Week 2: Understanding Emotional Needs

Understanding Emotional Needs in Human Givens Therapy

Hello I’m Lee Allison a trainee Human Givens therapist based in Jersey Channel Islands. Welcome to this weeks blog which is all about meeting our emotional needs , these are key to maintaining mental health and reducing stress or anxiety.

Human Givens therapy helps clients understand what emotional needs might be unmet and provides practical ways to restore balance. By addressing these needs, you can regain control, improve mood, and feel more resilient in daily life.

Have you ever felt low, restless, or just a little bit off without knowing exactly why?

The Human Givens framework indicates that most of our emotional difficulties arise from emotional needs not being met, you can think of these needs as psychological nutrients. Just as your body needs food, sleep, and oxygen, your mind also needs certain emotional supports to function well.

Our nine essential emotional needs include security, attention, autonomy, connection, status, emotional intimacy, meaning and purpose, achievement and privacy. When life circumstances continually deprive us of these, stress responses can kick in like anxiety, sadness, tiredness, irritability, or disconnection.

What makes this model especially helpful is its clarity, instead of seeing symptoms as unhelpful problems, you can view them as signals pointing you to which needs are out of balance. For example, exhaustion might point to an unmet need for rest or privacy. Frequent arguments in a relationship may hint at issues in emotional intimacy, status, or communication. By becoming more observant of our internal and external world and pinpointing the missing pieces, change becomes more tangible than vague.

Meeting emotional needs can often be done through small, consistent practices, claiming quiet time for reflection, reaching out to a trusted friend or engaging in activities that provide a sense of purpose. Over time, these actions refill your emotional 'tank' and many symptoms that originally felt uncomfortable naturally begin to reduce.

The thing we always come back to in Human Givens therapy is ‘which needs aren’t been met’, ‘what barriers are standing in the way’, and what resources are being misused?’.

In our next blog will dive into our internal resources and how we can use them to our advantage to meet our essential needs.

This week, notice when you feel emotionally depleted or triggered and ask yourself ‘which need feels undernourished right now?’

To explore your emotional needs and find practical support, book a free 20-minute consultation in Jersey today.

Awareness is the first step toward balance.

— Lee Allison

References:
1. Human Givens Institute – Emotional Needs. https://www.hgi.org.uk/discover/emotional-needs-audit-ena/
2. Harvard Health Publishing – Understanding the Stress Response. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response
3. Mind – Five Ways to Wellbeing. https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/mental-health-at-work/taking-care-of-yourself/five-ways-to-wellbeing/