Claude Steiner


Claude Michel Steiner was a French-born American psychotherapist and writer who wrote extensively about transactional analysis. His writings focused especially on life scripts, alcoholism, emotional literacy, and interpersonal power plays.
In the 1970s and '80s, Steiner was a founder and practitioner of Radical Psychiatry, a new approach to psychotherapy based in a social theory rather than a medical one. Influenced by progressive movements of the time, work in this modality continues into the present and is gaining recent recognition worldwide. He was also considered the originator of the theory called Stroke Economy.

Early life

Steiner was born in Paris, France. His parents were Austrian, his mother Jewish and his father Christian. The family left France in 1939 ahead of the impending Nazi invasion. Eventually the family settled in Mexico.
In 1952, Steiner went to the United States to study engineering. In 1957 he met and became a follower of Eric Berne, a psychiatrist and founder of the transactional analysis school of psychotherapy. In 1965 he obtained a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was a founding member and teaching member of the International Transactional Analysis Association.

Radical psychiatry

The concept of radical psychiatry was first introduced by the Canadian psychiatrist, Eric Berne, who was Steiner's teacher. Steiner's contribution to the foundation of this now defunct theory was his Manifesto, which outlined fundamental tenets of the theory's framework such as the incorporation of elements of transactional analysis assumptions about the psychiatric field and people. He became one of the founders of Radical Therapist Collective and wrote extensively about radical psychiatry in books and journals such as The Radical Therapist.

Politics

Steiner was active in political causes. He opposed America's role in Vietnam War and was an outspoken critic of US policy and actions involving Latin America.
Steiner summarized his views in his conclusion to his treatise called "Transactional Analysis in the Information Age".
It seems that many in Transactional Analysis are impatient with the state of transactional analysis as a dynamic, developing theory. For myself, I have thought at times that Transactional Analysis has had its day. Many of its ideas have been silently incorporated into the psychiatric culture, but on the whole its point has been missed and it has not been given a place among the great psychiatric theories of the century and I was ready to put it to rest. Accordingly I followed my interest in power and its abuses away from Transactional Analysis into propaganda, journalism and Central American politics. From the distant perspective of an investigator into media and information, in a dawning Information Age I came to see Transactional Analysis in a brand new light; as a visionary theory of Information Age psychology and psychiatry. As the world peers into the twenty-first century with every one wondering how they will be affected by the looming millennial changes, we, in Transactional Analysis, are in possession of a legacy which is only now becoming clear: we have the tools and the insights of an Information Age, communication-based psychology and psychiatry.

''A Warm Fuzzy Tale''

A Warm Fuzzy Tale is a 1970 children's book by Steiner. The fairy tale–like story introduces children to "strokes" and other ideas about social interaction and emotion derived from transactional analysis. It was republished in 1977 as The Original Warm Fuzzy Tale with illustration by Jo Ann Dick, and has since been translated into multiple languages. The slang term warm fuzzies, a reference to positive feelings, derives from the book and its adaptations. The story and ideas derived from it are sometimes used in teaching or counseling about emotion and interaction. In the story, people exchange things called "warm fuzzies" which make them feel happy and warm. A bad witch convinces one character that warm fuzzies are in limited supply and should not be given away. Instead, the witch induces people to exchange "cold pricklies" which make them feel cold. These exchanges symbolize Steiner and Eric Berne's notion of "strokes", recognition and emotional support among people. The story ends by inviting the reader to make warm fuzzies abundant "by freely giving and asking for Warm Fuzzies and being as loving and healthy as you can".

Death

Steiner died at his ranch in Ukiah, California on 9 January 2017 at the age of 82.

Publications

the Study of Emotions" Transactional Analysis Journal 1996, January #1.