How a human givens therapist can help
Human givens (HG) psychotherapists offer practical, solution-focused help that deals with mental and emotional distress in the here and now. While they will listen to you and empathise with your circumstances, that is never all that they will do in a session; instead they will focus on how to get your life working again. They will not want to delve into miserable experiences or memories from your past, unless these are relevant to your distress today.
Their training ensures that they have a sound body of scientifically based knowledge and skills which have been demonstrated to help both adults and children as quickly as possible with a wide variety of emotional and behavioural difficulties.
They can help:
- reduce anxiety — generalised anxiety, panic attacks, fears, phobias, obsessions (OCD), lack of confidence or overwhelming stress and pressure can be treated effectively by HG methods.
- break the cycle of depression — the human givens approach offers powerful psychotherapeutic treatment for depression; even chronic depression can often be lifted quickly and the meaning and joy returned to life.
- help prevent depression recurring – the understandings and skills that clients learn can be used to pre-empt depressive bouts in the future
- resolve trauma — the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however severe, can be resolved safely and often quickly, depending on the complexity of the individual case.
- manage anger — out of control anger damages health, increases the likelihood of an early death and can cause enormous misery among relatives, colleagues and innocent bystanders.
- stop addictive behaviour — people can be freed from all forms of addiction - such as alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, TV and computer games and eating disorders - provided they want to make the effort to stop.
- reduce the stress that exacerbates many medical conditions — conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain and migraine have an emotional component. Stressful events often trigger an outbreak because emotions affect health – and vice versa.
- improve relationships — relationship difficulties are often self-perpetuating because our beliefs and reactions to one another trigger patterns of behaviour which stop us solving them. HG therapists can help couples make changes that will enable them to rekindle loving connection. They can also help those who choose to part do so more amicably.
When our emotional needs are not well met, and/or when our innate resources are used incorrectly, we suffer considerable distress, and so can those around us. HG practitioners focus on helping you to identify your unmet emotional needs and empower you to meet these needs by applying your own natural resources in new ways. To do this they use a variety of up-to-date, tried-and-tested techniques for problem solving.
HG practitioners will help you get your life working again as quickly as they can. Sometimes this takes just a few sessions, sometimes more. In the unusual case that they (and you) are seeing no improvements, they will not keep you endlessly in therapy and may refer you for a different kind of help.
Similarly, as there is a huge crossover between mind and body, and between emotional and physical pain, if your practitioner feels that your difficulty can more appropriately be resolved by another professional (such as a medical practitioner or physiotherapist), they will advise you accordingly. All HG therapists are required by the HGI to abide by its ethical, professional standards and fitness to practise policies, which state that they should not treat conditions that are outside their competence, and sign a declaration to that effect.