I'm OK--You're OK

Thomas Anthony Harris (1910-1995) was an American psychiatrist; he wrote in the Preface, "One of the most significant contributions of Transactional Analysis is that it has given patients a tool they can use. The purpose of this book is to define this tool. Anybody can use it. People do not have to be 'sick' to benefit from it." (Pg. 16-17) He asserts, "Very early in life every child concludes, "I'm not OK.' He makes a conclusion about his parents, also: 'You're OK.' ... This position, I'M NOT OK---YOU'RE OK, is the most deterministic decision of his life... Because it is a decision it can be changed by a new decision. But not until it is understood." (Pg. 60) He adds, "Once finalized... It stays with him the rest of his life, unless he later consciously changes it to the fourth position [I'M OK, YOU'RE OK]." (Pg. 66-67) [NOTE: Claude Steiner says in Scripts People Live that this misrepresents Berne's position.]