Well-trained intuition refines analysis at an emotional price

In transactional analysis (TA), the nagging suspicion (in Portuguese, a “flea behind the ear”) is called the Little Professor ego state. In Brazil, a more contemporary rendering is Professorzinho, a diminutive that sounds consistent with Eric Berne’s purpose of making TA understandable to children.

When the Little Professor is full of cathexis, of psychic energy, we come to know something that is not explicit. Faced with the psychic fact, we can say: “I think you need a hug.” And the other replies: “Wow, I’d been waiting for this for days.”

Since this concerns the human mind, countless elements compete in an analysis. I want to make clear that the mere existence of a device for subjective reading, this ego state, is no guarantee that the assessment of the circumstance is the right one, or even real.

I have been repeating an arrogant line from a political journalist: “It is very good to give an opinion, but being right is even better.” When the minimal scruple of the human condition exists and is heard at least sometimes, the capacity, let us say, the prophetic capacity, is enriched. It has a price.

“Discomfort is a regular visitor,” explains my TA supervisor, Maku de Almeida. As the quality of observations grows and one discovers that the Little Professor was right from the start, it is painful to admit that people so loved still live miserably.