Transactional Analysis Journal

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Matters of Consequence
Lois M. Johnson
Transactional Analysis Journal 1981 11: 66
DOI: 10.1177/036215378101100113

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 Matters of Consequence"
Lois M. Johnson
Abstract
Considers the impact upon transactional
analysis, ITAA membership, and members'
attitudes towards self and others, of the
availability of BEING strokes within
the organization. Contrasts earlier years of
ITAA, when recognition for BEING was
readily available to all, with more recent
years, when strokes for DOING became
increasingly abundant as BEING strokes
declined.
Where will we be for the twentieth anni-
versary of the TAl? That will depend on
how we deal with the excessive attention
we spend on matters of consequence in
relation to the strokes we distribute to our
members for BEING. Unless the Being
Hunger is fulfilled membership, I hunch,
will dwindle even more.
In August 1970, Monterey, Ca., I became
an advanced member of ITAA. I met
many people who had been only names
to me until then. I experienced my own
share of sadness and felt reassured as I
listened to personal tributes to the late Eric
Berne. Here was a group of dedicated
people who were ready to re-shape social
interactions, accept individuals without
regard to creed, ethnic origin, social
status, or handicap into their organization.
Sitting on the edge of the pool David
Kupfer and I dangled our feet in the water.
He shared his grief, his dreams, his per-
sonal rememberance of Eric. His were more
expansive than mine for he had known
Eric for a long time. Eric, he said, had
visited him in the hospital and David found
it incongruous that he was now dangling
his feet in the water and Eric was dead. My
grief and dreams were no less intense. I'd
St. Exupery, Antoine. The Little Prince. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1943,45-46.
66
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had only four years with letters, phone
conversations and books.
To David I feel indebted for his sharing.
I felt and still feel that I had a glimpse-
in my mind's eye-as Eric planted the seeds
of his personality theory and shared them
with those who would listen. David shared
with me that he saw the future of ITAA a
expanding, growing and a contributing
force in the mental health field.
I saw the growth, expansion for a long
time. Membership swelled. People clamored
for admittance. To quote Eric; "the desire
for stroking may also be related to the fact
that outside stimulation is necessary to keep
certain parts of the brain active. . .. This
need to be re-charged, as it were, by
stimulation and especially by social contact,
may be regarded as one of the biologic
origins of group formation" (Berne, 1963).
And so ITAA continued to grow and grow.
As new members were stroked for BEING
the membership grew. There were degreed,
non-degreed, lay persons, paraprofessionals.
Even prison inmates or ex-inmates took
TAWI courses, exams and signed contracts
to train for advanced membership. Some
of those non-degreed or paraprofessionals,
after becoming CM's or SFM's went back
to college, by their own choice, for their
own growth. Being stroked unconditionally
did contribute to that choice.
Somewhere along the years alphabet
letters became matters of consequence.
They became more and more important,
urgent and of utmost concern. Without
letters after one's name one was considered
unsuitable. Some folks structured their
times by counting alphabet letters as if the
letters belonged to them. Those folks who
had an abundance of letters after their
names were richly stroked and given impor-
Transactional Analysis Journal

"Unless the Being Hunger is fulfilled membership, I hunch, will
dwindle even more."
tant assignments, as if the letters were the
real matters of consequence. Less strokes
for BEING were given out and strokes
for DOING became abundant.
To quote Claude Steiner; "the method
used by parents to turn children into frogs
derives it's potency from the control of
strokes, the supply is low and the price
parents extract for strokes is high" (Steiner,
1971). Members began to notice that strokes
for BEING were almost non-existent and
were extracted by the price of degree(s)
before one might be considered worthy of
teaching or training. As a member, if you
didn't perform (publish), outshine, compete,
then strokes were very conditional and
minimal. You weren't invited to join some
clicks.** That's when members began to
feel turned into frogs. They began to drop
out, intuitively knowing they had no
chance of ever becoming a prince or prin-
cess (advanced member).
If or when one of these potential prince
or princesses did exhibit an unusual skill or
talent in any area, if they used their intui-
tion (as suggested by Berne) then the heavily
alphabetized member(s) who had all that
"book-learning" discounted that person;
e.g. You don't know enough, You haven't
been trained in that field, You have no
right to tread on my special expertise, You
have no right to use your intuition, You
need X Y Z PDQ!
I've talked with a goodly number of
members who dropped ITAA membership,
*Males must own a tux, tails, ruffled shirts; females have a wardrobe of stylish long gowns, and a budget that
allows for fifty-plus dinners. Leaders of PTM Contract workshops. Certain Training Groups.
Vol. n, No.1, January 1981
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MATIERS OF CONSEQUENCE
pulled back from PTM status and their
stroke economy in ITAA seemed to be
non-existent. I've been challenged by
some of these, even professionals in the
mental health field, and asked to justify
my membership in light of the inconsis-
tency of policy and procedure. I feel dis-
couraged needing to address and re-
address repeated inquiries.
I have decided no one has the power to
make me into a frog! "I hear the birds
sing, see a coffee pot, smell a flower, love
my fellow man, my own way, not the way
I was taught" (Berne, 1974).
Thank you Eric for giving me the tools
and skills to be as autonomous as it is safe
for me to be. Thank you David for your
philosophy and pragmatic example.
Lois M. Johnson, MA, CTM, is Director
of Michigan Center, Inc. and People
Changers Center, Inc., Consultant to U.S.
Office of Personnel Management is in
private practice and is an adjunct faculty
member at Lake Michigan College, Benton
Harbor, Michigan. In Florida she is con-
sultant to Weight Watchers, Central Florida
and Weight Watchers Northern Alabama.
REFERENCES
Berne, E. Games people play. New York: Dell Pub-
lishing, 1964, 178.
Berne, E. Structure and dynamics of organizations
and groups. New York: Grove Press, 1963, 158.
Steiner, C. The stroke economy. Transactional
Analysis Journal, 1971,1(1),9-15.
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