States of Ego

This concept is one of the concepts founders of the compromise Analyze.

Eric Bern writes in Compromise Analyze and Psychotherapy :

"The term “state of ego” wants simply to indicate the various frames of mind and the patterns of behavior which correspond to it, such as they present to the direct observation , and it makes it possible to avoid at the beginning the use of theoretical constructions such as “impulse”, “civilization”, “super-ego”, “animus”, “eidetic” and so on. The structural analysis is satisfied to affirm that one can classify and describe with precision of such states of ego and that this way of proceeding “is well”… "

Definition

A State of Ego is “a system of feelings accompanied by a system dependant by types of behavior”, or “a coherent whole of thoughts and feelings directly associated with a whole corresponding of behavior”. The Compromise Analysis identifies three States of Ego which are:

the State of Ego Relative, often named Parent spelled with a P capital letter, or indicated by the letter P
the State of Ego Adult, often named Adulte spelled with has capital, or indicated by the letter
the State of Ego has Child. often named Child spelled with an E capital letter, or indicated by the letter E

They are symbolized usually as in the figure opposite called structural diagram of first order.

Description of each State of Ego

“I can think and feel and carry value judgments from any of the States of Ego. ” It should be noted the temporal structure of the States of Ego: when I am in the Adult, I reacted to the situations with all my current resources of large person, when I am in the Relative or in the Child I reproduce behaviors of the feelings of my past.

the Relative : “In this state, the person thinks, acts, speaks, feels and reacts exactly as one of his/her parents did it” or a figure of authority, when it was small. When a person is in the Relative, it often carries value judgments, or has a feeder behavior.

We record in the State of Ego Relative all that we learn from the figures of authority, throughout our life: essence is recorded “Before six years” like writes it Fitzhugh Dodson, but many other additions can intervene with power. Under the presidency of François Mitterrand, a great number of politicians had an elocution comparable with his, it was the same under Charles de Gaulle.

There exist 4 subdivisions of the Relative:

- the Normative Relative (or Critical): he gives the laws and the standards in the accuracy and justice

- the Persecuting Relative: he gives the laws and the standards in an authoritative and exaggerated way

- the Relative Giving (or Benevolent): he supports, encourages and helps effectively

- the Relative Saver (or Rescuer): he wants to be helping but is never effective (see the Rescuer in the triangle of Karpmann).

the Adult : It is “the state of ego, in which the person examines her environment objectively, calculates the possibilities and probabilities of them on the basis of last experiment”.

the Child : “Any human being carries in oneself a little boy or a little girl who thinks, acts, speaks, is moved and reacts exactly in the same way that when he was a child. ”.

There exist 3 subdivisions of the Child:

- The Subjected Adapted Child: he follows the rules and the standards

- the Child Adapted Rebel: be opposed to the laws and the standards

- the Free Child: he is creative, independent and spontaneous.

How to identify the States of Ego

There exist four manners of recognizing the States of Ego:

the behavioral diagnosis:

It results from the observation of the words, the intonations, the gestures, the postures, mimicry of the person observed. Several information is necessary to establish the diagnosis. In certain cases it can be useful to raise questions to raise a doubt about the diagnosis. This is to be brought closer to the Calibrage in PNL.

the social diagnosis:

The underlain idea is to use the diagnosis of the state of ego of a person to diagnose that of her interlocutor, the States of Ego of the two people being often complementary.

the historical diagnosis:

To make this diagnosis, one puts questions to know how the person was when it was child, or on the behavior of her parental figures.

the phenomenologic diagnosis:

It is implemented when the person makes more than to remember her past, but revives it.

Utility of the States of Ego

Gysa Jaoui (Analyst compromise) affirms: it is “a simple and effective tool to include/understand the Transactions, the Jeu X, the Scénarios of life which underlie the human relations and also to include/understand our operation intrapsychic. ”

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