Book Review

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Dr.Vaneeta Aggarwal Aashdeep Kaur
U.B.S. MBA HR
About The Author
Dr. Thomas A. Harris is the author of I'm
OK - You're OK, the 1967 bestseller
based upon the ideas of Transactional
Analysis by Dr. Eric Berne.  The late
Thomas A. Harris was born in Texas. Harris attended
Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia. 
Upon graduation, Harris began his psychiatry training,
and then entered the U.S. Navy as a psychiatrist.

After a long career with the Navy, Harris entered

private practice in Sacramento, California in 1956. 
Around this time, Dr. Eric Berne of Carmel was getting
ready to publish his new theory on Transactional
Analysis.  Dr. Harris went on to study with Dr. Berne,
becoming a new breed of psychiatrists embracing the
techniques of Transactional Analysis.  After the
phenomenal success of Berne's Games People Play in
1964, Harris published I'm OK - You're OK, his guide to
Transactional Analysis based upon the work of Dr. Eric
Berne.
After I'm OK - You're OK, Dr. Harris went on to become
a director of the International Transactional Analysis
Association.  Dr. Harris continued with an active life in
psychiatry and practitioner of Transactional Analysis up
until his death.
Bibliography of I'm OK, You're OK

Title I'm OK, You're OK

Authors and contributors By (author) Thomas A. Harris
Categories Psychotherapy
Physical properties
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages 288
Width: 111.00 mm
Height: 179.00 mm
Thickness: 19.00 mm
Weight: 152.00 g
ISBN
ISBN 13: 9780099552413
ISBN 10: 0099552418

Edition : New edition

Illustrations note illustrations throughout
Publisher Cornerstone
Imprint name Arrow Books Ltd
Publication date 04 May 1995
Publication City/Country London/GB
Book Review

Using the Transactional Analysis theory first introduced

by Dr. Eric Berne, Dr. Thomas A. Harris has published
the results of his pioneering work in this best selling
book. This is probably one of the best books that
explains how to use this theory in improving all kinds of
personal relationships.
Dr. Harris starts off by going into the history of
Transactional Analysis and the theories of those before
Dr. Eric Berne. The second chapter explains the basic of
Transactional Analysis which is the concept of the
Parent, Adult, and Child ego states that are supposed
to compose each and every one of our personalities.
The Parent ego state contains all the information we
accept as true that we have gathered from authority
figures including our parents. The Adult ego state is the
collection of all information that we have proven to
ourselves as being true (using some sort of logic). The
Child ego state is our natural good and bad side of
feelings - love, anger, greed, empathy, etc. The author
extensively uses the phrase P-A-C (Parent-Adult-Child)
through the rest of the book.
Dr. Harris then introduces the concept of the four
different life positions that each of us adopts at any
given time. All of us apparently go through four life
positions ending up with the last one in a sequential
manner except some of us get stuck in the earlier
stages (this results in problems that typically need
therapy). These four positions are -
1. I'm Not OK, You're OK
2. I'm Not OK, You're Not OK
3. I'm OK, You're Not OK
4. I'm OK, You're OK
The next few chapters of the book focus on the fact
that we can change no matter what stage we are stuck
in and the theory behind how to change. The chapters
after that focus on a few specific types of relationships
- with spouses, children and adolescents. There is then
a chapter discussing when treatment is necessary and
the book wraps up with a couple of chapters on P-A-C
with regards to moral values and social implications of
P-A-C. These last two chapters are more subjective and
probably the author's personal views at that time.
The Parent, Adult, Child (P-A-C) Model

After describing the context for his belief of the

significance of TA, Harris describes TA, starting from
the observation that a person’s psychological state
seems to change in response to different situations.
The question is, from what and to what does it
change? Harris answers this through a simplified
introduction to TA, explaining Berne’s proposal that
there are three states into which a person can switch:
the Parent, the Adult and the Child.
Harris describes the mental state called the Parent by
analogy, as a collection of "tape recordings" of external
influences that a child observed adults doing and
saying. The recording is a long list of rules and
admonitions about the way the world is that the child
was expected to believe unquestioningly. Many of
these rules (for example: "Never run out in front of
traffic") are useful and valid all through life; others
("Premarital sex is wrong", or "You can never trust a
cop") are opinions that may be less helpful.
In parallel with those Parent recordings, the Child is a
simultaneous recording of internal events — how life
felt as a child. Harris equates these with the vivid
recordings that Wilder Penfield was able to cause his
patients to re-live by stimulating their brains. Harris
proposes that, as adults, when we feel discouraged, it
is as if we are re-living those Child memories yet the
stimulus for re-living them may no longer be relevant
or helpful in our lives.
According to Harris, humans start developing a third
mental state, the Adult, about the time children start
to walk and begin to achieve some measure of control
over their environment. Instead of learning ideas
directly from parents into the Parent, or experiencing
simple emotion as the Child, children begin to be able
to explore and examine the world and form their own
opinions. They test the assertions of the Parent and
Child and either update them or learn to suppress
them. Thus the Adult inside us all develops over time,
but it is very fragile and can be readily overwhelmed by
stressful situations. Its strength is also tested through
conflict between the simplistic ideas of the Parent and
reality. Sometimes, Harris asserts, it is safer for a
person to believe a lie than to acknowledge the
evidence in front of them. This is called Contamination
of the Adult.
Four life positions

The phrase I'm OK, You're OK is one of four "life

positions" that each of us may take. The four positions
are:
1. I'm Not OK, You're OK
2. I'm Not OK, You're Not OK
3. I'm OK, You're Not OK
4. I'm OK, You're OK
The most common position is I'm Not OK, You're OK. As
children we see that adults are large, strong and
competent and that we are little, weak and often make
mistakes, so we conclude I'm Not OK, You're OK.
Children who are abused may conclude I'm Not OK,
You're Not OK or I'm OK, You're Not OK, but this is
much less common. The emphasis of the book is
helping people understand how their life position
affects their communications (transactions) and
relationships with practical examples.
Criticisms

1. Many people find the first three chapters, which

provide theory and definitions, slow going. After
that the pace quickens. Some of the many
examples are out dated, so the reader needs to
work harder to understand their meaning.
2. The book is too simplistic, and its attempt to offer
a universal panacea is found unappealing.
3. This book is not an academic or theoretical
introduction to Transactional Analysis, and will
disappoint those desiring one. Nor does it deal
with advanced topics in psychopathology.
4. Transactional Analysis can be a very insightful and
subtle tool, and this book only covers only a few of
its many applications.
Summary

It’s a guide to transactional analysis. In non-technical

language, it offers advice on gaining control of yourself,
your relationships and your future, no matter what has
happened in the past. It is a mass-market book and it
has the plusses (accessibility, practicality) and
negatives (simplification, shallowness) of that
approach.