Triangle of Power

American psychotherapist Stephen Karpman in 1968 proposed his model of how people often interact with each other. It is assumed that a person “tries on” one of three social roles, so the model is called the Karpman triangle.

It sounds paradoxical, but two or three people, and even whole groups of people can spin in the triangle. There are always three roles in it: rescuer, victim and controller-dictator (aka persecutor). Participants change roles from time to time, but all of them are manipulators and spoil their lives and loved ones.

Thanks to Karpman, this model is often used in psychology and psychotherapy. It has not been confirmed experimentally, but it is still popular because it explains human psychological problems in a simple and accessible way.

This field gradually helps to get out of the cursed triangle, changing the user’s behavior, transforming habitual mental patterns. As a consequence, the user has more time and energy, it becomes easier to breathe and more interesting to live. Tension in communication is reduced.

Powerful protection against psychological manipulation has been added to the field. 

1. The victim turns into a hero. Now instead of complaining about fate, the person fights with failures, but he does not feel exhaustion, but excitement. When solving problems, he does not complain to everyone around him, but enjoys the fact that he is able to solve them.

2. The controller (aka persecutor) is transformed into a philosopher.  Observing from the outside the actions of the hero, he no longer criticizes, does not worry about the result. He accepts any outcome. He knows that everything goes for the best in the end.

3. The rescuer becomes a motivator. He provokes the hero to exploits in a good way by describing brilliant prospects. He looks for opportunities to utilize the hero’s strength and encourages the hero to accomplish things.

This is a healthier and happier model of human relationships. But the ideal triangle model (Triangle of Power – there is even more happiness and energy in this triangle) looks like this:

1. The hero becomes a winner. He performs feats not for the sake of praise, but for the sake of creative application of energy. He does not need laurels, he enjoys the very process of creativity, the opportunity to change something for the better in this world.

2. The philosopher turns into a contemplator. He sees connections in the world that are inaccessible to others. He realizes new possibilities and gives birth to ideas.

3. The motivator transforms into a strategist. He knows exactly how to realize the contemplator’s ideas!

This field will help you to take responsibility for your mindset and behavior. You will begin to realize that to fulfill your own desires it is enough to little by little and regularly take more and more of your life into your own hands and in different situations to act independently. You will gradually learn to set goals and move in the chosen direction, regardless of whether there is someone who will help or not.

Gradually, with such a strategy of thinking and behavior will form the awareness that you are the author and the cause of everything that happens in your life. You set and achieve your own goals, get joy and satisfaction from it. And what happens in other people’s lives is their choice. This is an important thought that I advise for all of us to read several times…