DESTINY AND SCRIPT CHOICES

Gordon H aiberg, W. R. Sefness, and Eric Berne

An unknown patient, Andri, telephoned for an emergency appointment

after hours. Once alone with the doctor, he said thDW he had come "to kill a
psychiatrist." He had been isolated for combativeness in several state hospitals,
diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia. The doctor sa id his job was to get people
better. Andri, with great agitation, retreated to a far corner of the room to discuss
it. The doctor said the first step would be to get a job so he could pay for his
treatment. He asked Andri if he could stop acting oddly during working hours
and act oddly on his ow,n time. The patient said he thought that was possible.
Another appointment was arranged. That night the patient committed suicide.
The hospital records were reviewed at the Seminar. They corroborated the
patient's story. In his outside employment he had been more subtly aggressive
and defiant, and physically destructive of machinery "accidentally." He had
once written his hospital doctor saying that his favorite song was about the
dying cowboy from Laredo.
In script terms, each individual has four destiny choices in ordinary civil life,
corresponding to the four basic positions* :
(1) Getting better (staying well) (I OK, You OK)
(2) Getting rid of people {homicide) (I OK, You not-OK)
(3) Psychosis or criminality {institvtionalization or melancholic suicide) {I not-
OK, You OK)
(4) Despairing self-destruction (futility suicide) (I not-OK, You not-OK)
Andri's first choice was (2) to kill. The doctor succeeded in warding this off
by offering {l) get better, and sounding business-like about it. He then boxed
out (3) "going crazy." After the interview, Andri, deprived of (2) and (3), did not
think he would make it on (1) and therefore was left with only despair (4). A
fifth alternative is the non-choice of (5) continuing the same old games.
Andri's script followed the classical dramatic scheme* (Aristotle, Freytag)
with complete fidelity. First he played and tested his games with rising intensity
(5). His visit to the doctor was the climax. Deprived of (2) and (3), the action
fell with his temporary acceptance of (1 ). Then came the catastrophe (4). The
Seminar meeting itself was the threnody.
The clinical problem was how to recognize the patient's script {the dying
cowboy) in the mass of material he presents, and how seriously to take -it. This
is more easily done by hindsight than by foresight. If it is recognized, what can
be done about it? The best way to recognize it is to look for it. When it is
found, the patient should be told about the five alternatives in language his
Child can understand {since the Child is the master of his destiny): (1) "Get better"
(2) "Get rid of people" (3) "Go crazy" (4) "Knock yourself off" and (5) "Play
the same old games." Only by a clear understanding between the patient's Child
and his Adult can the march towards doom sometimes be reversed by the Adult
taking control.
An interesting facet of Andri's case was his preparation for a tragic climax.
Before coming to see the doctor, when his employment was terminated, he had
given away nearly all his money to his co-workers, of whom all but one were
taken in by his "generosity." When this one rebuked the others, they returned
the money. The technical problem of the doctor during the interview was also of
some interest. He knew that if he said anything to Andri that reminded him of
his father, he might get involved in a rather critical physical struggle. At the
same time, he had no information whatever about Andri's father, nor was it
* "Classification of Positions." TAB 1: 23, July, 1962.
Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy {Berne), p. 117.
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 wise nor even useful to ask. He was thus involved in a high stake poker game
where all his cards were face up and all of his opponent's were face down.
The only actual conflict occurred when the doctor opened a window so that he
might at least have a chance to call for help. Andri immediately walked over
and closed it, saying that he did not like street noises. Here they accepted each
~ other's actions in a friendly objective way for what they were: moves in an
interesting if deadly game.
Many psychiatrists have probably had simil.ar experiences, some of which
may have ended tess tragically. The outcome of this one depended on the patient's
scrtpt, and stresses the importance of developing script analysis, since conven-
WLRQDO .clinical NQRZOHGJH is larg.ely irrelevant in such urgent confrontations
with ambulatoU\ patients. . ..
THE TREATMEN7 ofNARCOTIC ADDI&76 IN A CORRECTIONAL· 6(77,1*
.:.. William Collins (Tape)
..
The new CaOLIRUQLD Rehabilitation CeQter has a mandatory three year parole
SURJUDP as IROORZXS supervision to tile. treatment program for addicts. Those
committed are not felons, but civil commitments, · held for an indeterminate
period. This program offers a rare opportunity to discover more about drug-users
and their games. A tape-recording of one of the writer's therapy groups at the
Centre illustrated this.
Using the transactional analytic approach it is still difficult to hook an addict's
Adult and thereby encourage more meaningful transactions. This is partly due
to the Child "gimmick" of being bored with life in qeneral, including normal
family relationships and relationships with those in the role of "rescuers," be
they clergy, therapists or Narcotics Anonymous members. On the tape, the addicts
so12.1nded "bored." They supported each others' phlegmatism with statements like
"You know, man . . ." "Yeah I know," or other statements aimed at supporting
an individual's lazy Child without demanding anything of the Adult. The Sem-
inar felt that this was a rather subtle game of "Uproar," and that a therapist
· had the responsibility of shocking such patients occasionally. It was suggested
that addict-patients actually do not want to stop using drugs; further, that some
are probably continuing to use them even in the institution.
There are some special points to be kept in mind in working with such
people:
l. They should not be looked at as being merely "addicts" any more than
one would deat with an alchoholic on the basis that his alcoholism was the
problem.
'· 2. They are game players. Many ar~ "Cops and Robbers" players whose ad-
. ,diction is merely one form of getting away with something, until the need to be
caught over:-r~des the physio-psychological satisfaction obtained from drugs.
, 3. If is difficult ~o treat an addict group because an members of the circle
. ar:e playing .the same. ga_me, or variation$ thereof. To illustrate, an individual
~· 'nf~Y speak of c:r p~rticular relationship with a drug-providing- "connection," or
"!'th:e manner il'l' which he used a wife or mother as a "Patsy." The other men in
:~:~tfle· grou·p i-rrlmedt&tErty taugh, nod their heads, or give some other indication of
-.. ~Understanding. -~t .,i~ onfy the therapist's urging to dissect out the individual's
• Adott and evah.Ja~ the- transactions and relationships more clearly that brings the
_ members. to examine their behavior. Their reluctance may again be part of
• ·their "bored" attitude.

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