This article began with a simple, honest and important question from a colleague. Marina Tsioumanis¹, a Certified Transactional Analyst in Education (CTA-E) who is nearing the completion of her psychotherapy specialization, had recently finished training in hypnosis in Australia. She was careful to distinguish this from hypnotherapy (a four-year accredited degree), as hypnosis training operates in a not-yet-regulated industry in her country. Upon qualifying, her trainer told her she could call herself a hypnotist. But Marina paused.

Rather than proceed without reflection, she reached out to the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA) Ethics Committee. As she explains: "I was uncertain how to advertise myself in a way that was transparent both to my peers and to my clients. I didn't want anyone to misperceive me as a hypnotherapist, because I'm not."

Jan Grant, ethics committee co-chair, suggested the phrase "hypnotic practices," a label that accurately represented Marina's new skill set without overstating her qualification. For Marina, the experience was affirming: "It gave me a level of support and security about how to appropriately represent myself."

Marina's story is a good example of what ethical disclosure looks like in practice: a genuine commitment to transparency, precision and the trust of those we serve, not a bureaucratic check box.

Framework

The ITAA Code of Ethics is unambiguous on this matter. All public communication, whether written or verbal, whether in a journal article or a social media post, carries ethical weight. Our Code states that "ITAA members will consider and take responsibility for the ethical ramifications of their written and/or verbal public statements" (ITAA, 2025, p. 11). This means that every interview, public lecture, profile on a professional directory and caption on Instagram is a representation of the profession itself.

The five core ethical principles provide a useful lens through which to evaluate any form of publicity:

Respect: All groups affected by our communications deserve to be addressed with dignity, free from bias or stereotyping. This includes potential clients who may be unfamiliar with the distinctions within our field, as Marina understood.

Empowerment: Our disclosures should support the autonomy and informed decision-making of those who read them. Inflated claims or vague credentials only obscure.

Protection: The principle of "first, do no harm" extends to marketing. Unrealistic promises of outcomes, or misleading descriptions of our qualifications, can cause real harm to vulnerable people seeking help.

Responsibility: We are accountable for the impact of our public statements, and we must ensure that our communications comply with relevant legislation and professional standards.

Integrity in relationship: Even after the formal end of a professional relationship, we carry an ethical obligation not to exploit former clients or colleagues through our public communications.

Digital age

In the December 2025 edition of The Script, I explored these themes in the context of social media in an article titled "When the 'I'm OK, You're OK' Goes Online: Reflections on Digital Ethics". The piece examined the particular challenges that digital platforms pose for transactional analysts: the blurring of personal and professional roles, the risk of groupthink in online communities and the importance of awareness when communicating publicly — as well as the opportunity to expand (and challenge) Transactional Analysis (TA) and our thoughts and practices.

What Marina's story illuminates so well is that digital disclosure, a LinkedIn post announcing a new qualification or an Instagram reel about a workshop, is still publicity. The same ethical standards apply whether ink meets paper or finger meets screen.

Social media has genuinely valuable potential: It broadens our reach, connects practitioners across continents and brings TA to audiences who might never encounter it otherwise. But with that reach comes responsibility. Every post is a contribution to how the world perceives the transactional analyst practitioner.

The architecture of social media spaces is designed to encourage swift movement and reaction: to announce, to promote, to share, to comment, to like and to disagree. In my experience, this creates a favorable context for the more fixed aspects of the self — the introjected Parent and the archaic Child — to react, as they are more readily drawn out in hurry-up situations, without the pause that Marina so wisely took. I understood her moment of reflection, first alone and then with a colleague from the committee, as an act of ethical practice, integrating the Adult.

Transparency

What strikes me most about Marina's account is not that she sought guidance, but why she did. She already had permission from her trainer and could simply have proceeded. Instead, she asked because she cared about getting it right. That was my impression from our discussion on this topic. This is the spirit that underlies ethical disclosure: genuine concern for accuracy, for those we serve and for the integrity of the profession we represent.

Whether we are introducing a new modality, describing our approach to a prospective client or simply updating our professional biography, the questions worth asking are straightforward:

• Does this accurately reflect my qualifications and experience?
• Could this mislead someone who is unfamiliar with our field?
• Am I making promises I cannot responsibly keep?
• Does this uphold the dignity of my clients, my colleagues and the profession?

Invitation

Marina's question, "How do I represent myself accurately and ethically?" is one that we as practitioners encounter at different moments in our careers. A new qualification, a change of specialization, a shift in the populations we work with: Each of these moments calls for the same thoughtful reflection she modeled so well.

Ethical disclosure is an expression of our practice. As a transactional analyst, what considerations guide you when presenting your work publicly? We welcome your reflections.