What is Transactional Analysis and how does it apply to a dental practice?
Transactional Analysis is a psychology framework developed by Dr. Eric Berne in the 1950s. It focuses on day-to-day interactions, or transactions, between people rather than on deep psychoanalysis of the individual. Berne himself had a dental connection. A painful dental experience early in his life led him to publish a paper in the JADA Journal on how to manage the psychological side of pain in the operatory, in an era before modern local anesthesia was standard. The relevance for modern dental practice is direct. Patients arrive at every consultation carrying anxiety, prior bad experiences, family dynamics, and decision-making baggage. The doctor and team interact with all of that in every conversation, usually without naming what is happening. The framework provides language for those patterns. Once the doctor can name them, they can shift them. Cases that would have died in unspoken role-confusion start converting because the underlying dynamic is being managed deliberately.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.