Life Position Scale

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Convictions form the basis for the life position the person takes in relation to the self and others. Positions can be any of the following:

• I+U+ : «I'm OK, You're OK» is a healthy position. People taking this position solve problems in a constructive and realistic manner and have a generally positive outlook on life. This is the position a transactional analysis therapist should take in a therapeutic relationship; in fact, it is the basis of transactional analysis as a contractual therapy.

• I+U− : «I'm OK, You're not-OK» is a projective or «get-rid-of» position. People taking this position are described as arrogant and antisocial. At worst, they can be killers who justify eradication of the minority; at best, they may be meddlers who go out of their way in a «holier-than-thou» attitude to convince others to change. Clinically, this is the position of the paranoid or the narcissist.

• I−U+ : «I'm not-OK, You're OK» is the depressive position. Colloquially, these are the people who live on «If onlys», and «I should haves» and tend to denigrate themselves. The «I'm not-OK, You're OK» position is the existential basis for the feeling of shame. Individuals in this position experience melancholia and in severe clinical cases may resort to suicide.

• I−U− : «I'm not-OK, You're not-OK», also known as the futility position, is taken by those who lose interest in living. Clinically, they exhibit schizoid or schizophrenic behavior. If those taking the third position feel that «Life isn't worth living», those taking the fourth feel «Life isn't worth anything at all», in her conceptual analysis of abuse, suggested that this position also seems to be the one taken by child abuse perpetrators, whose own traumatic experiences led them to «conclude that life is not precious».