About Psychoanalysis, precursor of Cognitive therapies and Transactional Analysis (TA)

Yes indeed I owe much to Transactional Analysis,  therefore to Eric Berne, who originated it.

I have already referred to it and urged readers to read my summary under "Articles" on the Web of
USATAA.org - where I refer to Freud as precursor.  I will summarize here also, starting with Freud.

He was the great genius who discovered the vast domain ofr the Unconscious into which we tend to repress, during childhood, all kinds of memories and experiences and, in particular, thoughts and feelings  considered unacceptable by our parents or society.  In later life, these may manifest  as all kinds of painful or distressing psychosomatic symptoms. When formerly repressed thoughts and feelings become conscious,  a person can use his/her adult mind and faculties to deal with them rationally and  can  thus obtain relief from  previously overwhelming symptoms. Freud considered dreams to be the "royal road to the Unconscious" .By "analyzing " a person's dreams he could help him or her bring repressed material to light.  This is easier said than done, because repressed thoughts and feelings are usually disguised, so the process of  psychoanalysis is a long one.  It  became a good research method for  Freud and led him to many additional valuable insights about human nature, but it is ponderous, time consuming and expensive for an average patient.

 However for a long time the psychoanalytic method  seemed like the only way to help patients improve their lives,  and in the United States, in many cities, psychiatrists established Psychoanalytic Institutes to train and certify American psychoanalysts.  

Four such trained and practicing psychoanalysts  developed treatment modalities and "schools" of their own, avoiding the psychoanalytic emphasis on detailed delving into past experiences before dealing with present-day dilemmas.  Instead,  they showed that by focusing conscious power on the "Now" there are ways to  to circumvent analyszing the past regardless of the fact that present-day problems  originate during childhood. They were:

1.  Fritz Perls
2. Alfred Ellis
3.  Aaron Beck   and:
4. Eric Berne who developed  Transactional Analysis