Use of Egogram for Psychological Development of the Adolescence

In the field of psychology, transactional analysis (TA) was proposed by Eric Berne as a personality theory [1,2]. It is one of the psychotherapies to evaluate adequate human communication and contribute the personality trait and growth. He advocated three ego states including P (Parent), A (Adult), C (Child), which would be the fundamental PAC model.After that, John M. Dusey has developed the egogram including five egos, which are Critical Parent (CP), and Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A), Free Child (FC) and Adapted Child (AC) [3,4]. It seems to be simple and useful for clinical application and research.


Introduction
In the field of psychology, transactional analysis (TA) was proposed by Eric Berne as a personality theory [1,2]. It is one of the psychotherapies to evaluate adequate human communication and contribute the personality trait and growth. He advocated three ego states including P (Parent), A (Adult), C (Child), which would be the fundamental PAC model.After that, John M. Dusey has developed the egogram including five egos, which are Critical Parent (CP), and Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A), Free Child (FC) and Adapted Child (AC) [3,4]. It seems to be simple and useful for clinical application and research.
In succession, the psychosomatic group of University of Tokyo developed Tokyo University Egogram (TEG), which was consistent with the way of thinking and personality trends of Japanese people [5]. It has been reliable psychological examination, because of adequate standardization by enough statistical investigation [5]. The exam of TEG can been performed easily about 5-10 minutes. It is a questionnaire to answer 60 questions to measure five ego states and speculate personality trait [6].
In clinical practice, various TEG studies have been found. In the case of hypertension on pregnancy and white coat hypertension, high AC and low FC score would be involved in the personality trait [7,8]. There were several reports of egogram concerning the donors for organ transplantation and cessation of smoking [9,10]. Furthermore, patients with oral malodor and controls were investigated and compared, in which A-dominant and NP-dominant types showed the tendency to have significant decrease [11]. In addition, several reports were found about atopic dermatitis, obesity, anorexia and frequent hospitalization, which are also related to the category of psychosomatic medicine [12][13][14].
The author and colleagues investigated TEG studies concerning music therapy. In previous studies, we have reported more than 600 subjects and clarified the importance of musical experience leading to the optimization of egogram [15]. Besides clinical situation, we have continued the TEG lecture and workshop in various opportunities, especially in the educational field of the university [16].
The lectures and workshops of the egogram were provided for the students of the Faculty of Engineering in Tokushima University for years. Its purpose was described as follows: To study professional knowledge and to master technical skills are fundamental requirements in the department. However, psychological development and growth of our student will be also very crucial, including communication skills among related people. Then, learning egogram was estimated to be useful and beneficial for the students [5]. Because egogram gives the basis of interpersonal relationships in psychology, they can understand themselves and develop their personalities in the future. Among our classes, group discussion with 2-4 students each were often performed [6].
We present an example case of 22-year-old man. There were the changes in the result of egogram for 4 years (Figure 1). The first data was obtained when he was 1 st grade in the university at the age of 18. His personality seems to be pure and immature, in which the characteristic N-shaped egogram was observed with elevated N and AC and relatively low C and A [6].The second data was obtained when he was the 1 st grade of graduate school.
His egogram was changed from pure/immature type to the computer type with calm and adequate evaluation ability. The characteristic points of computer type include that highest A element, low CP and AC are observed with triangle shape. This type has been evaluated for rather ideal personality trait in business person working for usual companies. The reason is that the intellectual evaluation ability for a variety of matters seems to be rather excellent in the working circumstances [5].
The changes were examined in detail (Figure 1). Among the five factors, the most characteristic point was the elevation of A (Adult) from 11 to 19 points, which was nearly full score (20 pts). Factor A correlates with the level of education. Then, the changes were probably due to improved judgement ability from 4-year education in the university. On the other hand, AC (Adapted Child) decreased from 17 to 8 points. Regarding factor AC, younger people do not have enough confidence in the decision of lots of affairs, then they possibly obey the opinions around them. After a variety of experiences for 4 years, they tend to have moderate confidence in their way of thinking, leading to the decrease of Factor AC [6]. Generally, there are some characteristic aspects in the students entering the Faculty of Engineering [1]. During senior high school, they were enrolled in science courses, not in literature courses. Then, they are used to dealing with lots of matters in logistic way. On the other hand, they are not good at managing with cultural ideas and subtle human relations. Therefore, the workshop of egogram would be meaningful. We have given the workshop twice. One is at 1 st grade just after the entering the university, and another is at last period of 4 th grade or first period of 1 st grade in postgraduate course. Though one case was presented in this article, we have been investigating lots of cases so far [16].
In summary, we have investigated egogram pattern using TEG in university students for years. TEG would be useful and beneficial for psychological development of adolescence. Some changes in egogram for 4 years are meaningful for each student. These results will become fundamental and reference data for egogram study and research in the future.