Are you OK? It's probably the most important question you'll ever have to answer. Because right now—whether you're aware of it or not—all the relationships with the most important people in your life are strongly influenced by a combination of how you feel about yourself (OK or not OK) and what you think of them (again, OK or not OK). This groundbreaking classic bestseller, I'm OK—You're OK, is the product of Dr. Thomas Harris's pioneering efforts in the field of Transactional Analysis—efforts that have revolutionized therapy procedures throughout the world. After helping countless numbers of people help themselves establish mature, healthy relationships, he translated his startling theories into easily understood language and adapted key ingredients of successful behavior change into practical advice.

Transactional Analysis confronts the individual with the fact that he or she is responsible for what happens in the future, no matter what has happened in the past. Both a teaching and a learning device, it distinguished three active elements in each person's make-up: the Parent, the Adult, and the Child (P-A-C). The Parent personifies the "don'ts" and a few "do's" implanted in one's earliest years and automatically accepted as gospel. The Child represents spontaneous emotion. Both Parent and Child must be kept in proper relation to the Adult, whose function is that of a reality computer that arrives at decision based on the data stored in the memory bank of experience. The goal of Transactional Analysis is to strengthen and free the Adult from the rote beliefs in Parent and Child so as to make freedom of choice the creation of new options possible.

Transactional Analysis is a tool that you can apply to everyday saturations in the "real world," enabling you to change, establish self-control and self-direction, and discover the reality of freedom of choice. I'm OK—You're OK has already helped millions of readers lead more effective lives and understand their loved ones better.