Afterburn (psychotherapy) Afterburn (psychotherapy) Afterburn is a psychological term coined by Eric Berne, who defined it as "the period of time before a past event is assimilated". Eric Berne, the founding father of transactional analysis, used the term "afterburn" to indicate the effect an atypical past event continues to exert on a person's daily schedule, activities and mental state even "after" it is over: to "those occasions when it disturbs normal patterns for an appreciable period, rather than being assimilated into them or excluded from them by repression and other psychological mechanisms". For Berne, afterburn is the flip side of reachback, which
Eric Gurney Eric Gurney Eric Gurney (1910–1992) was a Canadian-American cartoonist and illustrator. He immigrated to the USA in 1938 to work with Walt Disney Productions, where he was a story writer and a collaborator on several Disney films. Turning freelance in 1948, he did cartoon illustrations for magazines and advertising campaigns. Gurney is well known for his humorous illustrations in books for children and adults. He received the National Cartoonists Society Advertising and Illustration Award for 1961 and 1971 for his work. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Eric Gurney grew up in Toronto, where he began a career as a commercial artist.