What Learned Helplessness Says About You — And How To Change Your Ways For Good
What does it mean when you feel powerless to help yourself? If you are asking this question, you may be experiencing learned helplessness – a feeling that you are unable to control what happens to you, even when you can change the outcome. People who experience learned helplessness may often feel overwhelmed, hopeless, and feel as though they are out of options to change or improve their lives' adverse circumstances. In this article, we explain the theory of learned helplessness that can occur in humans. We also explore the effects of learned helplessness on depression and discuss ways to ultimately overcome learned helplessness. Lastly, we provide resources for those with experience learned helplessness to get support.
Overview: Theory of learned helplessness
Learned helplessness theory was discovered in 1967 by psychology researchers Martin Seligman and Steven Maier. The theory of learned helplessness took shape when Seligman and Maier conducted research on animals (and subsequently human beings) that showed the concept of how learned helplessness applies to both humans and animals.
The learned helplessness model was developed when the researchers realized that learned helplessness in humans mirrors the experience of learned helplessness in animals exposed to the same conditions. As a result, the concept in humans also applies to animals. In fact, almost the same number of humans and animals developed learned helplessness during the research studies.
The learned helplessness model shows that when humans and animals are presented with adverse circumstances from which they feel they have no escape, they are likely to stop trying to help themselves and accept the negative consequences without protest, despite the fact that escape may be, in fact, (and often is) possible.
Factors that may contribute to learned helplessness in humans:
- Exposure to adverse circumstances or pain. (In this case, a loud noise like a siren.) Researchers conducted a study to show how people develop learned helplessness. In the experiments of the development of learned helplessness in people, participants were exposed to adverse circumstances that caused temporary discomfort.
- Removal of an exit or a way to stop the discomfort. When participants were exposed to negative external stimuli, their options for escaping the situation were limited or non-existent. The study authors reported that the participants who had limited opportunities to escape chose to use those options more often than participants who believed they had no options.
- The eventual development of learned helplessness. In humans and animals, this development is seen when subjects in the study stopped trying to help themselves or escape the adverse environment.
The Seligman and Maier experiments showed that learned helplessness is a theory in which animals learned that outcomes were independent regardless of their responses, which in turn undermined their attempts to escape.
This body of research revealed that if persistent adverse outcomes are a factor, the concept of learned helplessness applies regardless of age or gender (and animal species). The generality of learned helplessness means that people become “conditioned to accept pain and suffering” without trying to find a means to escape it. Fortunately, Seligman’s research studies among those that followed revealed that learned helplessness can be unlearned. However, this mitigation of its’ symptoms and behaviors usually requires therapeutic interventions from medical professionals and therapists.
The link between learned helplessness and depression
People who experience the effects of learned helplessness may often feel powerless over their own lives and incapable of making a positive change. As a result of their persistent beliefs, people who experience learned helplessness often have concurrent mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
The early research on learned helplessness in adult and children shows a direct link between learned helplessness and depression. When people are repeatedly exposed to negative circumstances (from which they cannot escape), they may learn to become helpless in similar situations. In extreme cases, a person affected by learned helplessness may erroneously assume that they are helpless in all areas of their lives. This assumption developed as a coping mechanism can cause a cascade of effects that share symptoms with depressive disorders.
Effects of learned helplessness on depression development
Learned helplessness in children and adults is often related to feelings little control over their circumstances and not having the power to change or overcome negative situations. While learned helplessness typically follows a series of events that lead to this feeling, depressive symptoms may also aggravate a sense of helplessness.
Accordingly, many people who have developed learned helplessness may also develop depression due to feelings of powerlessness associated with this condition. These symptoms include:
- Heightened negative affect, including intense feelings of nervousness, fear, guilt, and sadness
- Diminished positive affect, such as low motivation, difficulty concentrating, and loss of pleasure
Research shows that individuals with learned helplessness have become accustomed to feeling unsuccessful in their attempts to attain accomplishments or reach goals. People living with this condition may apply their inability to perform in one area to all areas of their lives, for example the workplace. This means that people with learned helplessness often go through life feeling like a failure — and powerless to do anything to change it. Again, this state of helplessness is treatable, and people have successfully overcome this learned behavior with appropriate therapeutic interventions.
The opposite of learned helplessness
The opposite model of learned helplessness is the theory of learned optimism. This theory emphasizes changing the mindset of people experiencing learned helplessness to optimism. Seligman’s book Learned Optimism explains that the effects of learned helplessness can be reversed by incorporating optimistic alternatives and solutions into the equation. The main premise is that people who experience learned helplessness can benefit from being presented with optimistic alternatives.
How did I become so helpless?
Some people may progressively succumb to the effects of learned helplessness over time due to life circumstances and experiences. In some cases, early childhood or adult trauma can contribute to learned helplessness in adults. For example, a child who grew up in a home where they were continually told, “you’re not good enough,” may eventually come to believe this to be true about themselves. People who experience learned helplessness were often “taught” or influenced by external events that led them to believe they are helpless or powerless.
If you are experiencing trauma, support is available. Please see our Get Help Now page for more resources.
Living with this mindset can negatively impact the quality of life for the person experiencing learned helplessness, as well as for their loved ones. Accommodating helpless behavior daily may at times feel overwhelming for spouses, children, and other support people in their life. Meaningful relationships can experience difficulties when we become conditioned to accept pain, suffering, or other negative consequences due to a belief in our inability to help ourselves or escape the situation.
How do I change my ways?
The first step to changing learned helplessness behavior is to accept that you have the ability to change by using optimistic solutions. Acknowledging that you are capable of change your perception and the way you think can empower you to change. Thus, you can unlearn the theory of helplessness. Consider the following:
Focus on what you know you can control
Feeling helpless is characterized by the belief that you do not have any control over a situation. For example, if a student fails multiple math exams, they may believe that they are not good at math. Because of this, they may have difficulties with any math-related problems in their life and may not try as hard due to the expectation that they would inevitably fail.
One way to override this mentality is by focusing on what you can control. A student can improve their academic performance by seeing a tutor, scheduling an office visit with their professor, or asking more questions during class. While this might not result in a better grade, the idea of trying something new could show someone that they have the potential to excel in math. Simply changing one’s attitudes and perspectives about the possibilities is a start at overcoming helplessness.
Practice optimism
Another way to reverse learned helplessness is by viewing situations in a more positive light. If someone experiences a severe failure, they may be able to understand how they failed and what they can do to improve themselves for the next time. While there is no guarantee that being optimistic will improve your chances of success, sometimes changing one’s outlook on a situation can illuminate options that may have been hidden beforehand.
Life is often about mentally picking yourself up. It may be easy to imagine how people may react when they win. However, the same cannot be said when people fail. No one else can truly change how you think or respond to either positive or negative life events. Only you can make choices that will positively affect your life and challenge yourself to shift your perspective.
Also, know the process will be easier with the help of a licensed therapist for support and guidance. Depression often results when people feel that it is impossible or improbable that their circumstances will change. A therapist may be able to help you develop realistic solutions and a customized blueprint for achieving your goals.
Get help from an online therapist
Talking to a licensed therapy expert can help you undo the negative effects that learned helplessness has caused in your life. They can support you in finding the best motivational, emotional, and cognitive solutions for your unique situation.
You may find that online therapy is an appropriate fit for you, especially if your busy schedule requires a convenient and openness not available with in-person therapy. Online therapy has been shown in studies to help those struggling with depression and feeling helpless. For example, 466 participants joined a study due to their interest in becoming happier through online positive psychology interventions (OPPIs). The participants who were randomly assigned to online optimism-building interventions reported that they engaged more in activities that brought them happiness and experienced less dysfunctional pessimism in their daily lives.
Regain is an online therapy platform that can match you with a licensed therapist who understands what you're going through. They can provide tools and guidance to help you overcome obstacles you’re facing and develop positive strategies to get through life’s adversities in the future.
Takeaway
When you are managing learned helplessness, it is difficult to believe that you can change what is happening to you, especially when life throws you a curve ball. Understanding the drivers of learned helplessness, accepting you have the power to change, and reaching for professional support all can help you on the journey of overcoming helplessness.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs):
What are the three elements of learned helplessness?
Learned helplessness occurs when someone believes they have no control over their situation. Three components make up learned helplessness: These helplessness elements include:
Contingency
- A contingency is a relationship between a person’s actions and how their surroundings respond. For example, when someone pushes a doorbell, the bell will ring. When someone is in a state of learned helplessness, there is no perceived response in the environment to their actions.
Cognitions
- Cognitions allow people to observe their contingency and understand how it works. In people experiencing learned helplessness, this cognition is often impaired.
Behavior
- This is how a person can explain environmental contingencies.
Therefore, someone is in a state of learned helplessness when they feel that none of their actions will produce a satisfactory result. For example, if a doorbell does not ring after being pushed, and someone rings the bell over and over again only for the bell to not ring, they may conclude that the bell will never ring again and feel helpless, forgetting that they can also knock.
What is the learned helplessness theory of depression?
Psychologist Martin Seligman and his colleagues came up with the learned helplessness theory of depression while studying dogs’ response to fear, which prompted them to continue the study on people. They discovered that people with depression often learned to be helpless. Essentially, those with depression may feel that their actions will not produce a result that will make them feel happy no matter what they do. As such, they do not believe they have control over their environments. Their helpless behavior may cause them to overlook or dismiss opportunities that could help to improve their mental health.
However, Seligman and his team could not explain why so many people did not become depressed after living through many unsatisfactory life events. Seligman later altered his helplessness theory of depression to factor in a person’s way of thinking. He suggested that people with depression may tend to rely on a pessimistic explanatory style when thinking about distressing moments.
Another form of Seligman’s theory argues that depression also results from hopelessness. In theory, depression may be attributed to a pattern of negative thinking in which people see themselves as the reason behind their unfortunate past experiences. Thus, they perceive themselves as losing control over a situation they think could have been better if they had made other choices. So, they see themselves as being defined by their action or inaction during these past events.
What is a learned helplessness example?
An example of learned helplessness that is frequently referenced would be Martin Seligman’s study involving dogs. In early 1965, he and his team watched what happened when a dog could escape a harmless shock after hearing a tone. Their first experiment consisted of ringing the tone and then administering the harmless shock to the dog. Seligman then placed the dog into a box with two compartments divided by a low fence. When the dog would hear the bell, instead of jumping over the fence and escaping the pain, the dog did nothing. When they tried harmlessly shocking the dog without the bell, nothing happened.
The dog not only learned of the connection between the bell and shock, but the dog also learned that trying to escape was futile. The dogs believed that they could not avoid the shock, so instead of escaping their enclosure, they became helpless.
Who discovered learned helplessness?
Martin Seligman and Steven F. Maier discovered learned helplessness by accident when he and his colleagues examined the relationship between fear and learning in dogs. See the description of the experiment that sparked learned helplessness above. In summary, when dogs learned and decided that they were helpless, they did not change behavior even once the situation changed and action actually was possible.
How do you fix learned helplessness?
You may be able to fix learned helplessness by acknowledging that you can change your perception of anything through trial and error and changing the way you think. Thus, you can unlearn the theory of helplessness by trying these activities:
- Focus on what you know you can control.
- When people feel helpless, they often do not believe that they have any control over their situation. For example, if a student fails multiple math exams, they may believe that they are not good at math. Because of this, they may have difficulties with any math-related problems in their life and may not try as hard due to the expectation that they would inevitably fail.
- One way to override this mentality is by focusing on what you can control. A student can improve their academic performance by seeing a tutor, scheduling an office visit with their professor, or asking more questions during class. While this might not result in a better grade, the idea of trying something new could show someone that they have the potential to excel in math. Simply changing one’s attitudes and perspectives about the possibilities is a start at overcoming helplessness.
- When people feel helpless, they often do not believe that they have any control over their situation. For example, if a student fails multiple math exams, they may believe that they are not good at math. Because of this, they may have difficulties with any math-related problems in their life and may not try as hard due to the expectation that they would inevitably fail.
- Try being optimistic
- Another way to reverse learned helplessness is by viewing situations in a more positive light. If someone experiences a severe failure, they may be able to understand how they failed and what they can do to improve themselves for the next time. While there is no guarantee that being optimistic will improve your chances of success, sometimes changing one’s outlook on a situation can illuminate options that may have been hidden beforehand.
Life is often about mentally picking yourself up. It may be easy to imagine how people may react when they win. However, the same cannot be said when people fail. No one else can truly change how you think or respond to either positive or negative life events. Only you can make choices that will positively affect your life, and challenge yourself to shift your perspective.
Is learned helplessness a mental illness?
Learned helplessness describes a mental state in which an individual is repeatedly exposed to a seemingly unwinnable encounter, learns that they cannot control the situation, and possibly starts applying this to other situations preemptively and becomes hopeless. While learned helplessness isn’t technically a mental illness, it has been linked to some mental health disorders, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
How would a behaviorist explain learned helplessness?
Behaviorism is a theory of learning whereby all behaviors are learned through interactions with one’s environment. Behaviorists are concerned with observable stimulus-response behaviors. While they accept cognition and emotions, they consider them separate from the study of behaviors altogether.
Therefore, a behaviorist could explain that learned helplessness occurs when an individual responds to a specific event. Let’s take the three components of learned helplessness: contingency, cognition, and behavior. From a behaviorist’s perspective, they would not necessarily factor in cognition as part of learned helplessness. Since they do not consider that thoughts and feelings influence one’s physical behaviors, they would only examine the contingency and behavior involved in learned helplessness. A behaviorist may only examine the observable parts of learned helplessness. Instead of thinking about someone’s feelings about feeling helpless, behaviorists may focus on how an individual does nothing in response to a certain event.
Why is learned helplessness unethical?
The unethical nature of learned helplessness derived from the original experiment that gave birth to the idea. Since Martin Seligman and Steven F. Maier conducted their studies on dogs by giving them shocks, many may have seen this research as an unethical approach. Many historical facets of psychology have difficulties with this contradiction that experiments that may be considered unethical, especially by modern scientists, have contributed to an important understanding of the human mind.
However, the learned helplessness theory may be able to help people understand their sense of helplessness and overcome it.
What is the opposite of learned helplessness?
If we consider that learned helplessness is when someone teaches themselves that they are helpless, then the opposite would be teaching themselves that they control their situation or that they can choose to look at situations in a more positive and productive light. There are many ways to describe this process: learned mastery, learned optimism, and internal pride, to name a few possibilities.
What disorder is learned helplessness most commonly?
Is learned helplessness cognitive or behavioral?
What is learned helplessness in toxic relationships?
What is learned helplessness and how do you unlearn it?
What does helplessness feel like?
What is learned helplessness vs learned optimism?
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