Human Givens - Evidence of Notability, Research and Criticism of The Human Givens Approach

Evidence of Notability, Research and Criticism of The Human Givens Approach

A study published by the Mental Health Review calls for further research to be undertaken to examine the effectiveness of Human Givens therapy. It suggests that current Human Givens published empirical evidence mainly relies on case studies, expert opinion and anecdotal evidence. The review by the Centre for Ageing and Mental Health at Staffordshire University searched for publications on Human Givens Therapy from 1992 to 2008 using a variety of data bases (including Allied Health Source; PsycINFO; PubMed). Out of a total of 876 items only 95 sources were accepted as meeting the criteria of evidence of which the authors conclude are ‘largely based on expert opinion or anecdote’ and is 'overwhelmingly positive in respect of therapeutic outcomes' More recently several ongoing research projects have been initiated by the Human Givens Research Practice Network.

The Human Givens model recognises itself to be eclectic in nature and its founders explicitly acknowledge that the approach integrates best practice and thinking drawn from existing psychological models such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy and Client Centred Counselling as well as much of their own recent research, most notably Griffin’s “expectation fulfilment theory of dreaming”

The New Scientist and the Washington Times have both featured interviews with Joe Griffin on the Human Givens approach. The British Medical Journal and the Nursing Times have both written articles which have referred to the Human Givens Approach.

In The British Medical Journal the author asks the question 'so where's the evidence?' and Ivan Tyrell,who is the director of Director of the European Therapy Studies Institute and the Human Givens Institute, comments 'People are starting to do it —but we aren't doing it ourselves. If a plane is flying, you don't need to keep showing that it's possible to fly.’.

A lengthy article discussing the Human Givens Approach was published in the May 2010 edition of the Arab Journal of Psychiatry

Peer reviewed evidence for the effectiveness of human givens therapy, published in Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, showed that, of 120 patients treated by HG therapists in a GP's surgery, more than three out of four were either symptom-free or reliably changed as a result of the therapy. This was accomplished in an average of only 3.6 sessions. This compares favourably with the recovery rate for the UK Government’s IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) programme that uses therapists trained in CBT and which expects therapy to take longer and less than two out of four patients to improve or recover.