What is learned helplessness

Learned helplessness, to put it bluntly, is that after a series of failures and setbacks, you feel that this is the end of your life, there is no hope, and you choose to go against the grain when facing problems, and at the same time, you will produce a powerless, helpless mental state and behavior. For example, a hard-working worker, who works overtime every day, but the performance is very unsatisfactory, no matter how hard he works, he can never reach the expected goal. In the end, he can only attribute his failure to his lack of ability and bad luck, thinking that this is the so-called “fate”, so he lets it happen and decides not to resist the “power of fate” …… Learned helplessness is a specific behavioral deficit. It was originally discovered by the American psychologist Seligman when he studied animal behavior, and similar results were obtained in observations and experiments on humans. Learned helplessness occurs in people who are chronically ill, in people who have suffered repeated setbacks in work and life, and in children left behind or elderly nesters. People with learned helplessness usually exhibit an uncontrollable negative psychological stereotype. The proactivity for work, tasks, and other things is minimized, and the tendency is to make actions passively and not interested in anything. Often there is an initial display of emotional irritability and apprehension, which develops over time into indifference and pessimism, gradually falling into a depressive situation. With the increasing aggravation of learned helplessness behavior, it may induce other psychological problems and gradually lose hope in life, unable to find the direction of effort, loss of motivation, and more prone to depression and anxiety disorders. In addition, these adverse psychological reactions can also affect the somatic body, with symptoms such as dizziness, headache, insomnia and dreaminess, nausea and vomiting, which can reduce the quality of life and affect psychological and physical health.