Learned helplessness what is

Though there is no research into this particular effect of exercise in humans, physical activity usually benefits mental health and can reduce or prevent anxiety, depression, stress, and other health problems.

Certain factors, such as a history of abuse and a pessimistic outlook, can make a person more prone to learned helplessness. Anyone who believes that they are experiencing learned helplessness should consider speaking with a mental health professional who can help them take control of their circumstances.

Cutting is a type of self-harm. Although it can be a challenging habit to break, there are many ways to prevent yourself or others from cutting. Child abuse refers to any emotional, sexual, or physical mistreatment, as well as neglect of a child. A child may be afraid to tell anyone, but…. A look at different types of meditation and the benefits of each. Included are tips for better meditation and information on how long it takes to work.

Cognitive behavioral therapy CBT is a short-term talking therapy where a professional counselor or therapist works with an individual to help them…. Acute stress disorder ASD is a short-term condition that can develop after a person experiences a traumatic event. Its symptoms are similar to those…. What is learned helplessness? Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, Ph. What is it?

Theory In adults In children Who it affects Related conditions Treatment Summary Learned helplessness is a state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly. Share on Pinterest A person who experiences stressful or traumatic situations may develop learned helplessness.

Background to the theory. Learned helplessness in adults. Learned helplessness in children. Share on Pinterest A child with learned helplessness may exhibit a lack of motivation and low expectation of success. Why does learned helplessness affect some people and not others? Links with mental health conditions.

How to overcome learned helplessness. Share on Pinterest CBT can help people to overcome unhealthy thoughts and behaviors. Latest news Could 'cupping' technique boost vaccine delivery? Scientists identify new cause of vascular injury in type 2 diabetes. Early results were generally supportive of the theory while continuing to raise new questions. As attribution theory gained prominence in the s, learned helplessness theory was reformulated to include more specific information about cognitive processes.

As the theory now proposed, a person need only expect that an outcome is noncontingent for learned helplessness to result. How the expectation of noncontingency is arrived at is less important, whereas causal attributions of why the outcome is noncontingent become more important in predicting the nature of subsequent deficits. These adjustments in the theory proved more powerful in predicting behavior. Uncontrollability seems to be associated with increases in negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, and depression, reduction in observable aggression, and increased arousal.

Self-esteem is particularly susceptible to learned helplessness. Research findings imply that individuals who experience noncontingent outcomes may become increasingly likely to display the helpless pattern. An early question in the human learned helplessness literature was whether or not helplessness actually generalized from one situation to another, as it did in animals.

This was crucial to the advancement of the theory. These findings continue to support the idea of helplessness as a coherent set of deficits, rather than simply a task-specific problem. Individuals who demonstrate helpless patterns make statements suggesting that they believe themselves to be personally responsible for failure, to attribute their failures to stable circumstances, and to state that these characteristics encompass their whole selves.

In other words, they seem to believe that they have failed because they are stupid, they are going to remain stupid, and everything they do is stupid—controllability, cognitions, and behavior.

Critics suggested that perhaps it is adaptive for an individual to stop responding in the face of failure and that failure to solve the problem, not uncontrollability, underlies the helplessness phenomenon. To test this idea, Kofta and Sedek set up an experiment that separated uncontrollability from failure. They demonstrated that, whereas failure resulted in decreased mood, it was the condition of uncontrollability that resulted in task performance deficits.

Their data support the idea that participants can distinguish uncontrollability and failure and that passivity as a behavior is a deficit, rather than an appropriate response. In , Villanova and Peterson conducted a meta-analysis of the literature on learned helplessness in humans. Meta-analysis is a statistical procedure that combines data from many different studies. Depression, anxiety, phobias , shyness, and loneliness can all be exacerbated by learned helplessness.

For example, a woman who feels shy in social situations may eventually begin to feel that there is nothing she can do to overcome her symptoms. This sense that her symptoms are out of her direct control may lead her to stop trying to engage herself in social situations, thus making her shyness even more pronounced. Researchers have found, however, that learned helplessness does not always generalize across all settings and situations.

A student who experiences learned helplessness with regards to math class will not necessarily experience that same helplessness when faced with performing calculations in the real world. In other cases, people may experience learned helplessness that generalizes across a wide variety of situations. Learned helplessness often originates in childhood, and unreliable or unresponsive caregivers can contribute to these feelings.

This learned helplessness can begin very early in life. Children raised in institutionalized settings, for example, often exhibit symptoms of helplessness even during infancy. When children need help but no one comes to their aid, they may be left feeling that nothing they do will change their situation.

Repeated experiences that bolster these feelings of helplessness and hopelessness can result in growing into adulthood ultimately feeling that there is nothing one can do to change his or her problems. Some common symptoms of learned helplessness in children include:. Learned helplessness can also result in anxiety, depression, or both.

When kids feel that they've had no control over the past events of their lives, they gain the expectation that future events will be just as uncontrollable. Because they believe that nothing they do will ever change the outcome of an event, kids are often left thinking that they should not even bother trying. Academic struggles can also potentially lead to feelings of learned helplessness.

A child who makes an effort to do well but still does poorly may end up feeling that they have no control over their grades or performance.

Since nothing they do seems to make any difference, they will stop trying and their grades may suffer even more. Such problems can also affect other areas of the child's life. Their poor performance in school can make them feel that nothing they do is right or useful, so they may lose the motivation to try in other areas of their life as well. Learned helplessness may also contribute to feelings of anxiety and may influence the onset, severity, and persistence of conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder GAD.

When you experience chronic anxiety, you may eventually give up on finding relief because your anxious feelings seem unavoidable and untreatable. Because of this, people who are experiencing mental health issues such as anxiety or depression may refuse medications or therapy that may help relieve their symptoms.

As people age learned helplessness can become something of a vicious cycle. When encountering problems such as anxiety or depression, people may feel that nothing can be done to ease these feelings. People then fail to seek out options that may help which then contributes to greater feelings of helplessness and anxiety.

So what explains why some people develop learned helplessness and others do not? Why is it specific to some situations but more global in others? Attribution or explanatory styles may also play a role in determining how people are impacted by learned helplessness.

This view suggests that an individual's characteristic style of explaining events helps determine whether or not they will develop learned helplessness. A pessimistic explanatory style is associated with a greater likelihood of experiencing learned helplessness. People with this explanatory style tend to view negative events as being inescapable and unavoidable and tend to take personal responsibility for such negative events.

So what can people do to overcome learned helplessness? Research suggests that learned helplessness can be successfully decreased, particularly if intervention occurs during early onset.

Long-term learned helplessness can also be reduced, although it may require longer-term effort. Therapy can be effective in reducing symptoms of learned helplessness. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy that can be beneficial in overcoming the thinking and behavioral patterns that contribute to learned helplessness.

The goal of CBT is to help patients identify negative thought patterns that contribute to feelings of learned helplessness and then replace these thoughts with more optimistic and rational thoughts. This process often involves carefully analyzing what you are thinking, actively challenging these ideas, and disputing negative thought patterns. One animal study suggested that exercise may be helpful in reducing symptoms of learned helplessness. Learned helplessness can have a profound impact on mental health and well-being.

People who experience learned helplessness are also likely to experience symptoms of depression , elevated stress levels, and less motivation to take care of their physical health. Not everyone responds to experiences the same way.

Some people are more likely to experience learned helplessness in the face of uncontrollable events, often due to biological and psychological factors. Children raised by helpless parents, for example, are also more likely to experience learned helplessness.