About Sensations, Emotions and Feelings: A Contribution to the Theoretical Basis of Transactional Analysis

This article is intended to present new thinking and expansion of the knowledge of emotions and feelings within transactional analysis, through a dialogue between Eric Berne, Antonio Damasio and Humberto Maturana. From Berne comes the guiding framework of transactional analysis and the core concept of ego states. From Damasio comes the distinction between feeling, emotion and mood as well as an understanding of the organisation of the brain. From Maturana comes an understanding of the importance of emotions, particularly the emotion of love, in the process of human evolution. From this dialogue can be seen the foundation for the five primary emotions referred to within transactional analyis: anger, fear, sadness, joy and love. Finally, there is a proposal to update the concept of ego states in line with that dialogue.

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