Life Positions and Depression: The Role of Convictions

Abstract

Life Position, one of the central concepts in Transactional Analysis, is a person’s convictions about the worth of the self and others—a basic psychological stand, which is deeply ingrained. There are four Life Positions: “I’m OK–You’re OK”, “I’m OK–You’re not OK”, “I’m not OK–You’re OK”, and “I’m not OK–You’re not OK”. Contradicting Berne’s theory of only one depressive position (“I’m not OK–You’re OK”), past findings showed that both “I’m not OK–You’re OK” and “I’m not OK–You’re not OK” positions relate to depression, with the “I’m not OK–You’re not OK” position relating to depression more strongly than the “I’m not OK–You’re OK” position. The disparity between Berne’s original theorizing of depression and the empirical findings may support an alternative conceptualization of the depressive’s Life Position, which was the theoretical gap of this research. This research aimed to investigate the differences in how each Life Position relates to depression, and how the underlying convictions of Life Position predict depression. The Life Position Scale and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale were filled in by individuals of the general population. Post hoc analysis revealed that the “I’m not OK–You’re not OK” position related most to depression, followed by the “I’m not OK–You’re OK” position, the “I’m OK–You’re not OK” position, and finally the “I’m OK–You’re OK” position. The results also showed that both negative convictions of the self and others contributed significantly to depression, but the former predicted depression more than the latter. Applications of these findings into theoretical and therapy settings were explored.