Map the roles in the story you grew up on
Use your favourite childhood story to see which roles you learned to expect and play.
Why it works
Karpman's 1968 article starts from fairy tales: a person "living in a fairy tale" sees the world with a minimum of characters, and when someone knows their favourite tale its key roles can be listed and their life roles fitted to it. Because the roles are interchangeable, a person may play each of them at one time or another, and Karpman wrote that work may not be complete until a person's position in each role is looked at. In his 2019 article he adds that naming the games and the Persecutors, Rescuers and Victims in one's family can bring welcome relief.
How to do it
- Name the fairy tale, story or film that gripped you most as a child.
- List its main characters and mark each as Persecutor, Rescuer or Victim, noting where a character switches.
- Ask which of those roles you recognise in your adult relationships, and who in your life has played the others.
- Look for yourself in every role, not only the one you identify with: Karpman's rule is that each can be played at one time or another.
Evidence
The favourite-fairy-tale role diagram is the opening method of Karpman's 1968 article, which includes a case history, which he says might be called "Little Red Riding Hood meets 'Waiting for Cinderella'", in which a mother cast her three children in separate roles in a family fairy tale. His 2019 article extends it to naming family games and roles. It is an interpretive exercise from script analysis, not a tested intervention. (anecdotal)
Looking at family roles can stir up painful memories. If what comes up feels overwhelming, you lose track of where you are, or images keep returning and will not settle, stop and continue with a trained therapist.
Sources
- Karpman, S. B. (1968). Fairy tales and script drama analysis. Transactional Analysis Bulletin, 7(26), 39-43.
- Karpman, S. B. (2019). Script drama analysis II. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research & Practice, 10(1), 21-39.
Common mistake
Treating the story as a fate you are bound to repeat. Karpman's point is that the roles are interchangeable; the map shows a pattern you can now see, not a script you must follow.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for The Karpman Drama Triangle: Persecutor, Rescuer, Victim and the Way Out
- Name the corner you are standing in
Lay out a recent conflict move by move and mark which of your moves were Persecutor, Rescuer or Victim.
- Track the switch that turns help into a fight
Find the moment the roles flipped, then look one step earlier for the invitation that set it up.
- Look through all three windows
When someone's behaviour puzzles or hurts you, imagine it from each of the three corners before settling on one story.
- Find the hidden corners in your own role
For the role others saw you play, find how you were also in the other two corners.
- The compassion triangle exercise for two people
Take turns offering an apology, an appreciation and your dilemma, then guess at the other person's three corners.
- Answer each corner the winner's triangle way
Meet the pull to blame, fix or collapse with its direct counterpart: Assertive, Caring or Vulnerable.
Related concepts
- Shadow Work
Meeting the parts of yourself you have been ignoring
- Transactional Analysis: The Parent, Adult and Child in Every Conversation
Hearing which part of you is talking, which part of them is answering, and why some conversations always end the same way
- Voice Dialogue: Meeting the Selves That Run Your Life
Hearing the pusher, the pleaser and the critic in their own voices, so they stop running you unnoticed
- Shadow Projection: Recognizing It and Taking It Back
When someone else seems to carry exactly the fault you cannot stand, and how to bring that energy home
- Difficult Conversations, Made Practical
The three conversations, the learning stance, and an honest read on the evidence
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