Karpman triangle

Karpman’s triangle is a typical connection between the three main problematic roles in human relationships. The author of this idea is Stephen Karpman, the successor of the ideas of Eric Berne.

According to this view, all the variety of roles that underlie the games that people play can be reduced to three main ones — the Persecutor of the Guilty, the Victim of the Persecution and the Rescuer. The triangle in which these roles are combined symbolizes their connection and constant change.

Karpman writes, “The play’s three dramatic roles — Rescuer, Persecutor and Victim — are actually melodramatic simplifications of real life. We see ourselves as the generous Rescuers of the grateful or ungrateful Sacrifice, the righteous Persecutors of the wicked, and the Victims of the cruel Persecutors.

As we plunge into any of these roles, we begin to ignore reality, like actors on a stage who know they are living a fictional life but must pretend to believe it is real in order to create a good performance. At the same time, we never stay in one role for a long time. ”

The terminology needs to be clarified here. In the synthon approach there is an opposition between the Author and the Victim, but then how does the concept of the Victim in the synthon approach correlate with the Victim in the Karpman triangle? A person in the position of the Victim is a person who feels that nothing depends on him, who believes that in this situation he cannot choose his behavior: «It’s all because of them, what could I do?» Then it is obvious that all three roles from the Karpman triangle, namely «Rescuer», «Victim» and «Pursuer» are all three varieties of the position of the Victim.