Classic book I read when I was little; Games People Play sat on the toilet tank and I read through it in middle school; it is about transactional analysis – where you have a parent, an adult and a child and they all play transactional games with each other; some are good and positive and some are negative; I came across it again while looking at Intrapersonal Communication, then Inner Critic, then Psychology of Self and saw Berne.
“Many times in my life, I was placed in social situations that left me feeling so depleted afterwards and I could not exactly grasp why this was happening. When I read Games People Play, I started to understand how many people play these games that end up making me feel used and hopeless. After a year or so, I also began realizing that I play some of these games myself… This is when I really decided to change my life. I began living with a new awareness of the behaviors of not only others but my own as well!”
https://ericberne.com/games-people-play/