 thumb|right|classic drama triangle thumb|right|a game free life the drama triangle is a psychological and social model of human interaction in transactional analysis (ta) first described by stephen karpman, m.d., in his 1968 article "fairy tales and script drama analysis".eric berne, what do you say after you say hello? (london 1975) p. 198 the drama triangle model is used in psychology and psychotherapy. ==the three roles== the model posits three habitual psychological roles (or roleplays) which people often take in a situation: * the person who plays the role of a victim * the person who pressures, coerces or persecutes the victim, and * the rescuer, who intervenes, seemingly out of a desire to help the situation or the underdog. of these, the rescuer is the least obvious role. in the terms of the drama triangle, the rescuer is not a person helping someone in an emergency. it is someone who has a mixed or covert motive that is actually benefiting egoically in some way from being "the one who rescues". the rescuer has a surface motive of resolving the problem, and appears to make great efforts to solve it, but also has a hidden motive to not succeed, or to succeed in a way that they benefit. for example, they may feel a sense of self-esteem or status as a rescuer, or enjoy having someone dependent or trusting of them - and act in a way that ostensibly seems to be trying to help, but at a deeper level plays upon the victim in order to continue getting their payoff. (see below). as transactional analyst claude steiner says:  the situation plays out when a situation arises and a person takes a role as victim or persecutor. others then take the other roles.berne, hello? p. 186 the
Transactional_analysis