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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A look at psychotherapy

Why the human givens approach is important for psychotherapy.
Why we Dream

Last night, while you slept, you went into the REM state and dreamed. You probably don't remember because, for a very good reason, we evolved not to. However all normal humans go into the REM state and dream every night and most mammals show evidence of this brain pattern too.
Human givens in primary care

Community psychiatric nurse Liz Potts describes her experience as one of the few primary care professionals in Coventry using the human givens approach.
The carrot and the stick

Mark Evans describes how working imaginatively with rewards and punishments has helped his clients achieve very swift change
Mind Sculpture: "This trembling web"

Joe Griffin talks with Professor Ian Robertson about the role of experience in the sculpting of our brains, and why certain types of counselling may do harm.
Humanity under stress: a survival strategy

The governing organisations of the world seem all at sea. They are missing an essential element: that of the psychology of human nature, which is programmed into us from our genes (the human 'givens').
On the receiving end...

A young Russian woman, Nina, describes how just three sessions of human givens therapy lifted out of her suicidal depression and turned her life around.
How schools are using the human givens approach

Human givens principles have been introduced to over 200 schools and adopted systemically by some. Here, four headteachers provide a vivid snapshot of their impact.