“I am a complete zero”: what is learned helplessness and how to overcome it

psychologist, candidate of psychological sciences

The state when a person’s hands are down, can carry serious consequences. Why does this helplessness arise? What does the word “learned” mean? How to cope with all this?

To the state of learned helplessness leads to experiences in which a person did not have the opportunity to change negative events. It also involves destructive attitudes that he is now unable to change anything. There is a certain disconnection between the efforts and the result. Let’s analyze the mechanism in more detail. Let’s start with the causes.

Why arises and progresses

1. Unsuccessful attempts to change something

Events can be both from the recent past and from long ago – from deep childhood. For example, the mother said to the child: “When you become an adult, then you will be independent, but now in everything obey me”.

In this situation, parents do not think about the fact that from total obedience is difficult to grow independence and success. The child can make attempts to rebel, but gradually learns that it is useless.

Also the cause may be the experience of mental or physical abuse. The fact that resistance will lead to nothing is imprinted in the psyche.

2. Confidence in the lack of personal potential

If a person has heard from his parents since early childhood that he lacks talent or ability for anything, becoming an adult, he will put up with the worst and most inconvenient external factors. Unloved job, inadequate partner – all this will become perceived as an inevitable pattern.

3- Appeal to past failures

As a rule, there will be such a chain of logic: “Since I did poorly at school, there is no point in going to university. All the same will not succeed.” A person believes that the fact of failure in the past determines the future. Perhaps there is some connection here, but not directly determining everything.

4. Presence of factors of real helplessness

Such factors include the following: illness, the onset of old age, disability. The problem is that here a false perception can be formed, as if now a person is helpless in any of the spheres of life. To avoid this, it is important to change the attitude to the new reality.

What all this threatens

If a person resigns himself to external circumstances, he stops fighting, and the negative accumulates in himself. This leads to hopelessness, apathy, laziness. Over time, such a state can even lead to clinical depression. It is also reflected in the body, eventually resulting in chronic ailments: cardiovascular disease and problems with the gastrointestinal tract. All of this, of course, reduces the quality of life.

How to overcome this condition

Psychologist Martin Seligman, who is the author of the concept of “learned helplessness”, has developed a method of getting out of this state through positive experiences. What is the plan he suggested?

• Step one. Analyze what and how learned helplessness affects in your life.
• Second step. Make a list of actions that will help you remedy the situation. It is important to avoid thinking that you will fail by changing your thoughts to positive ones.
• Step three. Take action. Start doing the tasks on the list. Do not rush, do not try to do everything at once.
• Step four. Take stock, emphasizing successes rather than failures.
• Step Five. Praise yourself constantly to reinforce the positive experience.

Also, the state of learned helplessness is characterized by psychosomatics. Therefore, it is important not only to change life circumstances, but also to remove the symptomatology. To do this, it is necessary to work with the body: normalize sleep patterns, observe water balance and exercise.