There are certain terms we use in the field of psychology. Some of these terms have become popular buzz words. One example of this is the term Learned Helplessness. I wanted to offer some clarity around these buzz words because often times clients or friends will ask me about them and ask me if they “have it”. We will talk about what Learned Helpless is but first I wanted to talk about what it is not.
Not a mental Health Diagnosis
Learned Helplessness is not a diagnosis. You could look in the DSM-5 all day long and you won’t find it anywhere in there. So in that sense you can not “have” learned helplessness per se.
When people use the language asking if they “have” something such as learned helpless, imposter syndrome, or highly sensitive personality this does not really fit. Because when we talk about someone having something that generally refers to a diagnosis such as anxiety, depression, or adjustment disorder. With that said these terms do have meaning and can be worth talking about.
To give you a better understanding of this term, learned helpless, I think it is important to start from the beginning. Where did this term come from? What are it’s origins?
Well like many terms or phrases in psychology the term learned helpless came from a study. And, like many psychology studies this research experiment involved dogs. So if you are a big dog lover you may want to skip this next paragraph. I am by no means condoning what they did, but just relaying the facts of what happened.
In 1967, researchers put dogs in cages and began to send electric shocks through the floor that shocked the dogs. One set of dogs had a lever and when they pushed it, the shocks ended. If you have a dog you know they can be pretty smart! So the dogs learned pretty quick how to make the pain stop. Another set of dogs were paired with the first set. Their shocks ended when the other dog pushed the lever. This second set of dogs had no ability on their own to stop what was happening to them. What the researches found was that the dogs ended up laying in ball and whimpering. The researches then made a way for the dogs to be able to escape their cages. The first set of dogs quickly learned how to get out of these terrible electrified cages while the second group continued to lay in a ball and not try to leave the cage because they had already learned that the situation was out of their control.
How does this apply to humans? I’m sure you can already start to guess. (See that terrible backstory was helpful!) We as humans also learn from our experiences. If we are in a situation that we have learned that we can not impact in any meaningful way than we stop trying. (Have you ever heard that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? See it makes sense to stop trying if something is not working! We learn from our experiences!)
Let’s say a child has a parent who likes things done in a particular way such as making the bed. The child may want to please the parent and therefore makes his or her own bed. Now let’s say the parent every morning tells the child why its not good enough. “No, no you have to pull the sheets tight like this and the corners just like this.” If this continues on every morning the child will pretty quickly learn that he or she is not making the parent happy with how he/she made the bed so will likely stop making the bed all together. Another example may be a child with ADHD, the child begins to learn that they struggle in school and don’t get good grades but don’t know why. They soon start to internalize the messages that they are told “You are not smart” or “You are lazy. “
Learned Helplessness and Depression
Again learned helpless is not a diagnosis but we often see it in individuals who may struggle with a mental health diagnosis. Learned helpless is often seen in individuals who struggle with depression. This makes sense right? If someone thinks they can’t do anything right and their efforts don’t matter that could easily lead to someone feeling discouraged and depressed.
Learned Helplessness and Anxiety
Our thoughts and our self talk matters! We also can see learned helpless in individuals who struggle with anxiety. Let’s say someone has social anxiety and if every time they try to go out and socialize with new people they have a panic attack then they will likely not want to go out and try anymore.
The good news in all of this is that learned helpless is exactly that, its learned! Which means it can be unlearned. How does one begin to do this?
1.) Having experiences that contradict what they have previously learned
Going back to our origin story. Want to know how the dogs unlearned that they had no say over their fate? The researchers ended up physically moving their legs quite literally showing them the way to escape their cages. After a couple times of this the dogs were able to know how to escape on their own.
2.) Using gradual exposure to begin to test these helpless thoughts.
3.) Examine and rewrite self talk
4.) Work with a therapist to identify where thoughts originate and begin to re-write your story
Charlotte Therapist
Theresa Leskowat MS LCMHC is a mental health therapist in Charlotte who loves to help clients re-write their stories. Theresa specializes in anxiety counseling, counseling for perfectionism, counseling for managing stress and therapy for trauma and PTSD.