ABSTRACT
The transactional analysis literature has addressed how scripts have been transmitted through parental messages and injunctions and a child's reactions, such as unconscious conclusions and explicit decisions. Some contemporary transactional analysts have examined several processes such as early child-parent attachment, shared language acquisition, and expression of narrative as central in the formation of scripts. The script system categorizes human experience into four primary components: script beliefs; behavioural, fantasy, and physiological manifestations; reinforcing experiences; and the intrapsychic process of repressed needs and feelings. The script system is unconsciously maintained in order to avoid re-experiencing unmet needs and the corresponding feelings suppressed at the time of script formation, to generalize the unconscious experience of self in relationship with others, and to provide a predictive model of life and interpersonal relationships. In the case example, John's life story illustrates how his script system was a repetition of his past and also how his script determined both his identity and his relationships with people.
