The learned helplessness is an interesting and important phenomenon, which is one of the main problems of man.
Each of us at least once in our life was in such a life situation when he could not cope with an oppressive state and said to himself: “it is useless, nothing will succeed anyway”, “I can never cope”, or when it was not possible to stop some that action that was ineffective, or vice versa, to initiate something that was vital. We repeat to ourselves: “I am too busy”, “I know that it’s not worth it to behave this way, but I can’t do anything”, “I can’t force myself to do it” and so on. Why are we acting like this? What is the reason for this?
The concept of the syndrome
The phenomenon of learned helplessness has been known for a long time, but the technology for working with it has not been adequately described and developed.
Learned helplessness is always associated with difficulty:
- Goal setting (“I don’t want anything”, “I don’t know what to choose”).
- Maintaining the original intention (“I was not interested,” “I changed my mind about doing this”).
- Initiation of the action (“it’s hard for me to start,” “I will do it later,” “I would like, but ...”)
- Overcoming obstacles ("I did not think it would be so difficult").
Learned Helplessness: An Experiment
Sigmund Freud first wrote about this syndrome. The theory of this phenomenon as an independent syndrome was proposed in the 70s by the American psychophysiologist Martin Seligman.
Martin Seligman 's theory of learned helplessness was confirmed experimentally in animals. He created the conditions in which punishment combined with hopelessness. After a series of experiments, the animal did not take the opportunity to save, even if it appeared. However, if the animal did not have a negative experience, it quickly found a way out and independently controlled the situation. Those animals that were punished for a long time, realized the futility of their efforts, they developed learned helplessness, which became the main form of their behavior in the future, regardless of conditions.
That is, negative experience leads to the rejection of resistance. This provokes the development of depression and malignant tumors.
A Study of the Phenomenon by Julius Cool
Studies of the learned helplessness of Seligman M. continued by the German scientist Kul Julius. He conducted experiments on students, they were asked to solve intellectual problems that did not have a solution, but the subjects did not know about it. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to cope with the task, which were accompanied by negative comments by the experimenters about the intellectual abilities of the subjects, the majority of students fell into despair. Just at that time, they were offered to solve the simplest problem, which most of them also could not cope with. This is learned helplessness and a striking mechanism for its formation.
Kul believed that if the following three components are present simultaneously, then a state of helplessness occurs:
- the presence of confidence in the inability to independently cope with the task;
- a feeling of inability to independently control the situation;
- self-doubt and personal qualities.
Kul determined that learned helplessness is a violation of the ability to overcome difficulties, a failure, based on the experience of failure, of actions to resolve them.
That is, learned helplessness arises only when a person is convinced that the situation does not depend on his behavior and his efforts to change it, that he alone is to blame for all the failures.
Types of helplessness
In psychology, personal and situational helplessness are distinguished:
- Personal learned helplessness is an established characteristic of a person that has developed in him since childhood under the influence of relationships with other people. It manifests itself in excitability, isolation, emotional instability, pessimism, shyness, a tendency to guilt, indifference, low self-esteem, passivity, lack of creative intentions.
- Situational helplessness is a temporary reaction of a person to events that are not under his control.
A child, reaching the age of 2-3 years, seeks to do everything independently, but some adults, looking at clumsy or timid attempts, instead of helping or showing the baby how to do it, grumble displeased and stop independent actions. Scolding a child, they discourage him from wanting to do something on his own, to create something new. Toys are taken away for the child, the bed is made up, shoes and clothes are put on - that is, they perform any work, if only he does not take away their precious time from adults. Over time, the baby understands that it is not worth making an effort not to hear once again that he is doing everything wrong.
Sources of learned helplessness
Seligman M. notes that this phenomenon is formed by the age of eight and reflects a person’s faith in the result of his actions. He claims that three sources are needed to form helplessness:
- The experience of adverse uncontrolled events: resentment, death of a loved one or animal, serious illness, scandals or divorce of parents.
- Observation of situations in which people remained helpless.
- Lack of independence in childhood.
Seligman M. believes that the syndrome of learned helplessness, formed in childhood, remains with a person for life.
Psychological attitudes
The presence or absence of learned helplessness in a person can be easily determined by his vocabulary, by the presence in him of certain phrases and turns of speech.
For instance:
- “I can’t” (ask for help, refuse friends, find friends, build harmonious relationships, change my attitude to life, and so on).
- “I don’t want to” (to solve a problem, change my lifestyle, this is not my occupation).
- “Always” (I’m nervous about nothing, I’m late for work, I put up with everything).
- “Never” (I can’t get to the meeting on time, I’m not asking for help, it won’t work out).
- "Everything is useless" (there is no need to try, nothing will ever work out in this situation).
Behind all these attitudes is a lack of optimism and positive experience, a fear of failure, disbelief in oneself and one's strengths, and a lack of positive thinking.
Helplessness in life is often masked by fatigue, anger, apathy.
A person remains passive and inactive, he does not want to change the environment, loses control, ceases to believe in his own strength. As a result, he develops depression, depression, early death is possible.
Key behaviors
The most common types of behavior with learned helplessness are:
- Pointless vanity, the creation of an illusion of activity that does not lead to results.
- A complete abandonment of activity, that is, apathy, loss of interest, in a word surrender.
- The state of inhibition, absolute misunderstanding of what is happening, stupor.
- Aggression.
- Actualization of other activities, for example, instead of overcoming problems in relationships, there is a need to eat something tasty.
These forms of behavior work automatically, they can replace each other.
For example, a person has problems in his personal life, he begins to fuss, create the appearance that he is not indifferent to relations with a loved one, then he surrenders, apathy sets in, he enters into a state of stupor, which is replaced by workaholism. A man devotes all his free time to work and career.
The learned helplessness is a prerequisite for the emergence of addictions, addictions of depression and psychosomatic diseases.
Learned helplessness and its overcoming. Remedy One - Action
First of all, it is important to regain a sense of control. This will help the action. It is necessary to perform any action that a person chooses.
In concentration camps in a situation of excessive pressure, unfair rules and the constant threat of death, under conditions of punishment for any slightest fault, a person quickly broke down and lost his willpower.
Bruno Bettelguim survived in such conditions only because he took control of his life in his own hands. He did everything that was allowed in the camp. But he did it of his choice. That is, he brushed his teeth because he chose it, and not because he respected personal hygiene. He did not participate in night discussions, but went to bed. Thus, he created an internal conviction of the possibility of choice and decision-making.
It follows that in confronting the learned helplessness, it is necessary to look for control points, that is, those situations where you can make choices and implement decisions. You can start small - throw out old things, rearrange the room, read a book that you wanted to read a long time ago. And the result will be felt very soon.
Means number two: in small steps
Psychological attitudes: “nothing will work out for me”, “I am a failure”, “my attempts will not change anything” - are formed from special cases. In life, as in a child’s game, we select points (cases) and connect them with a line. This is how a self-belief is formed. Over time, people increasingly pay attention to experience, which further confirms this belief. But a negative opinion of oneself can be changed, for example, narrative therapy does this. With it, a person learns to form a new picture of himself, he learns to see situations in which he is valuable, his actions are important, and in them he can influence the outcome of events.
It is important to be able to find cases in your life when everything worked out. Set small achievable goals, for example, to clean up the room. And when the goal is completed - be sure to note it. The more attention you devote to your achievements, the more energy is allocated to new achievements.
Remedy number three: a different look
Seligman believed that animals can learn to resist helplessness if they had experience of successful actions.
Together with psychotherapists, he studied the behavior of people and their reactions to circumstances. They concluded that a person’s tendency to explain what is happening in one way or another affects whether he gives up or is looking for an opportunity to act. People who are convinced that bad things happen to them through their fault are prone to depression, apathy, and a state of helplessness. Unlike those who are convinced that the bad happened through no fault of their own, they quickly come to their senses, recover and begin to act.
A person can work on settings independently and adjust them. Cope with helplessness and hopelessness is possible only with the help of hope and strength, as well as faith in one's own strength. It is necessary to establish contact with oneself, to hope, to take the first steps, that is, by all means, try to “jump out” of a state of helplessness.
Instead of output
Sometimes the most effective way to jump out of a state of helplessness (to overcome the syndrome of learned helplessness) is to lose.
It is important to learn how to get out of a traumatic situation. Of course, you need not to give up and fight to the end. Continue trying to find a way out. But sometimes you have to admit that in this situation I lost. For example, because the situation depends not only on me. It’s worth losing the battle, but winning yourself. The ability to recognize defeat is a very important skill in life.