Transactional Analysis (TA)

What is transactional analysis?

Transactional analysis, or TA, is a theory of personality and a system for personal change. The name means the study of how people communicate and relate, or how they transact.

It is an integrative approach, grounded in a humanistic view of people. The BACP describes it as drawing on humanistic, cognitive behavioural and psychodynamic therapy.

Sessions look at exchanges in the room, here and now. From those you learn about your relationships and about your own personality.

A conversation is the material. You look at what you each said, what you each meant, and where it went.

Sources: UKATA: about, UKCP: approaches, BACP: types of therapy

Where it comes from

Eric Berne, a psychiatrist, founded TA in the 1950s and 1960s. He trained in psychoanalysis in San Francisco.

In 1957 he set out the three ego states and called the approach new. His first book on it followed in 1961. Then came "Games People Play" in 1964, which has sold in millions.

Berne and his colleagues set up an international association in 1964. He died in 1970. The UK association followed in 1974.

Sources: UKATA: about, ITAA: what is TA, Berne 1961, ITAA: Berne's publications, Penguin: Games People Play

How it works

Berne saw the personality as three ego states. Each is a whole system of thoughts, feelings and behaviour you can act from. He named them Parent, Adult and Child.

Those states often form early and get replayed in the present. They keep old patterns going, which you can notice and change.

A transaction is an exchange between two people. Your therapist is trained to hear which state each of you is speaking from.

Berne called the units of recognition we all need strokes. He called certain repeating, roundabout exchanges games. A game reinforces a bad feeling about yourself, instead of saying the thing directly.

Behind the games sits the life script. Berne saw it as a plan for your life, settled by decisions taken young to survive. Changing that script is the aim of TA psychotherapy.

Sources: ITAA: what is TA, UKCP: approaches

What sessions look like

TA works on a contract. You and your therapist agree what you want to change, because you are the one who decides that.

The UKCP says one-to-one sessions typically last 50 minutes. Most people go weekly, at the same time.

Therapy can be short or long term. Some may continue for two years or more. Many therapists also work online or by phone.

Sources: ITAA: what is TA, UKCP: FAQs

Beyond the therapy room

TA has four fields: psychotherapy, counselling, education and organisational work. You can train and qualify in any one of them.

So the same ideas turn up in schools, in teams and in organisations. A therapist you see privately will have trained in the psychotherapy or the counselling field.

Sources: UKATA: about, ITAA: what is TA

Who it may suit

TA may suit you if you:

• Notice your conversations going the same wrong way
• Want to understand how you come across to other people
• Like a clear map and plain names for what happens between people
• Would rather agree a goal than talk without a direction
• Want to look at old family patterns as well as present ones

The work builds on the relationship you form with your therapist. It may suit you less if you want a set programme of exercises for one problem. A course of cognitive behavioural therapy stays with current problems and practical solutions.

Sources: UKCP: approaches, BACP: types of therapy

Finding a TA therapist

Full qualification is the Certified Transactional Analyst, awarded by the European association. It usually takes about four years of part-time training. Candidates then sit a written and an oral exam.

Anyone in the UK can call themselves a psychotherapist or a counsellor. The NHS says to check that a private therapist is on a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.

UKATA is an organisational member of the UKCP. It can place suitably trained members on the UKCP register of adult psychotherapists, and that register is accredited.

Sources: UKATA: CTA certification, Lally & Naulls 2025, NHS: talking therapies, UKATA: UKCP registration, PSA: UKCP

The evidence

TA has been studied for decades, mostly in small trials. A 2022 review was the first to pool them.

It found forty-one trials of TA treatments. People improved on symptoms, on social functioning and on wellbeing. Against control conditions the differences went the same way.

The same review found TA worked better on most outcomes for individuals, groups and families. Its authors conclude that TA may be considered effective for many clients.

Read that alongside how few randomised trials exist. We searched the PubMed database on the day we wrote this page. Three records carried transactional analysis in the title or abstract and a randomised trial tag.

One UK study is worth a look. It gave twelve sessions of TA or integrative counselling to people with anxiety and depression, in primary care. Severity fell with either approach, and the authors call the design naturalistic rather than a trial.

NICE does not name TA in its guidance on depression or generalised anxiety. NHS Talking Therapies does not list it.

If you are weighing up a few options, our guide to the different approaches sets them side by side.

Sources: Vos & van Rijn 2022, van Rijn et al. 2011, NICE NG222, NICE CG113, NHS England: talking therapies manual