The KARPMAN TRIANGLE

…Selfless OR Codependent?…

that is the question…..

The drama triangle is a psychological and social model of human interaction in transactional analysis (TA) first described by Stephen Karpman, in his 1968 article “Fairy Tales and Script Drama Analysis” – a model which is used in psychology and psychotherapy.

The Three Roles

The model posits three habitual psychological roles (or roleplays) which people often take in a situation:

• The person who is treated as, or accepts the role of, a victim
• The person who pressures, coerces or persecutes the victim, and
• The rescuer, who intervenes out of an ostensible wish to help the situation or the underdog.

 

(Note that the rescuer role is one of a mixed or covert motive, not an honest rescuer in an emergency; see below)

 

The drama plays out with the protagonist ‘start[ing] off in one of the three main roles: Rescuer,Persecutor, or Victim, with the other principal player (the antagonist) in one of the other roles’. Thereafter ‘the two players move around the triangle, thus switching roles’, so that for example the victim turns on the rescuer, or the rescuer switches to persecuting.

The covert purpose for each ‘player’ is to get their unspoken (and frequently unconscious) psychological wishes/needs met in a manner they feel justified, without having to acknowledge the broader dysfunction or harm done in the situation as a whole. As such, each player is acting upon their own selfish ‘needs’, rather than acting in a genuinely responsible or altruistic manner. Thus a character might ‘ordinarily c[o]me on like a plaintive victim; it is now clear that she can switch into the role of Persecutor providing it is “accidental” and she apologises for it’.

The game is similar to the melodrama of hero, villain, and damsel in distress (such as Dudley Do-Right, Snidely Whiplash, and Nell Fenwick).

In transactional analysis, the drama triangle is sometimes referred to in the context of mind games – ‘the unconscious games played by innocent people’ – such as: – Why Don’t You/Yes But; If It Weren’t For You; Why does this Always Happen to Me?; See What You Made Me Do; You Got Me Into This; Look How Hard I’ve Tried; I’m Only Trying to Help You; and Let’s You and Him Fight.

The relationship between the victim and the rescuer can be one of codependency. The Rescuer keeps the Victim dependent on them by playing into their Victimhood. The Victim gets their needs met by having the rescuer take care of them.

 

Overview and Theory

A “game” in Transactional Analysis is a series of transactions that is complementary (reciprocal), ulterior, and proceeds towards a predictable outcome. Games are often characterized by a switch in roles of players towards the end. The number of ‘players’ may vary.

Games in this sense, are devices used (often unconsciously) by a person to create a circumstance where they can justifiably feel certain resulting feelings (such as anger or superiority) or justifiably take or avoid taking certain actions where their own inner wishes differ from societal expectation. They are always a substitute for a more genuine and full adult emotion and response which would be a more appropriate response.

Three quantitative variables are often useful to consider for games:

• Flexibility: The ability of the players to change the currency of the game (that is, the tools they use to play it). Some games…can be played properly with only one kind of currency, while others, such as exhibitionistic games, are more flexible’, so that players may shift from words, to money, to parts of the body.
• Tenacity: ‘Some people give up their games easily, others are more persistent, referring to the way people stick to their games and their resistance to breaking with them.
• Intensity: ‘Some people play their games in a relaxed way, others are more tense and aggressive. Games so played are known as easy and hard games, respectively’, the latter being played in a tense and aggressive way.

Based on the degree of acceptability and potential harm, games are classified into three categories, representing socially acceptable games, undesirable but not irreversibly damaging games, or games which may result in drastic harm. Their consequences may vary from lots of small paybacks (the girl who keeps meeting nice guys who ditch her) through to payback built up over a long period to a major level (i.e. court, mortuary, or similar). Each game has a payoff for those playing it. The antithesis of a game (that is, the way to break it) lies in discovering how to deprive the actors of their payoff.

The first such game theorized was Why don’t you/Yes, but in which one player (White) would pose a problem as if seeking help, and the other player(s) (Black) would offer solutions. White would point out a flaw in every Black player’s solution (the “Yes, but” response), until they all gave up in frustration. The secondary gain for White was that he could claim to have justified his problem as unsolvable and thus avoid the hard work of internal change; and for Black, to either feel the frustrated martyr (“I was only trying to help“) or a superior being, disrespected (“the patient was uncooperative”).

In the Drama Triangle, the “role switch” is ‘the same switch that is included in the formula for games’ – occurs when one player, after stable roles have become established, suddenly changes role. The victim becomes a persecutor, and throws the previous persecutor into the victim role, or the rescuer suddenly switches to become a persecutor (“You never appreciate me helping you!”).

‘Karpman has many interesting variables in his fully developed theory, besides role switches. These include space switches (private-public, open-closed, near-far) which precede, cause, or follow role switches, and script velocity (number of role switches in a given unit of time)’.

 

“Rescuer” v rescuer

Note that the “game” position of Rescuer is distinct from that of a genuine rescuer in an emergency, such as a firefighter who saves a victim from a burning building or a lifeguard who saves a victim from drowning. When played as a drama role, there is something dishonest or unspoken about the Rescuer’s attempts, or at best, a mixed motive or need to be a rescuer or have a victim to help. In fact, ‘The Karpman Triangle gane inhibits real problem-solving…creates confusion and distress, not solutions’. “Rescuers” play the role more because they are driven to be a rescuer than because the victim needs their involvement, as in the case of a fireman/rescuer.

In Eric Berne’s words,

‘The first group, is playing ‘I’m Only Trying to Help You’,

while the others are ‘helping people’.” 

 

Videos Online Only 

PART 1 – Gets No Love In Return (1 of 2)

PART 2 – Lori – Gets No Love In Return (2 of 2)