What are the human givens?

When you hear someone talking about “the human givens approach” they are referring to a highly practical bio-psycho-social model of psychotherapy developed in the UK and Ireland.

The ramifications of the ideas incorporated in the phrase 'human givens' are of enormous consequence, not only for the long-term mental health of everyone, but also for education, social policies and law.

A definition of the human givens

The starting point to understanding these ramifications is a profound truth: that every living thing has to take nutriment from the environment to develop and sustain itself — something inanimate matter doesn't do.

We can easily identify each nutriment because Nature makes us feel a need for it — we are all born with essential physical and emotional needs. These needs have evolved over millions of years and, to help us fulfil them, Nature has also given us innate resources (or guidance systems).

It is because these needs and resources are our common biological inheritance, whatever our cultural background and experience, that they are called ‘human givens’ — they are the givens of human nature.

Whenever our emotional needs are not met, or when our resources are being used incorrectly, we suffer considerable distress. And so can those around us.

Our fundamental emotional needs are:

• security (safe territory and an environment which allows us
  to develop well);

• attention – to give and receive it;

• a sense of autonomy and control;

• feeling part of a wider community;

• emotional intimacy – to know that at least one other person accepts us totally for who we are, 'warts 'n' all'; a sense of status within social groupings;

• a sense of competence and achievement (which comes from successful learning and effectively applying skills – the antidote to ‘low self-esteem’);

• privacy (opportunity to reflect on and consolidate our experiences);

• a sense of meaning and purpose – which comes from being ‘stretched’ in what we do and think.

The resources Nature has given us to help us meet these needs include:

• the ability to develop complex long-term memory, which enables us to learn and add to our innate knowledge;

• the ability to build rapport, empathise and connect with others;

• emotions and instincts

• imagination, which enables us to focus our attention away from our emotions, use language and problem solve more creatively and objectively;

• a conscious, rational mind that can check out our emotions, question, analyse and plan;

• a memory and the ability to forget;

• the ability to understand through metaphor (pattern-matching);

• self-awareness (an 'observing self');

• a dreaming brain that dearouses the autonomic nervous system every night thereby keeping us sane and preserving the integrity of our genetic inheritance.

Achieving mental and physical health

Those whose needs are well met in the world do not have mental health problems and are better integrated with other people. Those whose needs are not fulfilled, for whatever reason, or whose innate resources are damaged or being used incorrectly, may suffer considerable distress or develop antisocial behaviours, as a means of coping, which can prove a burden to others or to society at large.

Effective ways to help people

The up-to-date, bio-psycho-social model taught by MindFields College leads the way in producing more effective counsellors and psychotherapists. Training in this approach enables professionals, such as GPs, counsellors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and social workers, to focus more powerfully on helping clients identify unmet emotional needs in their lives and empower them to meet these needs by activating their own natural resources in new ways.

Other professions are adopting this organising idea and learning to tune in to our natural endowment in this way, and many fields are benefitting as a result. Simply understanding what people need to function well, and considering the needs of everyone involved in a situation, gives us a far-reaching yet simple way of assessing and improving all walks of life – from parenting to education, politics, diplomacy and running large organisations.

More information:

The Human Givens Institute

• Where did the human givens ideas come from?
• Why is the human givens approach to psychotherapy important?

The Human Givens journal frequently features cases detailing how the human givens approach is improving the work of professionals in a variety of fields. (Also includes interesting articles, research, news items, interviews, book reviews etc.)

Human Givens: A new approach to emotional health and clear thinking, by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell, and Ivan Tyrrell's article in the British Holistic Medical Association's Journal of Holistic Healthcare: Tuning in to our natural endowment: the human givens .

Online register of human givens therapists, visit: www.hgi.org.uk/register/

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