Learned Helplessness: Delving Into The Psychology Of The Victim
The learned helplessness It is perhaps one of those psychological phenomena whose importance affects the existential plane of the human being, and whose research and answers that science provides in this regard should be capable of improving the way in which we relate to each other. Minimizing learned helplessness will mean progress both for society and for individuals in particular.
But, What exactly is learned helplessness, and why is it so important to know this concept? In today’s article we are going to explore this phenomenon and its implications in our daily lives.
Learned helplessness is something that can affect people as close as a family member and even oneself. It is not, therefore, just an academic concept with no relevance to reality, but something that affects the daily lives of many people and, on many occasions, their lives may depend on the effective help of a family member or health professional. mental that tries to mitigate this learned and dysfunctional behavior.
What is learned helplessness?
But What exactly is learned helplessness?
Broadly speaking, it refers to the condition by which a person or animal becomes inhibited in the face of aversive or painful situations when the actions to avoid it have not been fruitful, ending up developing passivity in the face of these types of situations. Understanding the way in which this phenomenon develops is vital to be able to understand and help people who suffer from this psychological bias, since it can be a limiting belief that acts as a strong drag on their personal development and self-esteem.
The contributions of Martin Seligman, the researcher who discovered learned helplessness
Seligman and Overmaier They were among the first researchers to ask themselves the question of why an animal or a person who suffered constant adverse and painful conditions in their own flesh did nothing to leave said situation. This finding was reported in research with dogs, and was subsequently followed by some researchers such as Watson and Ramey who studied learned helplessness in humans.
Besides, There is no specific situation that generates helplessness That is, many people can experience the same adverse situation (even in a group) and yet react differently to it. Was Bernard Weiner who considered the influence of the interpretation and perception that each individual has of the event on the development of helplessness and also on the way of coping with it.
Signs of learned helplessness
When someone falls into helplessness, it manifests in three deficits: Motivational, emotional and cognitive. A person who begins to fall into helplessness or who already suffers from it begins to show a delay in the initiation of voluntary responses until little by little they cease to exist (motivational deficit). Likewise, a series of behavioral disorders the most common being anxiety and depression (emotional deficit), which take their toll to the point that the affected person is unable to see solutions to the problem that torments them (cognitive deficit).
The answer to the question of Why does a person in a situation clearly not do anything to get out of it? It lies precisely in the comprehensive impact not only of these three areas (motivational, emotional and cognitive) but also on a physiological level. In a word, your entire person, the different psychic and somatic areas, are summed up in this syndrome. Consequently, it will not be enough to make the decision to break the negative cycle, but rather it involves unlearning the way in which the aversive or painful situation is processed.
Why do some people develop learned helplessness?
How do you reach helplessness? An easy way to understand it is the story of frogs. It is said that to cook a live frog it is necessary to put it in cold water and gradually increase the heat until it boils. On the other hand, if to cook the same frog we decide to put it into already boiling water, the frog will jump; It will escape the boiling water. With this example I want to explain that learned helplessness is a thought scheme that develops gradually and that little by little eats away at the psychic and bodily strengths to the point of breaking the will.
The sad thing to consider is the ease with which learned helplessness can develop. We are all vulnerable to adopting this type of thinking schemes, since there is rarely emotional education to be able to confront it.
It is enough to continually expose the potential victim to adverse circumstances, lower their morale, overload them with work, and cut off external support for a long time and repeatedly. The person who has been treated in this way will soon manifest deficits in the areas already mentioned: affective, emotional, cognitive and even somatic. And no, it is not something that does not happen every day: family violence and/or intimate partner violence are common examples in which different degrees of learned helplessness on the part of the victim are usually perceived.
But these are not the only scenarios in which relational patterns can be generated that can lead to learned helplessness. There is it at school, at work, in groups of friends.The communicative and relational styles that generate learned helplessness do not necessarily translate into physical violence. In many cases, violence can be psychological, economic, moral, among others.
Solve learned helplessness
Regarding the need to generate dynamics to try to help a person with learned helplessness, several things can be said. It is of little help if someone tries to help by constantly telling the victim what she should do or how she should think. It would be like trying to tell a person with the flu not to feel bad: both the flu virus and the mental schemes that lead to learned helplessness are sufficiently rooted in the person enough to resist mere well-intentioned words or summary advice on how to cope.
In fact, the person who suffers from learned helplessness does not feel bad because he wants to, but because his psyche has consolidated dysfunctional schemes that inhibit him from changing his own situation. Therefore, it is necessary to destigmatize the victim. Understand that you have lost the ability to see the solutions that others without the problem can see and that the help you require is not just others telling you what you “should” or “shouldn’t” do, but rather reassuring you in your ability and in your self-esteem; return control to your life so that you are able to take control of what at the time you saw as having no solution
1. Psychological therapy to treat these cases
In this regard, there are mental health professionals who can treat cases of people with learned helplessness. One of the most frequently used therapies for this purpose is cognitive-behavioral therapy. Through several sessions, The psychologist will help the patient to restructure his thoughts and emotions as well as the learned behaviors that prevent you from moving forward.
To end, Helplessness is not a merely individual matter It can go “viral”, if I may use the expression. That is to say, helplessness can spread to an entire society or a social group. The Second World War was an extreme case where all the cruelty of which human beings are capable was revealed, and the Nazi concentration camps witnessed thousands of human beings who, having lost all hope of survival, practically surrendered. to the death.
In any case, it is not necessary to go that far in time or space. Family violence, bullying, mobbing are just some everyday examples that show us that this phenomenon is very present in our societies. It is up to us to begin to become aware of this and fight not only to minimize its effects, but also to combat its causes.
