Life Script in T.A.

This is a concept from Transactional Analysis, a psychological model developed by Eric Berne.

1. DEFINITION

A life script is defined as:

• a life plan

• made in childhood
• reinforced by parents
• justified by subsequent events? and
• culminating in a chosen alternative / outcome

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2. FEATURES

A script has the following features:

·????? SPECIFIC PLAN

This is distinctive to T.A. theory: The life script is a SPECIFIC PLAN rather than a general world view; it is a form of a theatre piece, with a beginning, middle and an end.

·????? PAYOFF

A script is directed towards an outcome. As adults we choose, outside our conscious awareness, behaviors that are in sync with our Life Script and which bring us closer to the outcome.

·????? DECISIONAL

A script is not deterministic or solely influenced by external forces, but based on the DECISION of the individual. Hence similar situations, influences and messages from parent figures may not result in the same script for siblings, because each child will make unique decisions based on the external stimuli.

·????? REINFORCED BY PARENTS

Parents do not DETERMINE but INFLUENCE the child’s script decision to a very large extent. The beliefs and decisions of the child are reinforced by parents who validate, support or encourage the child’s decisions about himself, others and the world.

·????? OUTISIDE OF OUR AWARENESS

A script is played out without the conscious awareness of a person. The individual is not usually aware when he is beginning to respond to the situation as if the external situation were similar to the perception s/he had of the world, when script decisions were made.

·????? REDEFINITION OF REALITY

When one is in script, one redefines reality to make it match the perceptions formed during the script making years. When in script, there is an element of

? Discounting

? Redefining

? perceiving reality from one’s Frames of Reference

which further results in the “VALIDATION” OF THE SCRIPT.

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3. WHY AND HOW SCRIPTS EVOLVE

Life scripts represent the best survival strategies in a hostile and life-threatening world. Decisions are made based on the infant’s emotions and reality – testing.

i.?????????????? the decisions are extreme in response to intense emotions that are characteristics of children

ii.????????????? the inferences and decisions are generalized

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4. LIVING OUT A SCRIPT

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TYPES OF SCRIPTS

Winning Script:

• A “winner” is someone who accomplishes his declared purpose

Non-winning Script

• A person who plods along.

Losing Script:

• A “loser” is identified as one who does not accomplish a declared purpose
• and / or achieves a purpose that is attained with misery self limitation or self harm.

ASPECTS OF SCRIPTS

There are two aspects of the Script viz. CONTENT and PROCESS.

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CONTENT:

·????? the set of influences: messages and ensuing beliefs

·????? distinctive as fingerprint – unique to each human being

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PROCESS:

·?? how the script is lived out

·?? can be categorized into common distinctive patterns

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5. WHY AND WHEN WE LIVE THE SCRIPT

We replay strategies decided upon as infants. We react / respond to the world in the here and now reality as if it were the world or situation pictured in our early perceptions and decisions. In TA this is called “being in script” or engaging in “scripty behaviour”.

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Games and Rackets are lived out to confirm, validate and reinforce script beliefs. We set ourselves up towards an outcome that we anticipate in order to assure ourselves that the world view we formed, is indeed true.

The script offers a magical solution for resolving the basic issue that was unresolved in childhood: How to get unconditional love and acceptance.. [1] We may create a magical belief that continues to remain outside our conscious awareness, that if we fulfill the script messages, we will finally gain our parents’ love.

Further, the script provides a protection against “disaster”. Should I not confirm to my script, I have no other frame of reference, and there exists the danger of facing the outcome against which I created the beliefs to make sense of the world around me and to protect myself. ?The only way I knew how to deal with the harsh reality and the world outside was in the comfort of the decisions I made about myself, others and the world around me.

We tend to slip “into script” usually when

1. a situation is perceived as stressful
2. the here and now resembles a stressful situation in childhood?

Hence the term RUBBERBANDS is used. There is usually no conscious memory of the childhood memory. Also the Freudian concept of TRANSFERENCE is comparable to this connection between a current and past situation.

The body may store stresses to block certain emotions. We may carry these tensions for a long time without awareness, and the related emotions may remain unreleased and unresolved too.

Stress is an important element in engaging scripty behaviour. The greater the stress, the greater the chances and the inclination to go into script.

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6. THE SCRIPT AND THE LIFE COURSE

The script is what a person plans to do (decisions made in early childhood)

The life course is what actually happens.

The life course has the following factors interplaying:-

1. heredity
2. external events / providence
3. our script
4. our autonomous decisions [2]

7. FACTORS INFLUENCING DECISION MAKING

From a vulnerable status, a child reacts with feelings (C1) to messages that come his way and then, after psyching out the situation as best he can (A1), responds with decisions (A1) . When these decisions are reinforced by the message-givers they become patterned responses (P1) and may eventually become integrated into an overall life script.? [3]?

The factors on which the decisions of the little individual depend are:

a.???? Lack of power:?

A child is vulnerable; people around him are huge and powerful both in reality and in the child’s perception. A child can be terrified by the slightest sign of anger or displeasure by a parent or older sibling.

b.???? Inability to handle stress

A child’s nervous system is not designed to handle excessive nervous stimulus. A strong stimulus is sufficient to create panic or black outs.

c.???? Immature thinking capacity

The ability of a child to think and reason is limited. The Little Professor resorts to magical thinking, and has a poor sense of time. Decisions taken then seem to be appropriate or valid “forever”.? The decisions of the A1 tend to be over-generalized, global, exaggerated, and appropriate for then and there situations. [4]?

d.???? Lack of information

Data about the world is limited and is controlled by the adults around them. The children know little or nothing of the world around them or the possibilities that exist beyond their own homes or domains.

e.???? Lack of options

Considering their size, strength and intellectual and financial capacities (or limitations), children have little or no options but to accept what their parents or adults around them say or do. He or she has to get along and do the best s/he can (till s/he grows up).

8. THE SCRIPT MATRIX: MESSAGES

The script message comprises DECISIONS taken in response to MESSAGES received in childhood.

Messages may be

• verbal commands: stating what to or not to “do” attributions: messages about what or how one “is”
• non-verbal
• modeled : all messages contain an element of modeling
• direct: conveyed directly to the child
• indirect: conveyed to others and overheard by the child and usually more potent than direct messages.

The effect of a message depends on:

• the type of stroke used to deliver the message,
• the timing of the message
• the frequency of the message
• the source (mother, father, grand parent, parent figure, older sibling) &
• the emotional intensity with which the message is given

There are 2 BASIC TYPES of messages that influence the formation of the script formation:

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Allowers / Permissions: positive, growth-inducing messages

Script Messages: negative, growth-inhibiting messages

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There are 3 kinds of script-messages received from parents:

?Parent > Parent ????? : ????????? Drivers / Counter Injunctions

Adult?? > Adult ???????? : ????????? Programs

Child?? > Child????????? :?????????? Injunctions & Permissions

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COUNTER INJUNCTIONS / DRIVERS (MINISCRIPTS)

• Parent to Parent Messages.
• Commands as to what to do and what not to do.
• Definitions of people and the world.
• One feels compelled ?to follow these commands
• Form a sequence of script behaviors, feelings and beliefs, played over a few seconds or minutes termed mini-scripts. These are a miniature reproduction and replay of the entire life script.

1. Be Perfect?? ??????????? :

Words

As it were, probably, possibly, certainly, we have seen, one might say.

Tones

Well modulated.

Gestures

Counting on fingers

Postures

Upright, balanced

Facial Expressions

Eyes up, as if reading a perfect answer

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2. Please Others???????????????????? :

Words

<High phrase > but <low ?phrase>; OK? All right by you? Kind of, sort of

Tones

High voice, squeaky tone, tone rising at sentence end

Gestures

Head nodding, reaching out with hands, palms up

Postures

Shoulders hunched up and forward, leaning towards the other person

Facial Expressions

False smile, face down, screwed or raised eyebrows, looking up at interlocutor.

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3. Try Hard??????? : Overstress, sacrifice leisure

Words

I’ll try, trying, it’s hard, I don’t get you..?

Tones

Muffled, strangled, throat muscles tensed

Gestures

Clenched fist, strain to hear

Postures

Strain forward, hands on knees, hunched up pose

Facial Expressions

Crunched brows, face screwed up ? wrinkles

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4. Hurry Up

Words

Hurry, quick, get going, let’s go, not time

Tones

Staccato

Gestures

Finger tapping, foot tapping, wagging, wriggling, checking watch repetitively

Postures

Overall agitation

Facial Expressions

Frequent and rapid change in direction of gaze

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5. Be Strong

Words

You are making me angry ( in place of : I am feeling angry)

Tones

flat, monotonous, low

Gestures

absence of gestures

Postures

Closed, folded arms – impression of being reserved

Facial Expressions

expressionless

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INJUNCTIONS & PERMISSIONS ??

§? These are preverbal messages received from the Child of the parents

§? They are recorded in the Child, actually in the C1.

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There are twelve classified injunctions:

1. Don’t
2. Don’t exist (Don’t be) Mental of physical abuse of children Very common injunction, covered by ingenious ways and urges of people to stay alive and compound decisions.
3. Don’t be you
4. Don’t be a child (Don’t have fun, Don’t enjoy) Handed out by parents who are scared or threatened by having their kids around By parents who were not given permission to be children in their childhood Elder siblings take this on, or watching their parents argue, they may decide not to be small, in order to “take control” of the situation in their desire to “restore normalcy”.
5. Don’t grow up Conveyed by parents who wish to remain “valuable” and would be threatened if their children become adult, autonomous individuals.
6. Don’t be important Don’t ask for you what you want
7. Don’t be close (Don’t trust) ?
8. Don’t belong scapegoating or singling out children or constantly telling them how different they are parents modeling their own social ineptitude
9. Don’t be sane / well
10. ?Don’t make it parents who are insecure because of their own underachievement and jealous of any possibility of their children making it big
11. ?Don’t feel modeled by parents who bottle their own feelings or do not encourage or acknowledge show of emotions or believe certain emotions are not allowed
12. ?Don’t think parents who belittle their children’s thinking modeled by parents who get hysterical or panic easily

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Observations

• A Counter injunction is verbal and experienced as thoughts and compulsions; whereas injunctions & permissions are preverbal, experienced as emotions and bodily sensations.
• Injunctions & permissions are recorded in early childhood, and counter injunctions are received later. Injunctions are taken from the beginning of life years and may continue until 6 or 8. Counter injunctions are given between the ages 3 to 12.

9. THE SCRIPT PROCESS

There 6 main PROCESSES or PATTERNS of living out scripts.

1. Until
2. After
3. Never
4. Always
5. Almost
6. Open Ended

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Bibliography

TA Today. A New Introduction to Transactional Analysis.

?????????????????????? Ian Stewart, Vann Joines

?????????????????????????????????? Lifespace Publishing, Nottingham and Chapel Hill

Transactional Analysis

?????????????????????? Stan Woolams, Michael Brown

?????????????????????????????????? Huron Valley Institute Press. 1978

[1] T.A. Today: Ian Stewart, Vann Joines. P. 113. Capitalizations added.

[2] T.A. Today. P. 115.

[3] Transactional Analysis. 153. Highlighting added.

[4] Transactional Analysis. P. 154.