Transactional Analysis Journal

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Drivers: The Key to the Process of Scripts

Taibi Kahler

To cite this article: Taibi Kahler (1975) Drivers: The Key to the Process of Scripts, Transactional
Analysis Journal, 5:3, 280-284

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1177/036215377500500318

Published online: 02 Jan 2018.

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 DRIVERS: The Key to the
Process of Scripts
Taibi Kahler, Ph.D.

Eric Berne has defined a script as an Thus, a script may be repeated over and
unconscious life plan, a blueprint for over in the course of a lifetime ... the
existence, that is adopted in the preverbal whole script may be repeated every
years. year . . . . And beyond that, it may also
In Sex and Human Loving Berne be repeated every day in a smaller version.
discussed six life time-structure scripts: Even more microscopically, it may be run
"Never," 2) "Always," 3) "After," 4) through in an hour: for example, the
"Until," 5) "Over and over (Almost)," whole script ... may occur in the course
and 6) "Open end." Berne himself has of the weekly group meeting, week after
invited some confusion by labeling week, if only the therapist knows where to
various fairy tales "scripts. ,,2Imprecise look. Sometimes a mere few seconds of
language has hindered our understanding activity may reveal the story of the
of script theorists' work. The following is patient's life.,,5
a list of expressions which are used Drivers are behaviors that last from a
colloquially and therefore contribute to split second to no more than seven
confusion, together with their technical seconds. There are no feelings related to
counterparts: them. There is no way to feel a racket or
play a stopper tape without first going
Colloquial Technical through driver behavior (this is demon-
A "Be perfect" script A driver strated behaviorally)." Just as the stop-
A "Don't be" script A stopper ping of the driver behavior prevents the
A "Rescuer" script A role stopper tape from being played and the
A "Depression" script A racket racket being felt, the stopping of the
An "I'm Not-OK - driver behavior also prevents the concur-
You're OK" script A position rent script sentence (thought) patterns.
A "Little Red Riding A charged up not-OK battery ("low
Hood" script A fairy tale stroke reserve") precipitates driver be-
A "Lone Ranger" A hero havior as the beginning step in observing
script not-OKness. The driver causes certain
A "Kick me" script A game sentence structures. The sentence struc-
A "Pastimes" script A time structure ture has a fixed pattern which may be
repeated, unconsciously, hundreds of
Winner, non-winner (banal) and loser
times a day.
(hamarticjf are content dimensions of
Consider the elements of script rein-
scripts.f
Eric Berne has written that the script
"is driven by the repetition compulsion. ·One possible exception is endogenous depression.

280 Trans. An. J., 5:3, July 1975

 DRIVERS: The Key to the Process of Scripts

forcement. If 1 "Never" finish my with women who have "Never" scripts

sentences by "Trying hard," and 1 do that there was some deep competition
that two hundred times a day uncon- with a sister or brother, sometimes
sciously, in a month 1 would have sexually based.] She thus found a man
reinforced a "Never" script 6,000 times, whose script interlocked with hers.
in a year n,ooo times, in twenty years Thus, she could "never" make it with
1,440,000 times - no wonder 1 believe him ("Never" script). He almost made it
that I'll never make it. These sentence with her ("Almost"), rationalizing that
patterns were a result of a driver. he was "just that way when it came to
flying, his 'first love."
THE "NEVER" SCRIPT Before they were married she had told
Thesis: As a child 1 was forbidden by her husband of how she adored and
my parents to do things that 1 most wanted children. He agreed. Once they
wanted to do. were married he disclosed that he had
Life pattern: A person when in a only said that, and that he actually hated
"Never" script may set himself up daily, kids and certainly did not want any. Tany
monthly, and yearly never to make it in became pregnant - "I somehow forgot
"important ways." Women with to take my birth control pills" - and out
"Never" scripts never have orgasms. of a "Corner" game ("I'm damned if 1
Sentence pattern: A person when in his tell him and I'm damned if 1 don't") went
"Never" script may, by entering a "Try to a charleton ('tWell, 1didn't want to ask
hard" driver, never finish his sentence. him for money") and got an abortion.
Example: Script payoff: Now Tany can't have
Therapist: "What are you feeling?" any kids - she's . twenty-eight. The
Patient: "I don't, oh, 1 was feeling, content is hamartic.
um, it's just when my husband, oh, last
night when I, ah, it's like my aunt .... " THE <~L WA YS" SCRIPT
Drivers: "Try hard" is the predomi- Thesis: "Well, if that's what you want
nant driver of a "Never" script. Others, to do, then you can just spend the rest of
except, "Please me," are seldom seen. your life doing it. You've made your bed,
Case illustration: Tany's two life goals now lie in it."
were to find a man who would love her Life pattern: Often a person with the
and share intimacy, and to have children; "Always" script will describe his or her
but she had set herself up never to get life as "blah," having neither many highs
what she most wanted. She married a man nor many lows.
who had strong "Don't trust" and Sentence patterns: Although the person
"Don't be close" script injunctions, and with this script repeats his "Corner"
who had an "Almost" (Over and over) again and again, there does not appear to
script, having been married and divorced be a well-defined sentence pattern.
two times already. He structured his time Drivers: "Hurry up" and "Be strong"
heavily in activity and withdrawal, so as are common, yet there does not appear to
to avoid intimacy with Tany. He avoided be a consistent ranking for this script.
being with her and accused her of being Case illustration: This script often has
oversexed when she wanted to make love a built-in "Corner" game, with a focus
more than once a month. She would "Try on sex. "I can have sex with a woman, but
hard" and not have an orgasm herself. the more 1 enjoy it, the less I'll love her. 1
[This was also related to having a father can be in love with a woman, yet the more
who seduced her sister and attempted the 1 am, the less 1 want sex with her." Mr.
same with Tany - it is not uncommon Prides felt cornered because if he got a
Trans. An. J .• 5:3, July 1975 281
TAIBI KAHLER, Ph.D.

divorce he'd "be losing the best mother he member of the group one night, sat down,
could possibly find" and if he stays and immediately slouched and appeared
married he "doesn't want sex with her sad. "I felt so good, but then I thought of
"so he feels" frustrated. the time I was taking away from the other
group members. Now I feel guilty and
THE "AFTER" SCRIPT sad. "
Thesis: "Things can be going well now,
but afterwards something will happen. If THE "UNTIL" SCRIPT
you have a high, you'll have to have a low Thesis: "You can't have fun until ....
to pay for it." Damocles' sword. [you've got your work done, or you've
Life pattern: achieved . . . ]." Hercules had to clean
OK out the Aegean stables and do other
labors before he could be free.
Not-OK \ Life pattern: People with "Until"
scripts, collectively see themselves as
A person when in an "After" script will
"more OK" than people with other
feel OK," then set him or herself up in
some way not to make it and feel not-OK. scripts. They are achievement and goal
Sentence patterns: Typically, a person oriented, having been given conditional
positive strokes.
with an "After" script will express
Sentence pattern: A person reinforces
positive feelings, insert a "but," and end
an "Until" script by starting a sentence
with negative feelings.
inserting a phrase "so that people under:
Drivers: "Please me" is number one
stand him just right" [Be perfect], then
ranking in this script.
finishing the original sentence. Example:
Case illustration: "After" scripts, like
"In TA there are three ego states: the
all scripts, are repetitive. Scripts are like
Parent, the Adult - and recall this is the
motifs of a play which can be seen in an
part that computes probabilities and
act, a scene, a scenario, a strophe, or a
mediates between the other two - and the
phrase. Mr. McAldoes' life pattern
Child.
reflects an active "After" script. At
Drivers: "Be perfect" is number one.
nineteen he received national acclaim for
Often "Be strong" is ranked high.
his artistic talent. Now, at thirty-eight, he
Case illustration: Dr. Litun, a physi-
reports, "I seem to have lost all my
cian, "Can't start the day until he has two
ability." "The first four years of our
cups of coffee," "Can't take a vacation
marriage were great, but then something
until he has worked five more years,"
happened, and now we're divorced." "In
"Can't make love until he reads the
September and October I get so depres-
paper," "Can't retire until he has earned
sed." McAldoes is an art teacher who has
another fifty thousand," etc. Free-
summer vacations in July and August. I
masonry is a common game - "I can
saw Mr. McAldoes on a Wednesday
succeed, but I can't be content with it."
night. The night before he was suicidally
depressed. My question was, "What did
you do last weekend?" "Oh," replied THE "ALMOST"(OVERANDOVER*)
Mr. McAldoes, "I went to New Orleans SCRIPT:
and had the time of my life." He then felt Thesis: "I almost make it, but not quite
depressed.
In an even shorter period of time Mr.
McAldoes evidenced his "After" script. *1 see this script as focusing more on "Almost"
He rose, and stroked ritually each making it. Also, each script is cyclical.
282 Trans. An. J., 5:3, July 1975
 DRIVERS: The Key to the Process of Scripts

· .. if only, if only." existential position of "I'm OK if,"

Life pattern: A person with an which is shown by this thick line on
"Almost" script is like Sisyphus who Ernst's OK Corral.f
almost makes it to the top of the
mountain, inevitably faltering. He may
repeat this "Over and over": marriage -
divorce, marriage-divorce, etc.
Sentence pattern: A person reflects an
"Almost" script by making a statement
or presenting a question, yet ending with
some kind of negative. Examples: "I've
really made changes, kind of." "The
*
Drivers begin functionally in the Parent
(- NP, Rescuing) and can also be
observed in the Child (-AC).7 The
beginning internal discount of any
color of your TV is great. The screen's a sequence of not-OKness (discounting),
little dirty though." [Even though each then, will be that of the driver in the
statement may well be a fact, the order -NP.
makes it scripty.] Drivers start games, forming the con
Drivers: "Try hard" and "Please me" and the girnmickf
are the first two drivers, in either order. If a person changes driver formed
Case Illustration: Al Most has yet to sentences, he may change his whole life
find a job that he is comfortable with. As (process) script pattern.
a result, Al has a pattern of job-quit- In treatment: 'If a therapist is in driver
job-fired. AI's been married twice. behavior, he invites similar behavior.
Typically, Al almost makes it. He almost A man with a hamartic (content)
got the raise. He made an excellent "After" script, replete with a "Please
financial report to the Board of Directors, me" driver (process),9 comes to therapy.
yet left out one variable that invalidated If the therapist is in "Please me"
the whole presentation. In college, he behavior, he invites this patient into his
once had a tie-breaker free throw with no own "Please me" driver. An unsophis-
time left on the game clock for a chance to ticated observer may think that "good"
capture the conference title. He made the therapy is being done because of the
shot but stepped over the line. The game "rapport" evident by the smiles and
and title were lost. In hundreds of ways nods. The therapist might also believe
each day Al reflected this life pattern. that he is doing good therapy. But, the
more the patient gets "high" by pleasing
THE "OPEN END" SCRIPT the therapist, the more he is setting
Thesis: "I've made no plans when the himself up to pay for the "high" with a
kids grow up, I reach menopause, I retire, "low" to comply with his"After" script.
etc. " His hamartic payoff that night might well
Life pattern: The person with an be suicide. The therapist, then, not only
"Open end" script is programmed by did not help the patient, but actually
duty. Although this is a relatively easy invited him into the suicide payoff of his
script to diagnose, it does not appear to "After" script. The therapist's choice of
< have a cyclical nature or a well-defined techniques is not even relevant. He could
driver order. My hunch is that this is not a have used a "great" technique and even
separate script, bu.t a hamartic payoff for known it very well. The way he used it
the"After" script, (process) through a driver not only
nullifies the results, but may even invite
DRIVERS AND SCRIPTS catastrophe.
Drivers are behaviors that reinforce an The miniscript offers a measure and a
Trans. An. J., 5:3, July 1975 283
TAIBI KAHLER, Ph.D.

catagorizing of each transaction. This, REFERENCES

then, is not so much a new technique, as it I. Berne, E. Sex In Human Loving. Simon and
is an instrument to help us focus on us, Schuster, New York, 1970, pp. 163-171.
2. Berne, E. What Do You Say After You Say
using whatever technique we are employ- Hello? Grove Press, New York, 1972.
ing. As a technique, the miniscript can be 3. Steiner, C. Games Alcoholics Play. Grove
used to treat a script and to give positive Press, New York, 1971.
alternatives in group. 4. Kahler, T. "Scripts: Process and Content,"
Trans. An. J., 5:3, July 1975.
5. Berne, E. What Do You Say . . . op. cit.,
p.344.
6. Ernst, F. "The OK Corral: The Grid for Get-
On-With," Trans. An. J., 1:4, October 1971,
p. 231.
Taibi Kahler, Ph.D., is a Provisional 7. Kahler, T. "Structural Analysis: A Focus on
Teaching Member oj the ITAA and Stroke Rationale, A Parent Continuum, and
Egograrns," Trans. An. J., 5:3, July 1975.
Director oj the Transactional Analysis 8. Kahler, T. "Game Analysis: A New Switch on
Institute for Southern California in San Levels," unpublished manuscript.
Diego. 9. Kahler, T. "Scripts ... " op. cit.

284 Trans. An. J., 5:3, July 1975