How to manualize TA treatment and interventions
To cite this article: Vos, J., & van Rijn, B. (2023, August 10). Brief Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy for Depression: The Systematic Development of a Treatment Manual. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.
Abstract
Since the birth of Transactional Analysis (TA) in the 1950s, many psychotherapists have provided and tested TA psychotherapy (TAP) in clinical trials. However, most descriptions of TA therapy within these trials offered a general guide rather than a systematic treatment manual. This makes it difficult to attribute their outcomes directly to TAP as the variations in the therapists’ ways of working have not been sufficiently accounted for. The existing manuals are based on particular schools of TA and research-informed personal best practice, rather than systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which would ensure that they could be replicated. This article addresses that apparent gap by describing the systematic development of a semistructured treatment manual for Brief Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy for depression, in order to enable its use in practice and research. The manual was based on an international survey of TA therapists, a systematic literature review of TA psychometric instruments, and meta-analyses of TAP clinical trials, which fed into the development of the evidence-based integrated conceptual model. This model formed an operational definition of TAP and the basis of a 16-session treatment manual for mild to moderate depression. The manual consists of four stages: initial assessment and therapeutic agreement (“contract”), systematic assessment, experiential processing, decision-making and applying script changes. Two new instruments were also developed: Transactional Analysis Goal Attainment Form (TAGAF) and Transactional Analysis Psychotherapeutic Self Report Competencies Scale (TAP-SRCS).