Why was the human givens approach developed?
If you could read a potted history of psychotherapy you would see an evolution of break-neck speed from the birth of the field to the chaotic situation of today, where we have at least 650 models of counselling and psychotherapy. Although many of these offer some effective techniques and useful insights, overall we have an uncoordinated disarray of theories, terminology and methods, which causes confusion among both health professionals and those in need of help.
Mature sciences like chemistry, physics and engineering are built on a broad common ground of understanding. Despite the wealth of psychological and neuroscientific knowledge available to us, this is currently lacking in psychotherapy. It was to address this lack that the human givens overarching idea was first proposed.
Psychologists Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell, co-founders of the human givens approach, looked to the fundamental principles of what it means to be human to develop a simple, robust, scientifically up-to-date, coordinated and agreed bio-psycho-social model of healthy human functioning: a shared language and a practical framework upon which to build an effective, integrative approach to emotional health which truly understands us as human beings with human needs.
Explore our articles and interviews
Give your 2019 resolutions a positive spin
How’s your New Year resolve bearing up? What went through your mind as the bells rang in 2019? Julia Welstead discusses how reframing, visualising and rehearsing your own success are often the keys to achieving what you want, and to making your New Year resolution a permanent behaviour pattern in your life...
Teaching that works: using the human givens in the classroom
Teacher trainer Andy Vass shows how knowledge and application of the human givens approach could help hard-pressed teachers reduce stress and improve the climate in class.
The Social Brain
Denise Winn talks with Professor John Ratey about the brain as a social organ, and the need to be alert early to inept social skills.
Are you ok? Don’t miss signs of depression
Would you know if someone you care about has depression? Most people probably think that they would, but it isn’t necessarily as obvious as you might expect. Indeed, until some simple screening questionnaires were introduced for GPs to use, half of them were missing the diagnosis in patients that came to consult them.
The evolution of the human givens approach
John Halker interviews Joe Griffin (co-founder of the human givens approach) at the human givens conference 2018.
Psychotherapy's Third Wave? The promise of narrative
The fundamental new direction in therapy is more than just a set of new techniques explains Bill O'Hanlon in an article first published in 1995.
Great Expectations
Joe Griffin goes back to basics to arrive at some powerful new insights into the givens of human nature.
It’s elemental, my dear
Green space, blue space, vitamin N, the great outdoors, animal therapy, the nature cure: whatever we want to call it and however we want to engage with it, most of us are aware that communing with our natural world is purported to be good for us. But why is time in nature so beneficial and how does it make us feel better?
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HG at the Virtual Trauma Recovery Summit 2021
Human Givens therapist and tutor, Ros Townsend, has been invited to join an internationally recognised panel of speakers at the Trauma Recovery Summit which takes place from June 21-23 this year.
Further exposure of the mismanagement of antidepressant withdrawal
This update on Marion Brown's work to highlight the often tragic effects of withdrawal from prescription medicines was first shared in the April 2021 issue of the HG Newsletter.