SHORTLISTED FOR MIND'S BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2008, this book uses a wealth of case histories from different fields to show the astonishing benefits implementing the human givens approach has made into education, mental health and social services. Like a powerful lens it brings into focus rich insights about what is missing from society today and how, often against great odds, thousands of talented people from diverse backgrounds are countering this.

Full of practical information, moving stories and humour, it includes a deeply thought-provoking section by the editors Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell, who first coined the term 'human givens' eleven years ago. Together with the other contributors, they reveal how, by working in tune with what Nature gave us, we can now help people turn their lives around more effectively, and often more rapidly.

They suggest that, were these ideas to be thoroughly absorbed and applied on a larger scale, many of the distressing trends in education, mental illness and anti-social behaviour could be reversed. An immensely inspiring book, 'An Idea in Practice', also demonstrates how the human givens organising idea can bring clarity to ethics and diplomacy. And, in the chapter on ‘molar memories’, the impressive case histories show how the very latest insight from human givens psychology is having a dramatic impact on previously intractable cases – sometimes in as little as one session of therapy.