the previous night. So, the next morning we awake feeling terrible because we haven't really slept,and we find it much harder to get motivated to get up and do anything because the brain mechanismthat generates that interest in life is exhausted as well.Exhaustion on waking and lack of motivation are features common to all depressed people. Becauseour normal sense that life is meaningful comes from the actions we take, when our motivationlevels are low, life quickly comes to seem meaningless. The natural delight we take in being aliveand doing things drains away.How does human givens therapy relieve depression?Human Givens therapists work with the fundamental truth that people do not develop mental illnesswhen their innate emotional needs are being met in balance. Working with this organising idea theyemploy techniques from various therapies that have proven effective (interpersonal, cognitive behavioural, solution focused) plus they add the new knowledge you have just read above thatshows the importance of vividly creating new expectations in the mind of the patient to 'kick-start'them again.Because depression, like any strong emotion, fogs our thinking, emotional arousal is reduced tostart with. The therapist has a range of ways to do this so that the patient can begin to think moreclearly about the situation that is causing them to worry. When the patient has calmed down thetherapist will usually explain what depression is and how it is caused. This in itself is hugelytherapeutic for most people since no one else is likely to have explained how and why the feelingsarose and they were probably imagining that there was something wrong with them. Simultaneouslythe therapist will do an informalemotional needs audit to find what needs are not being met so they
can begin to tackle the worrying that is causing the problems.Whilst doing this the patient's past achievements, skills and good qualities are also looked for andgiven as much attention by the therapist as the troublesome history. If it emerges that there istrauma behind the depression, this will be resolved using the HG version of the rewind technique.The therapist will almost certainly use guided imagery to help the depressed person change their negative expectations into more positive, realistic and concrete ones to help them re-connect with previously enjoyed activities and rehearse in their imagination doing the things they need to bedoing. This helps them become more confident about using their own resources to pick up their lifeand get on with taking the actions that will help them start meeting their emotional needs oncemore. Learning how to fulfil these innate needs resolves depression and prevents relapses.Usually much progress is made on the first session but the therapist will always want to see a person who has been deeply depressed a number of times to make sure that progress is maintainedand that the patient is taking steps to change their expectations. Postnatal depression is treated veryeffectively in exactly the same way.Human givens (HG) therapy is effective on its own but can also be done alongside drug treatment.Read acase-studywhich shows how a human givens therapist dealt with depression.
Depression: some distortions of fact
To be deeply depressed is just about the most awful feeling we can experience, apart from sheer terror. It can disable anyone. But the topic is surrounded by false ideas: Depression, as experienced by the vast majority of sufferers for example, is not a biological illness; neither is it 'anger turnedinward'; it is not a 'chemical imbalance in the brain' and it is not usefully divided into 'clinicaldepression', 'post-natal depression' and ordinary 'depression'; and is not, in most cases, hard to comeout of.The term 'endogenous depression' is used to describe a low mood that is purely the result of biological factors, such as a brain disorder or neurological dysfunction affecting serotonin,dopamine or other neurotransmitter. Such specific brain damage is very rare.
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