What are the human givens?
All forms of mental distress arise because, in one way or another, people’s physical or emotional needs are not being met. Our essential needs and our innate resources to help meet them – the ‘givens’ of human nature – are at the heart of the human givens approach. If all our needs are met in balance, making us confident about our place in the world and the people we connect with, we don’t suffer from disabling conditions, such as anxiety and stress, depression, addictions, phobias or panic attacks.
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We all know that we have physical needs – for food, water, warmth and shelter – which must be sufficiently met to enable us to survive and thrive. But people often don’t realise that certain emotional needs are just as crucial for both our mental and physical health. Decades of health and social research have revealed, for instance, that a sense of security, intimacy, social connection, status, autonomy and control, competence and achievement, and meaning and purpose are also vital, if we are to stay in good health and feel fulfilled in our lives. Our innate resources for helping us meet these needs include the ability to build rapport, empathise and connect with others; to learn, problem solve, remember and plan; to use our imaginations productively; and to step back and take an objective look at our circumstances. When any of our important needs is seriously unmet over a significant period or any of our resources is not made best use of, mental and physical ill health may develop.
This is why, when human givens practitioners work with people in mental distress, they look for what is missing in those people’s lives and seek ways to redress that, as well as teaching them important life-coping skills.
The human givens organising idea
The more you can understand the Human Givens Organising Idea, the better you will make sense of your life now and indeed live better.
The organising idea of Human Givens starts from what we are born with. These are the templates for our species, Nature’s endowment to each of us. These givens come in two kinds:
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The physical and emotional needs evolution has programmed into us, which seeks fulfillment through our interaction with the environment
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The resources (or tools) nature provided us with to help us get those needs met
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And so, what we do every minute of the day (you could say) is to use our resources as best we can to try to get our essential emotional needs met.
Emotional needs include:
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Security — safe territory and an environment which allows us to develop fully
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Attention (to give and receive it) — a form of nutrition
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Sense of autonomy and control — having volition to make responsible choices
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Emotional intimacy — to know that at least one other person accepts us totally for who we are, “warts 'n' all”
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Feeling part of a wider community
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Privacy — opportunity to reflect and consolidate experience
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Sense of status within social groupings
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Sense of competence and achievement
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Meaning and purpose — which come from being stretched in what we do and think.
What is Human Givens therapy?
Human Givens (HG) counselling is practical, science-based and focussed wholly on what individuals need to live mentally healthy and personally fulfilling lives. As a therapeutic approach, it’s becoming increasingly well known in the UK and overseas for achieving fast, effective and long-lasting outcomes – with most clients getting the results they want in an average of 4-6 sessions.
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HG includes a range of effective therapies including cognitive, behavioural, clinical hypnotherapy, and solution-focussed conversation all of which help to identify what is missing in a person’s life and find solutions, additional coping skills and new frameworks to simplify life’s perplexing challenges.
The applications for HG outside of private practice are already broad. They can be found in mental and physical healthcare, education, social work, private business, large corporates, tech innovation, new energy, conflict-resolution, sport and high-performance coaching and beyond.
Where can I find out more about human givens?
The Human Givens Institute website is a great place to start finding out more.
