In any discipline, concepts can be considered as elements of a larger whole, the theory, which is the language of which they constitute the vocabulary. The theory, as a reference, guides the practice. On the other hand, the practice, confronting the « real », the experience, questions the theory in return. It is therefore necessary to distinguish two different dynamics, which are illustrated in the development of transactional analysis.
On the one hand, the fields of application and the knowledge progressing under the impact of the general scientific and cultural evolutions, a regular revision of the concepts and the theory is required if one does not want to incur the risk to see the latter. scleroser by clenching on rigidified knowledge. (One example is the impact on our understanding of the development of the human psyche of the revolutionary research on infant observation that has emerged over the last twenty years).
On the other hand transactional analysis, like all knowledge, constructing its own object, its hypotheses and its method (including one of the specificities of locating its object at the articulation of the intrapsychic and social dimensions), has considerably changed between when Bern forged the expression of social psychiatry and the current period, because this specific practice could bring to light. The evolution of the use of the concepts of transfer and countertransference, as well as parallel processes, over the last thirty years, is from this point of view, revealing.
It seemed to us relevant to use the term « life of concepts », to signify that they are not fixed notions once and for all, but references in motion, subject to mutations.
B Erne, himself, gave some central concepts of transactional analysis, different definitions depending on the time of his life and with the stage of development of his theory (we think for example of state concepts self or scenario), showing that his thought was evolving. On a more global level, it can be considered that he was necessarily influenced by the conceptions of the immediate postwar period, which had an impact on his vision of the psychology of the individual and the « social ».
Since then , the concepts of transactional analysis have undergone more or less important transformations, thanks to the evolutions of empirical and theoretical knowledge in fields as varied as, for example, general psychology, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, social psychology, epistemology, sociology.
To write the life of concepts is first to think of questions such as: in what sense have the Bernese concepts evolved? Under the influence of what knowledge internal or external transactional analysis? How do these evolutions open new perspectives? What risks of drift or limitation are they promising? It is also possible to identify axes for a more advanced elaboration of the coherence and consistency of the theory.
On another plan, this project also seems useful for the transmission of knowledge in transactional analysis. It would like to register at an intermediate level between specialized journals in French-language, English-speaking or other journals, dynamic and often high-level journals, and a French-language literature which is still often confined to the register of introductory presentations at a « basic » knowledge.
I t is of course a long-term undertaking. Our project is to give it a first impulse, by proposing a method, and applying it to a series of concepts that we consider central to AT.
N e are aware that our view is far from « virgin ». It is imbued with the knowledge and benchmarks of our contemporary era. And if it must tend towards lucidity, it remains an ideal, by definition out of reach.
In summary, our goal is to propose a guide that will allow the public interested in transactional analysis to orient themselves among the different paths that concepts have drawn in their evolution, highlighting continuities, bifurcations, crossings, expansions. .
Our method will be based on the following few formal principles.
For each concept we will endeavor to identify the major writings that are subsequent to the original Berne definitions and to establish a precise bibliography.
N e propose in a synthesis, emphasizing the inflections and made enhancements, changes, developments, risks of abuse or limitation.
N ou will be attentive to account the specificities related to the four areas of application of transactional analysis.
N ou will pay special attention to the authors of reference frameworks (for information: Freudian psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic object relations, inter-subjective approach, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, constructivist approach, …)
N e will strive to maintain a fixed size of about 2 to 3 pages for each contribution.
It may therefore be necessary to treat separately different aspects of the same concept, when it is of great amplitude. One can evoke for example the concepts of state of the self or scenario.
