Abstract This essay will show the application of Transactional Analysis (TA) and Gestalt Counselling (GC) to a client, and will consider what possible outcomes could be achieved. Introduction For the purpose of this essay I will be using a current client, so to hide his identity he will be called Mr. A. Mr. A is a young male who is currently having difficulties in being able to partake in long term relationships with females. He finds it difficult to commit because he is afraid of getting hurt. He therefore just sleeps with many different women keeping his emotions at bay. Mr. A however does want to have a relationship and “stop messing with girls, and treat them in the same way that I want to be treated”. Mr. A says he has …show more content…

Using the above can help begin to bring to light Mr. A’s own outlook on life and his current situation. It can provide the beginnings of where work needs to be done using the TA theory, but a deeper knowledge is needed to understand where it is we’re starting from. Mr. A has already disclosed that when he meets up with these women that he has found in a bar or a club, that right from the start he has no intention of being serious with them, so why does he choose these women? Using the ego-state model we can see that maybe Mr. A is in a negative/ rebellious child state when he approaches these women. Choosing women, who display characteristics that to him imply, are not wife material, “not the type of woman I’d ever take home to meet the family.” This way he is able to get his physical needs met without becoming too attached, because it is made easy by his critical parent who makes judgment to leave. A strategy Mr. A has learnt maybe from a past experience to help him get a part of what he wants. So Mr. A maybe feels he is protecting himself, by behaving in this pattern. He only takes a part of what he wants (in this case the physical aspects) and denies himself any emotional connection, but why does this happen in this way? Why not just isolate himself off from women