TO MY ONLY SISTER GRACE

"Observations on my reading history, in Library, May Nineteenth, Seventeen Hundred Thirty-One

That the great affairs of this world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are carried on and effected by parties

That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or what they take to be such

That the different views of these different parties occasion all confusion

That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his particular private interest in view

That as soon as a party has gained its general point, each member becomes intent upon his particular interest; which, thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, and occasions more confusion."

— Benjamin Franklin

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The object of the author in this book is to offer a systematic framework for the therapy of ailing groups and organizations. The use of the system in practice is demonstrated in Part I by the analysis in some detail of a single group meeting. In Part II a group model based on historical considerations and the observation of contemporary groups is set up, and its practical applications are illustrated. Part III is a consideration of the real individual as a member of groups and organizations and his anxieties and operations when faced with the emotional complexities of personal relationships. This section is based on the principles of transactional analysis, which are more fully discussed in my previous book, Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy (New York, Grove Press, 1961). Part IV includes a chapter for group therapists and some examples of the direct application of the system to the therapy of ailing groups and organizations. There are two appendices, one devoted to the literature of group dynamics and the other to a classification of social aggregations. Finally, there is a glossary.

This study is based on a schedule of leading, observing and participating in groups over a period of 19 years, as well as teaching and supervising group therapists and acting as consultant to leaders of ailing groups and organizations of various kinds. This included experience with about 5000 shifting situations of different types with the Army, the Navy, the Veterans Administration, the California State Hospital and Correctional systems, municipal, county and private community service agencies, the University of California and Stanford University. The responsibilities and pleasures of everyday living have also offered learning opportunities in private psychiatric practice, politics, athletics, religion, education, science, the classroom, the courtroom, the theatre, at the buffet and around the campfire.

The ideas presented here have been under almost continuous critical review since their first presentation in 1953, mostly in San Francisco: at the Veterans Administration Mental Hygiene Clinic, Mount Zion Hospital, Langley-Porter Neuropsychiatric Clinic, Stanford Psychiatric Clinic and a section of the Human Research Unit from Fort Ord, and at the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars, where the therapy of ailing groups has been pursued most systematically.

The ideal throughout has been to order the facts observed in a way that would be useful in the rough and tumble of practice where people play for keeps. Personal observations in many different countries

viii Preface

have been compared with material in the literature and the experiences of others. Although the clinical view predominates, a wider audience, even beyond the social sciences, has been kept in mind, including undergraduates and laymen who have organizational responsibilities. The language has been kept as simple as possible, and technical terms are defined in the glossary. Notes have been appended where indicated for academic reasons and documentation, as much for the writer's pleasure as for the reader's edification, so that no one need feel obligated to read them unless he enjoys them.

SEMANTICS

"Is" and its cognates, in appropriate contexts, mean: "has been, in every case in my experience." "Seems to be" and "appears to be" mean: "has been, in the few cases seen so far." "He" in general statements refers to both sexes. The clinical vocabulary does not go beyond an introductory course in abnormal psychology.

One important reservation should be kept in mind. It is fashionable nowadays to speak of "the group" with unwarranted concrete-ness. Whether such an animal really exists is debatable. The expression is used here only as a concession to facilitate discussion and conceptual manipulation. As a reminder of this, "a rjroup" (as a collective) is often substituted. The distinction is analogous to that between "the Allied troops" (with all their equipment, apparatus and potentialities) and "a party of friendly soldiers."

The writer prefers to use the word "however" like the Latin autem, never at the beginning of a clause; in this book, however, he has deferred to the editor's preferences in this and other matters of style.

Eric Berne

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and ChichicastenangOy Guatemala

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Thanks are due first of all to my parents, who bequeathed me the genes and the upbringing which sustain my curiosity about people and their problems and to my urge to do something about it. Hundreds of students and patients offered the stimulation and the material which enabled me to carry out this commitment as far as it has gone. Of the many teachers who influenced my thinking and feeling (and here I am name-dropping, getting considerable satisfaction from having had the privilege of knowing them), the most meaningful have been Professor Eugen Kahn, the late Dr. Paul Federn and Prof. Erik Erikson. In a more informal way I am indebted to Drs. Nathan Ackerman, Martin Grotjahn and Benjamin Weininger.

I am particularly grateful to those who provided special opportunities to present these ideas for discussion, especially Dr. Donald Shaskan of the Veterans Administration Mental Hygiene Clinic in San Francisco, Dr. Norman Reider of Mount Zion Hospital, San Francisco, Dr. Francis Palmer, formerly of the Human Research Unit at Fort Ord and now of the Social Science Research Council, Dr. M. Robert Harris of the Langley-Porter Clinic, and Drs. Seymour Kolko and others of the Stanford Psychiatric Clinic. All of these are men of outstanding generosity, who repeatedly invited me to speak whether or not they always agreed with me.

Dr. R. J. Starrels I thank for the interest he showed right from the beginning, Dr. Bruno Klopfer for his continued interest, Dr. Martin Steiner for having organized the first seminars at Mount Zion, Mrs. Gene Prescott, who started what later evolved into the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars, and Miss Viola Litt, whose administrative abilities have kept the Seminars going.

Then there are the "nuclear" people, who came or continue to come to discuss and present week after week, year after year; besides Dr. Starrels and Miss Litt this group includes (in Carmel) Dr. David Kupfer, Dr. Herbert Wiesenfeld and Miss Anita Wiggins; and (in San Francisco) Mr. Melvin Boyce, Mr. William Collins, Mr. Joseph Concannon, Mr. Harold Dent, Dr. Franklin Ernst, Dr. Kenneth Everts, Miss Margaret Frings, Dr. Gordon Gritter, Mrs. Frances Matson, Mrs. Mary Michelson, Dr. Ray Poindexter, Miss Barbara Rosenfeld, Dr. John Ryan, Mrs. Myra Schapps, Dr. Claude Steiner and Dr. Robert Wald. Finally, there is Dr. Hubert Coffey, of the University of California in Berkeley, to whom I am most grateful for a careful review of an earlier draft. There are about 200 others who

x Acknowledgments

have discussed the material, so that I can only apologize for not naming everyone who has been helpful.

Those who helped in the preparation of the manuscript are my secretary, Mrs. Allen Williams, my son Peter and my daughter Ellen. But because people learn the practical aspects of group dynamics when they are very, very young, this book is dedicated to my only sibling.

Eric Berne