Human Givens has been called the first new bio, psycho, social model of psychology for forty years. Human Givens is UK based and dates from the late 1990’s and challenges the conventional way of dealing with mental problems
I am a therapist who helps those who come to me lost in their depression. My methods are based on the Human Givens approach. Human Givens is only some 15 years old yet even in that time, it has received recognition in the NHS and there is respectable peer reviewed evidence of success – that Human Givens helps with depression more effectively that medication or CBT.
Understand why you dream and you will understand Depression
Tonight you will dream, even if you don’t remember doing so. And what is going on is that your brain will act out in story-like form the hopes, fears and reflections that occupied your mind today. Today’s concerns are tonight’s dreams. In simple terms, dreaming is our brain’s emotional flush toilet. This extraordinary process refreshes our emotional brain, leaving it better prepared to deal with tomorrow’s stresses.
But dreaming is exhausting. And if we need more dreaming because we are worrying too much then we will slip into a vicious cycle – of worrying, exhausting over dreaming, reduced motivation and energy and thus even more unproductive rumination. And this is a depression. Many describe it as being locked in their brain, unable to escape from useless and obsessive rumination – a terrifying trance state of inward obsession.
Why people get depressed
People sink into a depressed mood when their innate physical or emotional needs are not being met and, instead of dealing with this situation, they begin to worry about it and so misuse their imagination. All depressed people worry. This increases the amount of dreaming they do, upsetting the balance between slow-wave, recuperative sleep and dream sleep. Consequently they start to develop an imbalance between energy burning dream sleep and refreshing slow-wave sleep. Soon they start to wake up feeling tired and unmotivated. This makes them worry even more as they feel that “something is wrong with me”. To be depressed is an added layer of misery often piled upon genuine challenges, further reducing the person’s ability to cope with their difficulties.
And then what feeds the depression
It can be a number of things. They would include how difficult is the life situation someone finds themselves in. From a Human Givens perspective, the question would be put this way – how possible is it to live a life where essential needs can be met, around safety, control, relationships and satisfying work. And what is the nature and extent of the crisis that might have triggered depression? Finally there are the resources of that client – how well are emotions, habitual patterns of thinking and responding helping or not to get these essential needs met? And finally it is important to discover if there is trauma lurking somewhere in the past as often it is the active reliving of past traumas that is the main inhibitor to a person’s capacity to get their life working better.
Twitter: @tereziafarkas #depression #wellness #humangivens
* Click here to find out more about Terezia Farkas and Depression Help Free
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