Learned helplessness!

When something bad happens, most of us tend to do our best to minimize its negative effects. However, there are those who think that they have no control over the situation and cannot do anything to improve the situation. They tend to withdraw and raise their hands in surrender. These people are captives of learned helplessness.

Learned helplessness occurs when a person is in a stressful, difficult and uncontrollable situation for a long time. As a result, when he can get rid of these conditions, he will no longer try to free himself; Because his mind is used to those conditions. The person has learned that he is powerless and cannot do anything to change the situation; Even when there is a possibility of change. It seems that these people have forgotten to take advantage of the opportunity. Such a person has learned helplessness.

This concept was first discovered by accident while studying the behavior of animals. Martin Seligman and Steven Meyer, two famous American psychologists, first observed this condition in dogs in 1967. They put 2 groups of dogs in 2 boxes with a short obstacle in front of each box. One of the boxes received an electric shock and the other did not. Those dogs that had previously and continuously received an electric shock bell when placed in the shock box did not attempt to jump over the barrier and escape.

Since then, a lot of research has been done on humans and various signs have been seen in humans. For a better understanding, consider the following examples:
▪︎ A child who repeatedly fails to solve math problems or does not get a good grade in the exams of this subject will quickly come to the conclusion that no matter what he tries, he will not succeed in the math lesson. As a result of this attitude, he will stop trying to improve math and will feel powerless every time he faces a new problem.

A person who feels shy in social or emotional relationships may gradually come to the conclusion that he cannot overcome his shyness and that his shyness is an inseparable part of him. As a result, not only does it do nothing to overcome the embarrassment, it also increases its intensity.

In adulthood, learned helplessness manifests itself in the form of a person’s inability to provide appropriate reactions in the face of problems and difficulties. An adult with this disability accepts that unfortunate events happen and that he has no control over them and cannot do anything to make himself or others better. Such people usually do not try to solve their problems; Even if the conditions are available to solve the problem.

The following are examples of conditions that may lead to learned helplessness in adults:
Failure to gain or lose weight after successive diets;

▪︎Continuation of smoking despite numerous attempts to quit smoking;

▪︎ Inability to leave the inappropriate environment and stay away from the abusive person.

●Learned helplessness may have a profound effect on a person’s quality of life and mental health. People who suffer from this problem experience severe depression and stress and reduced motivation. Of course, not all people show this problem in the same way. Different childhood experiences of people and their quality of life affect the severity of this disease.