PTSD after July 7 bombings, “The Trickster: medicine’s forgotten character”, and the Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust

- The health protection agency has release a report stating that 80% of survivors of the London bombings of July 7th last year have been left with with “emotional upset”. 80% of these were referred to counsellors and specialised post traumatic stress disorder services. Read what Joe Griffin has to say about treatments for post traumatic stress disorder here.

- I would also like to draw your attention to an interesting article I put up on the archive section of our HGI website yesterday from a 1996 edition of The Therapist (renamed the Human Givens Journal) called The Trickster: medicine’s forgotten character:

“In modern psychology ‘Trickster’ is often used to refer to a universal force or pattern within the mind — what Jung called an archetype — that represents the irrational, chaotic, and unpredictable side of human thought and behaviour. This aspect of the mind is contrasted with the logical, analytical, and intellectual side that values order, precision, and control. According to the tenets of depth psychology, a balance between these two vectors of the psyche is required for optimal mental heath. When either the rational or irrational side dominates, self correcting forces come into play to restore some semblance of harmony between the two. The countless Trickster tales describe how this process plays itself out in everyday life…” click to read article

- Further to our post yesterday, I also wanted to add that the Human Givens Institute wholeheartedly supports the Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust, which is raising money to help provide disadvantaged individuals with appropriate educational facilities to enable them to lead lives in which the “kicks” of criminal activity will not be required to fulfil emotional needs.

Posted by: Eleanor

A breeding ground for crime

The crucial question of “how should street crime be tackled?” has risen again after the sentencing of those responsible for killing the young London lawyer Thomas Rhys Pryce.  Donnel Carty (aged 19) and Delano Brown (aged 18) robbed Pryce of his mobile phone before stabbing him in the heart.

It’s very interesting to read on the BBC message boards and Have Your Say page that public opinion seem to support the “hang ‘em” solution (implying that these  ”scum” are lost causes, naturally doomed to forever commit crimes until the Justice System is well enough equipped to discipline and imprison them effectively) rather than taking the more optimistic view that many young people today are bored and turning to crime only in order to fill a void created by the unhealthy environment around them.

The fact which really needs to be addressed is that everyone is born with innate emotional needs that have to be fulfilled in the world if we are to flourish and be mentally healthy.  (Psychologists call these needs ‘human givens’ because they are programmed into us from our genes.) If families, schools and society generally prevent children from getting their innate needs met in balanced and productive ways, we are, in effect, stopping them maturing well by stunting their mental and emotional life.

The rising levels of violent crime occurs as young people try to meet their innate needs, which nature is driving them to do, by turning to gangs and criminal activity because nothing else more wholesome is on offer.  Delinquent behaviour follows on from a natural effort to fulfil these needs; such as for status, control, being stretched, feeling that life is meaningful and being part of a community. Crime is a destructive path to follow, but it does fulfil many of these emotional needs for these deprived youngsters.

People don’t come into the world as criminals but much of the culture in the UK at the moment provides the perfect conditions for generating mental illness and raising children to be violent and antisocial.  It is our society that is creating young criminals like Carty and Brown.

It will require drastic measures to create a more healthy society and, until there is a deeper understanding of the importance of this backed up by the political will to do something about it, these problems and the tragedies that follow from them will only get worse.

Posted by: Eleanor

Mental Health Bill 2004 still fails to acknowledge or promote the importance of meeting emotional needs

The proposed Mental Health Bill 2004 still has some serious flaws.

The Government needs to go back to the basic principles of primary care: helping people get their innate physical and emotional needs met. These needs, the ‘human givens’, are each individual’s genetic inheritance. (Our biology determines that we cannot avoid needing food, water, attention, status, friends, being stretched in life etc.) How well our needs are met clearly depends on the quality of physical and emotional nourishment provided by the environment.

Human givens are intertwined. That is to say, if we are prevented from getting our physical needs met — by famine, accident, illness or ailments — our emotional life is affected. And when our emotional needs are not met and we suffer emotional distress — such as anxiety, anger, depression or psychosis — it can affect our physical health too.

Primary care with sufficient resources and training to act proactively in the mental health domain is not currently available. Too many people fall through the cracks, and with this Bill, they could be imprisoned and given drug treatments or ineffective psychotherapy against their will.

Compulsion within a resource-constrained mental health service will focus attention on minimising treatment and put pressure upon clinicians to prescribe drug treatments rather than focus on human needs and individualised therapy.

We believe that if society imposes an obligation of treatment on an individual, it should impose a moral obligation on itself to ensure that treatment is appropriate and available.

Posted by: Eleanor

The UK needs more than ‘Supernannies’

A few weeks ago it emerged that the Youth Justice system in the UK has reached a crisis point – with literally only a few beds available.

In response, the Government is targeting parents with their £4 million “super nannies” scheme – which will install 80 child psychologists in high crime areas to teach parents good parenting skills.

I was speaking this week to an array of psychiatrists, psychologists, GPs and other health workers at a MindFields workshop and they were all in agreement that, whilst the intentions of the Government may appear to be good, changing the way children are brought up cannot be done as a short-term, ‘sticking plaster’ task of the kind politicians love so much. No one in the room felt able to trust politicians’ ability to do much to change things for the better. The feeling expressed was that they are floundering on the major issues of parenting, mental health and anti-social and criminal behaviour in just the same way they are over the war in Iraq.

To really make a difference requires long-term – a project lasting decades. That requires a bigger, more ‘true’ organising idea about what makes for a good life if it were to carry the population with it. The work would involve changing the very nature of our culture and its priorities. Just sending in 80 child psychologists to deprived areas to give ‘parenting classes’ only scratches the surface and, ultimately, will fail unless the fundamental needs of people can be met in the environment in much better ways than they are at present.

And it really must be seen as long-term endeavour. The brains of some children are already so damaged by their upbringing that they will remain a burden on the rest of us until they die. To stop this sad state of affairs getting worse will require an almost superhuman effort driven from a clear vision that guides the work over decades.

Until all agencies, education, health, government, media, work in tune with nature – the ‘human givens’ – and start to create a healthier culture by pushing for the kind of changes needed, there will be no meaningful improvements made.

The group I was talking to were unanimous that current government policies, by encouraging the infantilising of the population instead of helping it mature, are incapable of working because the laws and systems are too complex and hopelessly unrealistic. If this is a true reflection of the world we are now living in it’s not surprising then that many children are not growing up to fulfil in healthy ways what they might otherwise be capable of.

However hard parents try, many can’t help the fact that they are bringing up their children in a deeply uninspiring, criminally inclined environment that is culturally shallow. They live in a world where greedy, selfish behaviour is encouraged by strong exhortations to emotional expression that are constantly demonstrated and encouraged through the media (strong emotions, happy or sad, keep us ‘stupid’ and easy to condition) and families are collapsing.

When can we trust politicians?

We talk to a large number of people in the caring professions and education, thousands every year, and it is clear that there is a breakdown of trust between these people and politicians. No one expects politicians to do what is needed any more, yet they all expect politicians to interfere and make things worse. Despite this, changing our corrupting environment does require political leadership of intelligence and perspicacity. Even if only some of the taxpayer’s money that is wasted each year by government (£83 billion pounds according to the European Central Bank) was spent more wisely, much could be done to achieve what is actually needed, as required by the reality of the situation, instead of political ideology.

But on the present showing there seem to be no politicians interested in creating a healthier culture, or, if they do exist, they are so bogged down in power struggles and autistic bureaucratic political and civil service systems that they can’t operate. Whatever the reason, until politicians start to sincerely seek help from people who know how to facilitate making it easier for the innate needs of children and adults to be met more healthily in this country, and back them with money, the situation will deteriorate further. Children will continue to get their innate needs met but do so in ways that diminish them and society at large, as when a child’s need to connect up to larger groups and have status is satisfied by becoming part of the local delinquent criminal gang because they have no alternative.

Working with the givens of human nature should be the touchstone of any Government policy.

Posted by: Ivan

The Times: Parents demand prozac for high achieving children/anxiety “masks” depression?

Two articles about depression in The Times today came to my attention.

Firstly, Lucy Bannerman reports on research which shows that 36% of medical professionals feel “bullied” by parents into prescribing dangerous anti-depressant drugs as a “quick-fix cure” for children who are under pressure to do well in exams. What is even more alarming is that six out of ten GP’s feel obliged to prescribe prozac because they rated local, more “holistic” treatment health services as “poor” or “very poor”.

This lack of knowledge about how depression occurs and how to effectively treat it must be fought. There is a dramatic need to improve access to health services that treat depression quickly without drugs.

Secondly, an article by Thomas Stuttaford, the Times resident Doctor, discusses anxiety with relation to the cricketeer Marcus Trescothicks recent withdrawal from the Ashes cricket team and begins:

“Those who suffer from depressive illness, such as Marcus Trescothick, often also exhibit symptoms of stress, which can mask the true problem.”

Stuttaford then stumbles through the relationship between anxiety, stress and depression (sometimes implying that they are same ‘disorder’) and describes in depth the symptoms of each – without reaching any firm conclusion.He correctly identifies that anxiety and depression go hand in hand, but what he is missing is that anxiety eventually causes depression

“There is a close interrelationship between depression and anxiety. When I was a junior hospital doctor in a psychiatric team, one of my chief’s oft-repeated observations was that depressed patients also showed signs of anxiety, and in all anxious patients there was evidence of depression. It was therefore easy to miss the true diagnosis.”

The need for increased REM sleep (to dearouse unresolved anxiety) leads to waking up feeling exhausted with lowered motivation. Stuttaford touches on the connection between depression and poor sleep..

“The sleep pattern is altered — often the small hours are spent restlessly as despondent thoughts go round and round. All energy seeps away, as the patient complains of being tired and suffering an unnatural fatigue.”

..but the idea that worrying increases REM sleep and causes depression is not mentioned.

This connection is a fundamental development in our understanding of depression that needs to be far more widely recognised by the NHS and health professionals so that it can be treated more effectively.

See here for more information on the importance of dreaming and its relationship with depression.

Posted by: Eleanor

Ministers disguise conviction-based policies as evidence-based

“At best, ministers and shadow spokesmen cannot distinguish between anecdote and science. At worst, they can be dodgy operators who use research selectively to “prop up” policies, or even fraudsters who think nothing of scientific malpractice.”

Roger Highfield at the Daily Telegraph yesterday does not let slip by a report by the Commons Science and Technology committee that describes exactly how the government improperly uses scientific research to back up new policies to extents that go beyond “fuzzy thinking” and “ignorance”.

“… many politicians still seem unable to comprehend that science is a never-ending dialogue between theory and experiment, not the recruitment of convenient facts.

When the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, told one newspaper this year that more women should have babies at home, she signalled her determination by saying that she had even commissioned research to support her case.“

What is even more ironic is that Tony Blair has affirmed “what matters is what works”. Evidently not.

Posted by: Eleanor

What makes a good Therapist or Counsellor?

When clinical trials compare the effectiveness of different therapeutic schools and approaches, the results are very interesting.

Many studies have concluded that the difference in effectiveness between psychological therapies is minimal, however, when you examine the data* it’s clear that this result is produced by the mean and that there are clear differences in effectiveness between different therapists, regardless of which therapy they practice.  The way an individual therapist practices is more important than the approach to therapy they were trained in so, if you are seeking an effective therapist, it’s crucial to understand what to look out for.

This checklist, drawn up by ETSI, will help you and people you know protect yourselves from potentially harmful types of therapy and counselling.

An effective counsellor or therapist

— knows how to build rapport quickly with distressed people

— understands depression and how to lift it

— helps immediately with anxiety problems including trauma or fear related symptoms

— is prepared to give advice if needed or asked for

— will not use jargon or ‘psychobabble’ or tell you that counselling or psychotherapy has to be ‘painful’

— will not dwell unduly on the past

— will be supportive when difficult feelings emerge, but will not encourage people to get emotional beyond the normal need to ‘let go’ of any bottled up feelings

— may assist you to develop your social skills so that your needs for affection, friendship, pleasure, intimacy, connection to the wider community etc. can be better fulfilled

— will help you to draw and build on your own resources (which may prove greater than you thought)

— will be considerate of the effects of counselling on the people close to you

— may teach you to relax deeply

— may help you think about your problems in new and more empowering ways

— uses a wide range of techniques as appropriate

— may ask you to do things between sessions

— will take as few sessions as possible

— will increase your self confidence and independence and make sure you feel better after every consultation.

(* see Okiishi, J. Lambert, M. Neilsen, S. and Ogles, B (2003) Waiting for Supershrink: an empirical analysis of therapist effects. Journal of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. 10 361-373. for abstract click here)

Posted by – Eleanor

The Origins of the Human Givens Approach

Here is some background from our Human Givens Institute website on the origins of the human givens approach. I thought it would be interesting reading for people new to the concept who might be visiting this blog:

It is now commonly realised that there is a core set of principles for stabilising the human mind, creating harmony in and between communities, bringing order to schools and colleges, making government and administration more just and effective.

These principles grew out of the work of psychologists and psychotherapists who were trying to bring greater clarity to the way people who become depressed, anxious, traumatised or addicted are helped.

In 1992 they formed a group, the European Therapy Studies Institute (ETSI), whose aim was to discover why some psychotherapy approaches appeared to work and others didn’t. ETSI quickly gained several hundred members from a wide variety of professions whose support enabled them to publish a journal, The Therapist.

Three leading figures from the start were:

Joe Griffin, Ivan Tyrrell and Pat Williams.

Attacking the efficacy question from a scientific viewpoint, they discarded any approach that was dogmatic or hypothetical, or that research showed was not helpful, whatever its practitioners believed. They also incorporated what they could glean from the therapeutic wisdom of other cultures and times. Then they took what was left, stepped back and set about understanding how it matched up to the emerging findings of neuroscience, asking “why does this work?”

The result was a new synthesis of everything that can reliably be said to help human beings function well and be happy, together with remarkable new insights into the purpose of some long-unexplained brain mechanisms. These derived from the work by Joe Griffin on why we dream, how this relates to depression and psychosis, the importance of the REM state, and why we are so vulnerable to addiction

In 1996 MindFields College was founded to teach people about the practical application of this rapidly developing psychological knowledge. Since then over 150,000 people have attended MindFields courses. By 1997 the term ‘human givens’ was being used so often it stuck and the first monograph on the subject was published. Soon after that the journal changed its name to Human Givens to reflect its wider appeal and it grew from strength when Denise Winn joined as editor.

From a growing need to implement these ideas into training effective human givens counsellors, the first HG diploma course was run in April 2000. The approach grew organically, refining as it was being taught and merged with other knowledge and feedback from the wide range of psychologists, teachers, counsellors, psychotherapists, nurses, social workers and others who did the diploma.

The Human Givens Institute (HGI) was set up in 2001 for people who were using the approach in their work to keep in touch with one another.

In 2003 the first edition of Human Givens: A new approach to emotional health and clear thinking was published in hardback to great acclaim. Demand was so great it was republished almost immediately and then came out in paperback.

Dreaming Reality: How dreaming keeps us sane, or can drive us mad, was published in 2004.

A new series of books, Essential help in troubled times – the human givens approach, was launched to introduce new knowledge (about getting out of depression, curing addictions and mastering anxiety) to the general public. The first two titles quickly became best sellers and a new book has just been published.

In March 2006 a higher level of education was introduced on a new course for people wishing to explore these ideas even further.

As knowledge of how human beings function continues to grow it is essential for therapists that they never stop learning. The human givens approach to therapy is an open and evolving concept — continually incorporating new knowledge and insights as they come to light — which frees us to see more clearly what really works and why, and makes therapists and counsellors more effective at relieving distress.

Posted by: Eleanor

A walk in the park

The MindFields College office is situated in a rural area of East Sussex.

While this makes the journey to work slightly more taxing than if we were in a city centre (e.g. getting stuck behind a slow moving tractor and only one train an hour at the local train station), it’s also lovely to be able to take a stroll with the dog through the brisk winter air in the fields at lunch time, gaze out the window through the willow tree at the old farm house, hear the geese honk over the ringing of the telephones, shuffle through the autumn leaves to the stock room…

But enough poetic licence, this is relevant because I’ve noticed an interesting article on the BBC news website about the launch of a new campaign by the conservation agency Natural England to get people out into nature and away from the NHS.

“The aim of the campaign is to get people to have more contact with the natural environment where they live by promoting green spaces and encouraging health professionals to incorporate them into the advice and care plans they give to patients.” 

According to a Natural England health adviser, spending time doing physical activity in the countryside is beneficial for both physical and mental health, and in doing so will take the pressure off the NHS by preventing ill-health.

Natural England also cite some findings to support their iniative:

- children with attention disorders improve with contact from nature,

- regular exercise is more likely to be kept up when it is conducted in a natural setting rather than in a gym,

- people convalescing from operations need less pain killers when they have a view of green fields,

- being close to nature cuts stress.

So, for those not fortunate enough to live or work close to the countryside, it’s worth making the effort to get out there, de-stress and improve your health!

Posted by: Eleanor

New book “How to Master Anxiety” has just arrived!

Hot off the press, the very first delivery of the next title in our ‘Essential help in troubled times – the human givens approach’ series has just arrived.

We experienced a lot of anxiety ourselves in getting this book to print, so it’s very satisfying to finally be able to hold a copy!

Here’s some further information about the book:

This down-to-earth and easy-to-read book is a life-changer. Thousands of people, suffering from a wide range of anxiety disorders – from panic attacks and phobias to post-traumatic stress and obsessive thoughts – have already benefited from the many insights and psychological techniques it contains, and now you can too.

Packed full of useful information, ‘How to Master Anxiety’ will not
only throw light on the causes of your anxiety but, more importantly, show you how to control it. Its clear and practical advice is suitable for anyone who wants to conquer their own over-anxious behaviour – whatever it is – or to help others overcome theirs.

With plenty of easy-to-learn techniques to help you relax, avoid ‘black and white thinking’ and change your perspective on whatever it is you fear, it also includes encouraging case studies to show how others have successfully mastered all kinds of anxious and phobic behaviour.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FOR EVERY ANXIOUS PERSON:
- How anxiety and stress are closely related, how to recognise when you are under stress and what to do about it

- What exactly is going on in your body when anxiety overwhelms you and why it reacts like this – understanding lessens the fear

- A range of relaxation procedures to free up your brain and help you think more clearly

- How to use the positive power of your imagination to manage your thoughts and feelings and change your experience of stress and in appropriate anxiety

- A look at the three different levels involved in anxiety disorders

- The natural survival mechanisms that you can harness to help you

- Specific techniques for overcoming a variety of anxiety disorders, neutralising fears and other psychological traumas (including PTSD).

If you want further information, or to order a copy, click here.

 

Posted by: Eleanor