Consulting Room Games

Games that are tenaciously played in the therapeutic situation are the most important ones for the professional game analyst to be aware of.  They can be most readily studied firsthand in the consulting room. There are three types, according to the role of the agent:

  1. Games played by therapists and case workers: “I’m Only Trying to Help You” and “Psychiatry.”
  2. Games played by professionally trained people who are patients in therapy groups, such as “Greenhouse.”
  3. Games played by lay patients and clients: “Indigent,” “Peasant,” “Stupid,” and “Wooden Leg.”

– Dr. Eric Berne MD on Consulting Room Games in Games People Play.

List of Consulting Room Games in Games People Play

  1. Greenhouse
  2. I’m Only Trying to Help You
  3. Indigence
  4. Peasant
  5. Psychiatry
  6. Stupid
  7. Wooden Leg