Gordy - It seems that it's more in keeping with the reality of our interactions with ourselves and others, rather than a hypothetical state that we are unaware of. CBT works for some, but it's methods seem both repetitive and conditioning. The rote learning of childhood has not remained with me all that much.
I've had some experience with transactional analysis personally, although not in a clinical setting. Becoming aware of critical inner dialogue has been helpful, and made me more aware. I think it would depend on how in touch you are with the inner critics.
This is a description:
........Transactional analysis differs from Freudian analysis in explaining that an individual's final emotional state is the result of
inner dialogue between different parts of the psyche, as opposed to the Freudian hypothesis that imagery is the overriding determinant of inner emotional state. (For example, depression may be due to ongoing critical verbal messages from the inner Parent to the inner Child.) Berne believed that it is relatively easy to identify these inner dialogues and that the ability to do so is parentally suppressed in early childhood.
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In addition, Berne believed in making a commitment to "curing" his patients rather than just understanding them. To that end he introduced one of the most important aspects of TA: the contract—an agreement entered into by both client and therapist to pursue specific changes that the client desires.
Revising Freud's concept of the human psyche as composed of the
id, ego, and super-ego, Berne postulated in addition three "ego states"—the
Parent, Adult, and Child states—which were largely shaped through childhood experiences. These three are all part of Freud's ego; none represent the id or the superego.
Unhealthy childhood experiences can lead to these being pathologically fixated in the Child and Parent ego states, bringing discomfort to an individual and/or others in a variety of forms, including many types of
mental illness.
Berne considered how individuals interact with one another, and how the ego states affect each set of transactions. Unproductive or counterproductive transactions were considered to be signs of ego state problems. Analyzing these transactions according to the person's individual developmental history would enable the person to "get better". Berne thought that virtually everyone has something problematic about their ego states and that negative behaviour would not be addressed by "treating" only the problematic individual.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transactional_analysis
