Rob’s Book Reviews

Freedom From Addiction (Human Givens Approach), Joe Griffin & Ivan Tyrell

July 17th, 2007 at 8:01 pm (Personal Development, Psychology/Self Help)

I picked up this book and started reading it in a Starbucks one rainy Friday afternoon. Why? Because I was addicted to something! For sure, I had kicked both my nasty habits of drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes - but, as I learned from reading this book, I had actually replaced those addictions with something else, in my case a legal but relaxing herb purchased off the internet, which I would carry around with me to ease stress and relieve anxiety. Except every time I was without this herb, I would face stress and anxiety to the nth degree and couldn’t cope without this new crutch! Reading the book, it became clear what had happened to me, and I can thankfully say, thanks to this book, I have beaten another addiction!

The authors of the book write from the perspective of the “human givens” approach, which suggests that if human beings have all their emotional and physiological needs met healthily, they are far less likely to be prone to addictions, depressions, etc. This may seem to some a very simplistic approach. It is certainly full of common sense - if we are happy, why indeed would we spiral into self-destructive behaviour?! I guess people who have worked with serious addicts have seen all common sense go out of the window, however. Still, there are many people who have found the approach in the book to be very useful. Most interesting is the account of how the chemical and other processes in our brains trick us into addictive behaviour, and how this is actually the hijacking of a natural process that is, used properly, essential to our survival and development as a species!

All I can say is that after a number of attempts to give up my herb, after reading this book I have so far not relapsed or even wanted to. So whether you feel you might be addicted to coffee, drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, tv, exercise, or any other thing that we might get addictions with, this book is certainly an interesting read and might just help you kick the habit