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This 280-page book was written from the perspective of
a writer who has participated in the development of transactional analysis from
its earliest days to the present and has witnessed TA's evolution from a weekly
gathering of a dozen of Eric Berne's admirers half a century ago to a worldwide
movement of deeply egalitarian and democratic principles involving thousands of
adherents.
The Heart of the Matter is dedicated to all the
people who are fascinated by transactional analysis and want to understand the
heart-centered, information-based perspective developed by the author. Love,
strokes, the stroke economy, cooperation, power abuse, and an anthropological
analysis of how our hierarchical power system evolved are explored in depth.
The crucial roles of the Child, the Adult, and the two Parents -- Nurturing and
Critical -- are illuminated.
Steiner synthesizes in one brief and readable text his
extensive elaborations on the theory of scripts, games, and strokes, while
maintaining faith with Berne's core concepts: contracts; the universal OK
existential position; crisp, understandable theory and rhetoric; effective,
information-based practice; and the analysis of transactions between ego
states. |
