Welcome to the Drama Llama Game Room. This is a one way deal, you are here now. Proceed. Take a seat at the triangular table. Choose your seat, Victim | Persecutor | Rescuer, and keep in mind the rules of the game mean you will get to rotate between the three roles, depending on the group dynamic vis a vis your ulterior motive.
What if we saw human interaction as a series of transactions? Imagine each connection that happens between people as an equation. Envision the equations we used to work out in high school chemistry. Calculate the goals + payoffs for the exchange between each agent in the triad. Analyse the overall structural integrity of the triad to determine how to disrupt any repeating maladaptive process that’s plaguing the group.
Transactional Analysis helps us to understand ourselves and others so that we can move the human connection forward. We seem to easily settle in a pattern of dysfunctional interaction with the people in our lives. When I look at all the examples from my own life the common thread always comes down to ego. I have learned enough now to observe when I feel irritable and reactive and to know to stop and ask myself is that the truth or the asshole inside your head? Letting my ego drive the bus guarantees me misery in the long term—hard certainty.
Each of the roles in this drama llama triangle manifests from ego. In each case, the role offers a way to avoid responsibility—focus on things beyond your control, scapegoat, and wallow in the misery, rather than go inward and focus on what you can change.
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