New insights and understandings

The holistic human givens approach has generated, through the research of its co-founders and others, new insights and findings which are consistent with the latest neuroscientific research (as well as findings from other disciplines), and have major implications for making not only psychotherapy and counselling more effective, but also education and psychological interventions in general.

These are covered at length on the HG Diploma course and individually on other HG College's, online courses and UK-based training days and are fully referenced in our many publications.

They include:

Helps us to identify why a person is experiencing their current difficulties and what can be done about it

A new view of the unconscious mind – the APET™ model – which is compatible with neuroscience, clinical experience and experiment, and which shows how the brain works through ‘pattern matching’. This supersedes cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) because it is more true to the reality of brain functioning

A new insight into trauma and, therefore, how best to treat it

An holistic understanding of the evolutionary origins and function of human dreaming, which has huge implications for our emotional health

The crucial link between thinking styles and fluctuations in emotional arousal

An holistic, integrated theory for why depression develops and is maintained

A new explanation for addiction and why withdrawal symptoms occur

The discovery of ‘molar memories’ which generate and maintain some instances of compulsive behaviour (such as sexual compulsions, anorexia and bulimia)

An understanding of why the use of metaphor is so powerful as a form of treatment

A comprehensive understanding of the placebo and ‘nocebo’ effects

A psychobiological explanation of clinical hypnosis, why it works and what mechanisms are common to all forms of hypnotic induction

A new, empowering understanding of the potential cause of autism

A new insight into what psychosis is

Caetextia: a new definition of autistic and Asperger's behaviour

A more comprehensive understanding of the importance of the REM (rapid eye movement) state in generating reality and accessing intuitive knowledge

A new understanding of the nature of consciousness.

Explore our articles and interviews

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Human givens and social work

Social work should be about helping people yet, bogged down in bureaucracy, it has lost its way. Jan Little shows how the human givens approach can put it back on track.
Good choices: autism and the human givens

Angela Austin describes how the human givens approach has informed her work to create an emotionally safe place where children with autism can learn.
A visceral reaction

Renée van der Vloodt describes how a dramatic event during rewind helped a client resolve a whole host of difficulties in her life.
Violent Robbery - erasing trauma

Hugh McNab illustrates how to successfully detraumatise even the most severe cases of trauma and anxiety-related disorders and help a client back to work and engaging positively with life once again.
Sue's Story - IRA bombing

In 1991 Sue Hanisch was caught up in an IRA bombing at Victoria Station, London. She lost her right leg as a result and sufferd from severe PTSD for nine years…
From self-harm to self-belief

Emily Gajewski describes how the human givens approach has provided a practical focus for working with women struggling to cope with everyday life
Why we dream to forget (I don't dream)

Joe Griffin explains why dreaming, and forgetting our dreams, fulfils a vital human need.
Using the human givens to cope with personal adversity

Val Giblett shares her experience of how human givens principles helped her cope, in her own way, with the diagnosis and treatment of an aggressive cancer.