The December issue of the BACP’s Therapy Today Journal contains an article called “The Rise of Human Givens“.
A concise introduction to the human givens approach, the article offers a summary of how MindFields College, the Human Givens Institute, Human Givens Publishing and the HG Foundation are structured, and a good overview of the main ideas and common criticisms of the approach. Also, Bill Andrews from the Human Givens Practice Research Network, describes how human givens therapy is outcome informed.
It’s worth noting that there are several inaccuracies. It states, for instance, that there are 120 human givens therapists when there are actually over 250 fully-qualified HG therapists and more than 800 people who have taken the HG Diploma and use the approach in their work.
Bueno also implies at one point that the HG approach says it can “heal” damaged resources – which we obviously don’t. Rather, we help people who are misusing the resources they have (such as their imagination in the generation of depression) to use them more effectively and others to develop the potential resources they have but aren’t using.
The introduction:
“Do you know who the leading independent provider of trainer days to the NHS and social services is? Or whose courses are being increasingly incorporated into CPD programmes of schools, universities, the MOD, police departments, charities, Connexions teams, and major public and private companies? Apparently it’s the MindFields College, the breathlessly busy training organisation behind the Human Givens school of psychology or, more humbly, the Human Givens approach. Its flyers regularly fall out of this journal, although there has yet to be any editorial on the subject – until now……”
Dr Grahame Brown, who teaches the popular MindFields College workshop How to manage pain and accelerate healing was recently interviewed by Dr Phil Hammond for a forthcoming BBC Radio 4 programme entitled ‘Healing with Metaphor’ on Tuesday 27th October at 9.00pm.
Dr Hammond, who has read Grahame’s book, How to liberate yourself from pain, sets out to investigate the transformative power of metaphor. Those familiar with the human givens (HG) approach will, of course, already know about the therapeutic benefits of metaphor and language, but it is only recently being recognised more generally in health care, coaching and therapy as a way of engaging the unconscious to activate self-healing, reclaim optimism and fuel the imagination with the energy necessary to attain goals.
Grahame was able to give lots of examples of how he uses metaphor and therapeutic language with great success in his work with patients suffering sub-acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain as an integral part of the human givens approach.
The Missing Peace is a blog that looks at the problem of the Israel-Palestine conflict in the context of new understandings in the field of psychology and human behaviour, the human givens. The authors, John Bell and John Zada, a diplomat and a journalist, have many years experience in the Middle East, both having lived for over a decade in the region.
“For years, efforts to resolve the Israel-Palestine problem, as well as other issues in the Middle East, have floundered outright or only managed to scratch the surface of issues whose roots lie much deeper than where most peacemaking work has taken place. Despite the failures, these political initiatives continue unabated while the problems of the Middle East become further entrenched.”
By addressing the unmet emotional needs of each side the authors hope to go back to fundamental root causes of the Middle East conflict and establish a correct base from which to move forward. A fascinating read, full of new and archived information, this blog is worth a bookmark.
BBC Scotland’s film ‘Walking Wounded’ is an emotionally charged and uncompromising look at the experiences of young ex-soldiers as they adapt to civilian life. It follows three veterans as they attempt to negotiate the difficulties of adapting to civilian life while struggling with the after-effects of their time in the Army. One of the three is Chris from Nottinghamshire, who suffers from acute post-traumatic stress disorder following his tours of Bosnia and Iraq during the first Gulf War. A spiral of anger, drink and depression ended in the loss of his family, business and home, leaving him sleeping rough in London. Moving to Edinburgh with the promise of a new life, Chris enters a maze of benefit systems and Veterans charities.
Resolution, a UK based charity providing help for traumatised military personnel from the Human Givens approach (including use of the ‘rewind technique‘ an imaginative and trauma-focused cognitive restructuring process pioneered and taught by MindFields College) a is one of the organisations that offers him help, and the programme follows his progress. ‘Walking Wounded ’shows what to expect if you are treated by Resolution (around 30 minutes into the program).
Over the summer the new ‘Caetextia: a new definition of Aspergers and autism‘ site was launched including the full original article on caetextia and an hour long video of Joe Griffin explaining the theory and the latest developments of it.
‘Caetextia’ is defined as context blindness caused by an inability to keep track of multiple interconnecting variables and to reprioritise any change in those variables by referring to a wider field that contains the history of them. This causes people with caetextia to resort to one of two mental modus operandi: logical, straight-line thinking or thinking by random associations.
The site has received some fascinating feedback from everyone from professors to people on the autistic spectrum and we are grateful for all responses. Here is the video:
A Danish firm specialising in details, Specialisterne is recruiting autistic and Asperger’s workers for it’s company, BBC news has reported. The firm plans to start a branch in Glasgow, opening job opportunities for autistic people in the UK which utilise their particular skills and meet their needs.
“The company’s founder, Thorkil Sonne, recognises his staff with autism need a quiet environment and fixed routines.
Given the right conditions, they excel at technical tasks.
Robots and Lego models are used to test their skills.
Thorkil Sonne said: “People come to me who’ve had difficulties in the labour market and got depressed.
“They’re like computers that need re-booting.
“I see them grow in self-esteem.
“It’s the most motivating part of my work and a magical moment for me, as the father of a boy with autism.”
New research analysing 14 studies over the last six years is debunking the widely held belief that a “depression gene” is the cause for major depression. Efforts to replicate the 2003 study which proposed the existence of such a gene have failed, while the link between depression and stressful life events was strengthened across all the studies, supporting the human givens approach to treating depression.
“A more serious concern … is that the findings of this [earlier 2003 study] and other nonreplicated genetic associations are now being translated to a range of clinical, legal, research, and social settings such as forensics, diagnostic testing, study participants, and the general public,” writes the Neil Risch, PhD, of the University of California at San Francisco. “It is critical that health practitioners and scientists in other disciplines recognize the importance of replication of such findings before they can serve as valid indicators of disease risk.”
hat tip to:WebMD
Reference: Risch, N. The Journal of the American Medical Association, June 17, 2009; vol 301: pp 2462-2471.
There was a decent program on BBC1 Wales last night about the dramatic rise in heroin use in Wales in recent years and why there are 18 month waiting lists for access to services and people deliberately commiting crimes to get caught so they can qualify for treatment. It was presented by John Cale, who was in the Velvet Underground, and returned home to Wales to find out the situation.
I have just started volunteering and training in this field in Cardiff, and the program scrapes the surface of a huge problem in this area, in heroin use and availability and in the inadequacy and lack of funding for treatment services.
“Rock star John Cale is no stranger to drugs - years of cocaine, heroin and alcohol abuse could have killed him.
Now the former Velvet Underground star returns to Wales to find heroin causing havoc in our communities.
He meets addicts, drugs workers and politicians - and asks why help is sometimes hard to find.”
How we are: News, views and information:
Recovering from psychosis without drugs • cognitive-behavioural therapy and psychosis • breast screening – the unrealised facts • black-and-white thinking • frowning and happiness • unsettled at school • sick notes • teen depression • countering hidden racial bias • weather and memory • attraction • cannabis study • voice blindness • gender-based responses to abuse • the need for social connection
A question of form
Pat Williams explores why new ideas almost always adopt old forms
Transformation in the NHS
Denise Winn discovers how a determined approach to change is revolutionising care at the Royal Bolton Hospital
Orchestrating excellence
Charles Callis considers the social potential of organised group activities that are allowed to develop organically
Therapy: the evidence about what works
There is research evidence to support many positive therapeutic outcomes. Mick Cooper has put it all together
Brain and mind: an unfathomable relationship?
James Le Fanu tells Ivan Tyrrell why he asserts that reductionist science can never explain the mystery of ourselves
Dancing out of step
Miriam Chachamu says she doesn’t take at face value what her clients tell her
A life in service
Andrew Jones’s effectiveness as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force was completely transformed by the human givens approach
MindFields College exists to deepen our collective knowledge of the science of human nature - the human givens - and to apply that knowledge to improve effectiveness and raise standards in healthcare, education and social care policy throughout the country.
This blog serves to promote knowledge and discussion of these ideas, and also to give insight into the company that works to do this - for feedback, comments and suggestions please email: eleanor at humangivens dot com
