AoH Learning Lab: Learned Helplessness
Learned Helplessness* is a psychological state that occurs when an individual believes he or she has no control over a situation, so the only (perceived) option is to give up. It is an unconscious and deeply embedded psychological acceptance of failure.
Over time, learned helplessness begins to affect self-efficacy: the extent to which an individual believes in his/her intrinsic ability to achieve goals.
This is typically due to relational trauma where one has chronically experienced interpersonal abuse. The mantra for this condition is, “failure is inevitable and unavoidable.” Especially when an individual is chronically annihilated, bullied, humiliated, undermined and invalidated, he or she begins to adopt a core belief that there is no way out other than to give up and give in. Over time, this belief bleeds into all aspects of one’s life. So, even when opportunities for change are available, they do not try or even sabotage the opportunities.
Physiologically, learned helplessness falls with the Dorsal Vagal pathway of the autonomic nervous system, i.e., freeze response. It tends to manifest deeper than only a momentary “freeze” in that it causes a collapse response somatically, where the individual feels immobilized to act and take care of its own organism (being).
From an attachment perspective, being helpless gets the individual what they needed (but did not get) from their caregivers: sympathy and attention. If this need is not interrupted and given healthy intervention, it can lead to narcissistic behaviors. Along with shame, learned helplessness is at the core of this devastating psychological disorder.
Nervous system depressants (alcohol, marijuana) exacerbate this condition and should be avoided, especially during intervention when new neural pathways are being formed.
*Learned Helplessness was coined by American psychologist, Martin Seligman, who began his studies on this psychological construct in the late 1960’s.
Related blogs: The Toxic Shame/Failure Loop