Customer Reviews

Scripts People Live: Transactional Analysis of Life Scripts

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I never write reviews but this book was so incredible. Comprehensive and yet specific enough to give people serious insight into their unconscious decisions and how to change that. Mr. Steiner examines how society promulgates and promotes certain behaviors as well as our parents, teachers, etc. etc. This book is a must read for anyone truly interested in the inner-workings of themselves and others. VERY ENLIGHTENING!

I constantly give this book away! To my adult students who are dealing with the old "I'm not (whatever) enough." It had a phenomenal effect on me at 40, clarifying so many contradictions. The author gets one to look at what is, and what isn't "my script." And helps one along the path to finding the one I'm "writing."

As a worker in the field of 'mental health', I found this book to be invaluable in demystifying mental illness and assisting clients in learning about themselves using everyday language they can understand, not the psycho mobo jumbo utilized by psychiatry (to keep people oppressed and thinking they cannot cure themselves)This book, almost 30 years old, is probably more relevant today, particularly as the legions of 'rescuers' become more prevalent in society, i.e. therapists, counselors, probation officers, and all those in favor of the medicalization of behaviors. The books basic premise, that people can solve their own problems and get better on their own by redeciding, is both true and a threat to those who purport otherwise. For further in depth education in demystification, I recommend reading Thomas Szasz.

Claude M.Steiner shows great respect to the late E.Berne and analyzes properly and with solid argumentation the Transactional Analysis in a very approachable way. It is very pleasant to read and it is full of useful information and examples for those who wish to implement TA in their lives. I highly recommend this book to those who want to find out what is TA and what are the scripts we live. As E.Berne, Claude M.Steiner disagrees with the way psychiatry is treating people and teaches us how to treat our children and how to develop ourselves intellectually and emotionally.

i have to confess that I've not been a great fan of Transactional Analysis [TA] in the past, probably because a lot of TA practitioners had a certain evangelical fervor about them that conflicted with my 'tool box" approach to therapy ie no one approach will fit all. Having read this book I suspect that some of my reservations at least came from the popularization of TA [or dumbing down,depending on your mood at the time] via the works of Amy and Tom Harris in their book "I'm Ok your OK". Reading Steiner's book reminded me of the refreshingly no-conformist roots to Eric Berne's approach and left me feeling that his whole attitude and ethos is one we would be wise to rediscover. A very helpful explanation to the real contribution and value of Life Scripts as a framework for personal growth and development

Scripts People Live is one of the best books I've ever read. I highly recommend it for anyone with children. This book teaches how to allow one's children to become the best they can be.

Parents are very good at training children to be joyless. Parents also teach their kids to be victims by reinforcing powerlessness. Parents limit their children's abilities to think for themselves. The parents I'm talking about are what we'd think of as normal, loving parents. They do so unwittingly; they do so erroneously believing they're doing the best for the child.

If you'd rather raise autonomous children who can experience joy, think for themselves, not have addictions, who can experience intimacy, and express their emotions, then this book is for you.

I read _I'm OK - You're OK_ first, and I found it gave me a very strong understanding of transactional analysis, making it easier to absorb the concepts of _Scripts People Live_ easier. This isn't required though as there is a summary of TA in the beginning of SPL.

Great book...a must read for anyone in a relationship with another human being.

I'm a corporate trainer and course developer. Over the years, I've had numerous requests to make my courses public so, we're currently developing a series of "relationship" and "how to courses" that people will actually find useful in their life. Lets face it - reading TA material - or any psycho babble material - is typically very boring and very dry. Alas, once you grasp the working theory it's quite helpful and beneficial to our every day life situations. I'm always on the lookout for ways to make my courses more interesting - especially when it pertains to relationships. Since my partner is a shrink, I happened to stumble across this book and I LOVE it! It's easily written, easy to understand and easy to incorporate in your life.

Claude Steiner has given us, in this book, a most valuable resource for understanding how Transactional Analysis (TA) works in real life situations. If you have read Berne's Games People Play then Steiner's book is the logical follow up. Berne describes interpersonal relationships with some very good examples; Steiner gives us the scripts to more completely understand TA. Steiner helps make Berne more understandable and paints with a broader brush as he gives the reader the flesh and bones of TA.

Bob Pavelsky, Ph.D.

As a writer of plays and a womb of characters, I found this book valuable as well in a bizzare way comforting. It's the kind of book that you read and think, yeah...so and so was like that...oh wow, that's what they are were doing , and that's why they where doing it, more confronting that's what I'm doing. Anyone who is interested in why people are the way they are should enjoy this book. It won't provide a complete reasoning on the human condition, but it will help a great deal.

This book is a good and natural follow-up to Eric Berne's Games People Play. Berne was the father of Transactional Analysis (TA), and Steiner was his protege and friend. It would be advantageous to read Berne's book first, but it is not necessary, since Steiner devotes the first section of his book (24 pgs.) to explaining TA to those who are not already familiar with it.

The main reason I'm writing this review is to provide some balance to all of the five-star reviews. I read this book, benefitted from it, and am therefore recommending it--but with a couple of caveats.

The biggest downside to this book is that it is peppered with Steiner's political views that are so liberal it would not be unfair to categorize him as a Marxist. Berne believed that politics should be kept out of therapy. By refusing to do this, Steiner actually proved the wisdom of Berne's position. To cite just one example of Steiner's huge liberal bias, I'll include a quote from page 152: "Here parents are putting their energies into raising a work force for exploitation by industry and commerce much as farmers who fatten cattle, but (unlike farmers) for no profit to themselves except the pride of having a hardworking son or daughter who is a good housekeeper." Steiner believes that it is often necessary for patients (a term he dislikes) to wake up and realize how bad they're being screwed by capitalism for them to get better. But he fails to explain (and I fail to understand) how the citizens in the communist countries of China, Cuba, and North Korea are so much better off than we exploited Americans.

My second complaint about the book is that, since the copyright date is 1974, parts of it are quite dated. This comes across most when Steiner writes about gender roles. The best (or worst) example of this is chapter 27: "Men's and Women's Liberation." Even the language Steiner sometimes uses in this chapter is so early-seventies it's embarrassing. On page 312, he actually writes, "Can you dig it, brother?" When I read that, I had a flashback to that episode of The Brady Bunch where Greg moved into his dad's den and basically turned it into his own bachelor pad.

But if you can get past those two obstacles, the book has a lot of good information and insights in it and is worth reading. Like I said at the beginning, I definitely benefitted from it.