Tag: psychology

Remembering ‘I’m OK – You’re OK’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn psychology, writing2 Comments

Eric Berne (Games People Play) and Thomas A. Harris (I’m OK – You’re OK) were both popular for their books that were widely considered “self-help” books that focused on the theories of transactional analysis (TA) and script theory. While the value of TA was debated by experts who, like Berne, were trained psychoanalysts, I found the concept to be very workable in industry courses in supervision and management in the 1970s.

The concepts were easy to understand and helped explain why “messed up” (to use that technical term again) interactions between supervisors and subordinates led to trouble. Script theory and games were outside the parameters of the courses we wrote, so Harris’ book suited our needs best because it worked so well showing how a  “crossed transaction” could occur and tangle up relationships in the workplace.

I have no idea whether or not clinical psychologists used any of these theories in private practice or not. In my work for the Illinois Department of Mental Health, we used–and were successful with– behavioral conditioning. Many of our patients were developmentally disabled and often nonverbal, so the concepts of TA would have been impossible to apply in most cases.

There’s a lot of nostalgia looking back on TA, Games, and Scripts because they were part of my work at two organizations where those in the courses provided positive feedback about the concepts. Personally, I think Harris’ book would still provide help to many individuals today who find they’re constantly getting into arguments with family and friends over issues arising out of their communication with each other.

–Malcolm

Book Review: ‘Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, Remebrance4 Comments

Farming Soul: A Tale of InitiationFarming Soul: A Tale of Initiation by Patricia Damery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Author and Jungian analyst Patricia Damery and her husband Donald grow grapes and heather in California’s Napa Vally where their biodynamic farming practices and spiritual attention to the land have brought them a rich harvest. That harvest, as described in “Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation,” is simultaneously agricultural, psychological and transcendent.

“Storytelling opens us to aspects of ourselves that we override in every day life,” writers Damery in the book’s introduction. “It weaves both teller and listener into a larger fabric, suggesting correlations and increasing understanding.”

Damery’s story echoes John Muir’s words, “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” Going out and going in intertwine in Damery’s journey where the lessons learned en route to becoming a Jungian analyst complement lessons learned in the vineyard.

Rudolf Steiner, the father of biodynamic agriculture, wrote that “All of nature begins to whisper its secrets to us through its sounds. Sounds that were previously incomprehensible to our soul now become the meaningful language of nature.”

We discover through Damery’s holistic journey that Steiner’s words also apply to the process of discovering one’s true self. Damery quotes an old Tewa prayer to Mother Earth and Father Sky that includes the lines, “Weave for us a garment of brightness that we may walk fittingly where birds sing, that we may walk fittingly where grass is green.”

Damery’s memories, dreams and reflections are woven from the warp and woof of her experiences arising out of analysis, meditation, shamanism and farming. “I understood,” she writes, “that the ‘garment of brightness’ from the Tewa song was being woven for me, and that, in time, perhaps I could ‘walk fittingly’ on this earth.”

Farmers, psychologists and other seekers on the path will find many correlations between their own journeys and the one that so beautifully unfolds in “Farming Soul.” Damery’s garment of brightness is kind lamp for eager eyes.

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