics Play. Grore Press: New York.
STRAUSS, J.S. & HAFEZ, H. “Clinical questions and ‘Real’ research�, American Journal of Psychiatry. 1981, 138, 1592-1597.

STUNTZ, E.C. “Second order structure of the Parent�. Transactional Analysis Journal. 1972, 2, 59-61.

Tony White
Friday, 19 January 2007
INTRODUCTION
It is interesting to watch how psychotherapies develop. Psychotherapy has as its main goal change in people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours. So psychotherapists have noticed over the years how that comes about. For example they have noticed that if someone goes into a hypnotic state that can result in subsequent psychological change. So they refine the process of hypnosis and get better at controlling and manipulating it, to the advantage of the client. This has happened in numerous ways of the years. Other examples are two chair work, free association, providing a client with unconditional positive regard, setting Adult contracts, giving positive and negative strokes and so on endlessly.
In each instance someone has noticed that the ‘thing’ effects people psychologically and then they refine ‘it’ and so evolves a new psychotherapeutic technique.
Of course another way in which people change and transform is when they enter into a relationship with another person. When we do that we are psychologically altered, sometimes profoundly and sometimes there is minimal change. In recent times there has been the development of a new psychotherapy within the Transactional Analysis tradition that is known as Relational Transactional Analysis. One of the principle references for this is Hargaden and Sills (2002).

RELATIONAL TA
This paper presents “my take� on this. How I understand this relational approach to psychotherapy and how I see it used from my framework. From Hargaden and Sills’ (2002) perspective Relational TA is a system of psychotherapy whose main goal is the deconfusion of the Child ego state. So it focuses more of the pre-verbal issues that are largely unconscious. Using the ego states one could see Relational TA fitting in, like in Diagram 1.
The Relational model focuses on the transference or therapeutic relationship for two reasons
1. Overwhelming research showing the centrality of the therapeutic relationship to cure.
2. It is proposed that deconfusion of the Child ego state can only occur in the transferential therapeutic relationship. The unconscious developmental issues (C1) can only be dealt with in the safe bond of the relationship.
Relational TA rests on the fact that most of what happens (communication) between two people is out of awareness, (unconscious). The exploration and understanding of this is done through the intersubjective realm (the transference relationship). See diagram 2.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2
Diagram 2 shows how one can understand the subjective which involves a persons 3 ego states and how they communicate with each other. This internal communication is shown by the transactional vectors that occur between the persons own ego states. When these two ‘subjectives’ interact then you have the intersubjective realm. That ‘space’ where the transference relationship occurs.
Hargaden and Sills(2002) state that in their view the ‘typical client profile’ is changing. In Eric Berne’s time the common client was an inhibited, rule bound person who needed a “solvent� type of therapy to loosen the script. In this day the typical client does not need a solvent but a glue. They need a way of integrating and building a sense of self. Hargaden and Sills(2002) acknowledge that their client base seemed to have a disturbance of self (borderline, narcissistic and schizoid for example). This has brought them to a focus on the deconfusion of the Child ego state.
I don’t agree that the typical client profile has changed significantly. I do agree that there are a significant number of people who would benefit more from a therapy that provided a glue rather then a solvent. Good examples of such clients are those with a disturbance of the self such as the borderline, narcissistic and schizoid personalities It would seem that these clients need a
glue because they are dissociated from the world and particularly in relationship with others. There is a disconnection or distance between them and the world. A relational therapy is well suited for such a person.

WORKING “WITH� THE TRANSFERENCE OR BEING “IN� IT
Hargaden and Fenton(2005) state, “It has been commonly observed that no psychic change will occur in the client unless the therapist, too, is changed emotionally in some way�(P182).
Historically therapists have worked “with� the transference. With the relational approach the therapist does not work with the transference but is actually involved “in� the transference. A subtle but potent differentiation that certainly merits further thought. For instance what does it mean to say that a person (client & therapist) is changed or transformed in a relationship.
One could say that every human contact is transforming. If I ask another person, “What is the time?�, and they respond “It is 2 am�, then I am transformed. I will be psychologically different than if I had not made that simple parallel transaction as shown in diagram 3. Every transaction and stroke will transform me in some way no matter how small. Indeed one could present this as a new way of defining transactions.
In Woollams & Brown(1978), one finds a definition of transactions as, “…an exchange of strokes between two persons, consisting of a stimulus and a response between two ego statesâ€?(P65).

Diagram 3
Diagram 3 shows two people transacting. One on the left with the three ego states and one on the right with the three ego states. The definition just cited looks at what happens in the gap in-between the two stacks of circles. Which transactional vectors are going where. If one is looking at being transformed by being ‘relational’, one is not looking at what happens in that gap but by looking at what is happening inside/internally the three ego states on the right and inside/internally the three ego states on the left. So from this perspective one can redefine a transaction as:

A transaction has occurred when at least one of the two people involved in the transaction is internally transformed within their own ego three states.

If there is no such transformation, no matter how small, in either party, then a transaction has not occurred. No stroke has been exchanged unless internal transformation occurs. So in this way you are not looking at the transactional vectors between the two parties but the transactional vectors between the persons own internal ego states. Thus indicating some internal transformation is occurring.

ONE AND TWO PERSON PSYCHOLOGY
On the Relational TA forum Helena Hargaden(2006) talks about a “one and two person psychology�, which I find quite interesting phraseology. In a one person psychology it is the therapist who does something to the client to make them better. In the two person psychology she states:

“whereas a two person psychology involves the therapist, at some level, and at some point, being changed by the experience.�

This two person psychology is the relational perspective and involves the client and therapist both being transformed by the counselling. This I find an interesting idea.
So following on logically this is why I like the phraseology of one person and two person psychology. In understanding communication in such a relational way the basic psychological unit ceases to be one person (three ego states), and becomes two person (six ego states with the internal transactional vectors indicating the internal transformations), encased in a skin like Berne sometimes drew with the three ego states. So it is within that skin that the change process takes place. See diagram 4.