ABSTRACT
Alliance ruptures can be conceptualized in relational transactional analysis (TA) terms to signify the possibility of a game enactment between the therapist and client. Therapists who work relationally with the transference and countertransference as a major therapeutic tool do not consider the enactment of a game to be intrinsically bad, but rather an inevitable process whereby the client's unconscious process or core conflictual relationship theme surfaces in the transactions and relationship with the therapist. Therapists have two main options in dealing with games in the therapy room – watch for the game and confront (at the opening con), or be receptive to the game and allow ourselves to be engaged in the unfolding of the client's unconscious processes. Whereas confronting or interrupting the game may be useful in certain situations, in other fields of application of TA, making space for the game to emerge can be a crucial feature of an in-depth TA therapy.
