The Impact of Absence and the Ineffable Quality of Protocol

Bibliographic Data

ID20177784
AuthorsSteff Oates (Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume44
Issue4
Pages243-254
Publication date2014-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactional Analysis Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0362-1537 • E-ISSN: 2329-5244
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1177/0362153714556620
OpenAlexW2014334390
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited14

The author considers a relatively unexplored aspect of loss, death, and dying: absence. She describes work with a range of clients in which an alternative or addition to the author’s repertoire of script and game analysis or deconfusion of the Child ego state was needed. This approach, which requires more of a wondering receptivity and an accompaniment without expectation, is particularly appropriate with clients who need to find meaning of their own around considerable gaps in their upbringing. The article challenges the assumption that personality is formed though injunctions, counterinjunctions, and drivers in response to significant others. Readers are invited to consider how much of who we are is formed beyond what is spoken or modeled by others. Consideration is given to Berne’s (1963/1975) theory of protocol as forming the essence or atmosphere that is absorbed into our very being

Art · Epistemology · Id, ego and super-ego · Literature · Personality · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Repertoire · Medicine · Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology · Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy