Learned Helplessness is a phenomenon that occurs when a series of negative outcomes or stressors causes someone to believe that the outcomes of life are out of one’s control.
While learned helplessness can affect anyone, it often takes root in early childhood. However, trauma experienced in adulthood can also leave you feeling helpless.
Martin Seligman first identified learned helplessness in the 1960s. He gave electric shocks to dogs that were restrained in cages and unable to escape or control their situation. After some time, even when they were given shocks in a situation from which they were able to escape, the dogs continued to accept the electric shocks. They had learned helplessness.
In the 1970s, Seligman extended the concept of learned helplessness from nonhuman animal research to clinical depression in humans and proposed a learned helplessness theory to explain how people become vulnerable to depression.
As children, we depend on our caregivers, to survive. If we need help but no one comes to our aid, we can end up feeling that nothing we do will change our situation. Repeated experiences can result in growing into adulthood with overwhelming feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
Some common symptoms of learned helplessness in children include:
Avoiding decisions
Bad attitude
Giving up quickly
Inability to tolerate frustration
Lack of effort
Low motivation
Passive behavior
Poor self-esteem
Procrastination
Refusing to try
Learned helplessness in adulthood is frequently the result of experiencing stress or trauma. People may feel that they have little to no control over their situation. Because of the lack of control, people may feel helpless and unmotivated to take action. Symptoms of learned helplessness in adulthood, include:
Low self-esteem
Adult entitled dependence (AED)
Mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, and CPTSD
Trouble managing and changing behaviours, including addiction, substance abuse & over-eating
Inability to obtain a desired outcomes, like changing careers or leaving a relationship
Difficulty with follow-through
Dissatisfaction in life and hopelessness
Codependency
Caught in a cycle of abusive relationships
Feeling a lack of control over the outcome of situations
Failing to ask for help
Decreased motivation.
Putting less effort into tasks.
Lack of persistence.
Feelings of frustration.
Passivity.
For example, someone living with C-PTSD who was previously in an abusive relationship for several years, may believe that they can never escape the trauma from an abuser in future relationships. That their destiny is out of their control.
They may also believe that their future relationships are destined for heartache. All their attempts at improving their relationships may feel wasted, despite having access to practical and informed help.
But all learned behaviour can be unlearned. CBT and EMDR are extremely effective therapies that help to reduce the symptoms of learned helplessness. The main aims being to:
Explore the origins of learned helplessness
Provide learned helplessness emotional support and encouragement
Equip with the skills required to manage learned helplessness
Identify negative thoughts that contribute to learned helplessness and help overcome them
In the words of Thomas Edison,
‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work’
Andrea x