Care and Maintenance of the Tree of Transactional Analysis

In this article, the analogy of a tree planted by Eric Berne is used to provide a perspective on what constitutes the "core" of transactional analysis. In describing the roots, trunk, and branches of this "tree," the author calls for care and maintenance so that it can grow with greater synergy and less entropy. Some of the challenges that may affect the healthy growth of this "tree of transactional analysis"-such as the integrative psychotherapy movement, constructivism, objection to the use of energy metaphors, the "psychoanalytization" of transactional analysis, and lack of scientific validation-are identified and discussed. The author urges transactional analysts to sustain the healthy growth of transactional analysis for the new millennium by following the legacy of Berne's original creative and scientific spirit, without which there would be no transactional analysis today.