Thomas A. Harris (1910–1995)

About fourteen billion years ago when I was a young child, I remember my mother had this book on my parents’ bookshelf. I remember three things about it. Firstly, it was one of the few titles on that memorable shelf that I could understand at that age. I also remember the strong vivid colours of the cover, so redolent of the 70s. The final thing I remember is that it was definitely my mother’s book and not my father’s. I think in later years, although my memory is scratched from my show more furious efforts to erase it, in one of her many drunken rages, she actually claimed that, for her, it was her Bible.

I avoided the book for decades not because of what it held inside it – I had no real idea – but rather because of who recommended it. If my mother claimed to live by it, I reasoned, then I might well end up something like the relational mess she represented to me.

That I did not read this book until my 43rd year is one of many tragic things about my childhood – albeit a minor tragedy in comparison to the ones that almost prevented me entering adulthood. I should have read this book very many years ago. In fact, along with Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham, it’s a book I will be buying for the next youth I know that reaches the age of 18.

Not that I think any of us will really understand it then. Anyone who understands it at that tender age is hardly in need of it, in fact. But it’s a book that should accompany you as you make your way through life, form relationships, meet people, encounter those you cannot fathom, those who fascinate and those who you really wish hadn’t been born. This book goes a long way to explaining why people behave as they do. Now that I’ve made it to my 5th decade, a lot of it makes sense.

This book is probably the most successful self-help book in history. It presents a very simple relational model and exemplifies it both through author created dialogue and illustrations from the author’s own patients.

The model is based on assuming that we can take one of three positions vis a vis another: Parent, Adult or Child. Ideally, we’d all be Adults. But, mainly because of our upbringing, we tend to default to either Parent or Child when we deal with others. And, because they are also defaulting to one of those, this can trigger certain responses in us too.

The Child tends to be paranoid, insecure, uncertain and emotionally volatile as it falls victim to circumstance and the manipulation of others. The Parent tends to be domineering, authoritative, holier than thou and an emotionally sealed box impervious to the situation of others.

Whenever someone is responding in the Adult position, they are communicating I’M OK – YOU’RE OK. There are no hidden messages, people act genuinely and there is no fear either generated or perceived. Whenever someone responds from the Child position, they assume the position of I’M NOT OK – YOU’RE OK. From the Parent position, the message is I’M OK – YOU’RE NOT OK.

Suffice to say that if you find someone hard to get on with and/or others find you hard to get on with, Harris’ book is for you. Pick it up and, shortly into the descriptive sections of each state, you’ll be calling the wife over and saying, ‘Listen. Who does this sound like?’ Just make sure it doesn’t sound like her or you’ll regret it!

There are sections that were less useful to me. I don’t have kids and so the two chapters that dealt with that were a bit pointless for me. And at the very end, he decides that his theories might hold the secret to solving all the world’s woes. Seemed a bit far-fetched to me but then it was the 1970s and even guitarists in skin-tight lycra were okay then.

Overall, I’m very glad I read this. I wish I’d read it about 20 years ago. Now that I have done, I feel OK though! show less

My therapist in my 20s used the sequel to this book - Staying Okay - as a basis for the tools he taught me to deal with past traumas and events that still affected me, so I was aware of Transactional Analysis, or the concept of Parent/Adult/Child before reading I'm Ok, You're Ok.

I was daunted at the idea of reading this book, as having read many self-help books, some can get very bogged down in the language and terminology, but I found this refreshing and surprisingly easy to read and show more understand, especially considering it was written in the mid-60s. Thomas Harris uses a conversational narrative which helped it flow.

I found the breakdown of the chapters clear and succinct. The author starts by explaining the concept of Parent-Adult-Child (PAC), which are states of mind that we move between. The Parent comes from the recordings in our memory of things our parents have said to us as children, and the Child is the emotional side of ourselves that feels and reacts to things and is often the victim. The Adult is the rational between the two, which enables us to find a balance so we don't berate ourselves or others with the voice of our Parent, or overreact or create drama from our Child. The mindset we are in can affect our interaction and communication with those around us - our Transactions (hence Transactional Analysis) and understanding which of the mindsets we are in can enable us to improve our interactions.

The author then explains how this works within marriage, referencing a book called Games People Play by his colleague and founder of Transactional Analysis, Eric Burne. And then with children, moving through the different age groups. He uses examples of his own experience as a therapist, giving dialogue and real interactions. I found this helped me understand how it can be applied.

The last couple of chapters in the book felt a bit like fillers to me as he discusses his own thoughts on topics of morality and how this system can be used globally. Some areas were dated - the author has no idea of how much society will change from the time he first wrote this to now, and it reflects in some of the examples he gives of working with clients. Although his views in some areas were quite progressive for the time, in particular about religion. I can imagine religious people might be offended by this book, or dismiss it due to some of the things that Thomas Harris has to say about the dogma and doctrine of religion and how it can be destructive, as it restricts people's ability to question and be open minded. I personally agree with his view on these topics.

I am rather excited about re-learning this system of analysis, and can immediately see how it can help me relate better within my marriage and with my children, although it would be nice to train properly in it. Sadly, it doesn't seem to have become as widely used as the author had hoped and speculated, which is a shame because many people could benefit from this system of relating and understanding both oneself and other people - particularly people like myself, who have suffered trauma and have very contaminated recordings from their childhood that affect them on a daily basis.

Should you be interested in a brief description of this method before delving deeper into this book, I found one here - http://changingminds.org/explanations... show less

"Another thing that makes people want to change is a slow type of despair called ennui, or boredom. This is what the person has who goes through life saying, "So what?" until he finally asks the ultimate big "So What?" He is ready to change".
Thomas A. Harris, I'm OK - You're OK

It was really a terrific book. I read it a long time ago so details are fuzzy but I loved it. I still remember the four different modes and check myself sometimes. At times I think I have been in them all.

This is a show more book for people who like Psychology and like reading about it and reading about the human mind. Four modes:

"I'm OK, your not OK"

"I'm not OK, your OK"

"I'm not OK, Your not OK"

"I'm OK, Your OK".

The last one is what he attempts to get us to.

Well at least I remember that much! This book seriously needs a reread which I fully intend to do. Highly recommended but it's "OK" if the book is not for you! show less

While this book does have some very outdated opinions, for instance those about electric shock therapy, and the role of women, it also has some very interesting ideas that are still in use today. The focus is on improving the world through a better understanding of ourselves and our interactions with others.