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What does acquired helplessness lead to? Learned helplessness: psychological studies of the phenomenon

Vova, a balding 46-year-old boy, has always been an easy conversationalist. Hiding behind a guilty half-smile, Vova tried not to attract attention. Even when faced with outright aggression, Vova laughed it off and avoided the topic. Relatives made fun of his eternal “as if,” “perhaps,” “probably,” and “seemingly.” That’s what they called him - “like Vova.”
Vova was afraid of change. Even going to an unusual store to buy bread caused fear. Absurd excuses were used, from “there’s probably no bread there” to “while crossing the road, a car will hit me and I’ll die.”
Vova was not known for his luck. Minor and major failures, missed opportunities and unexpected troubles rained down on him as if from a cornucopia. Experiencing another failure, Vova, sighing, repeated that success, career, love are for upstarts and scoundrels, but real life- these are minor worries and 30 years of experience in a pet supply store.
Deep down in his soul, Vova knew that he was simply afraid to take a step, to take responsibility, to do at least something unusual, new, bold. “I’m not like that, I’m not given this, I can’t,” sighed Vova, and added with enthusiasm: “The higher the flight, the more painful it is to fall. It’s better to have a bird in your hands.”
Vova did not even suspect that everything that made up his gray and dull life was only a consequence of learned helplessness.

Learned helplessness. What is this?

Learned helplessness is one of the common emotional disorders. The idea is that you avoid making “difficult” decisions. You often tell yourself “I can’t do this”, making excuses with non-existent problems. It seems that the consequences of this decision will definitely be negative, that there is no way out of the situation, that nothing depends on you, that your lot is to endure.
This is how they refuse a promising position, justifying it by the fact that the boss will definitely harass him, and they will not be able to refuse him. So they don’t go to their relatives, complaining about the inconvenient train schedule, about the insufficiently filled gas tank, about the inconvenient day. This is how problems and violence in marriage are hushed up under the slogan “what can I do?”

You avoid circumstances that are unpleasant for you or involve the slightest risk.
You don’t want to change your job just because you’re afraid of a new team where you’ll have to go through a grinding-in period. You do not go to your loved ones, fearing condemnation, censure from them for some of your actions. Even if your situation is desperate, you don’t want to try to change anything, repeating to yourself “I don’t decide anything, nothing depends on me, I won’t succeed.”

Learned helplessness is an attempt to hide, to escape from choice, from conflict and, ultimately, from life. You avoid difficulties that accumulate and ultimately result in serious problems: job loss, getting cut off family ties, unhappy marriage.

The psychological mechanism of learned helplessness is deflection (evasion, displacement). By avoiding a decision that is difficult for you, you still experience a whole spectrum of negative emotions. The feeling of short relief (ugh, finally everything is calm, there are no shocks) is soon replaced by self-criticism, anxiety, and uncertainty. And then you transfer all these emotions to another object (after all, the stress needs to be eliminated somehow, the emotions need to be thrown out) - you take it out on something or someone else.

For example, your new mother-in-law scolded you. Instead of openly discussing the problem and thereby extinguishing the conflict, you hold back your emotions and turn everything into a joke (you were taught humility and that you cannot contradict your elders). Anger finds its way out after half an hour - you quarrel with your husband over nonsense, or fall into self-flagellation, accusing yourself of worthlessness. The day is ruined, and you soon gain a reputation for being quarrelsome and inappropriate.

Learned helplessness and deflection are quite dangerous: they not only slowly destroy your life, but can also cause phobias, fears, obsessions, anxiety and panic attacks. The accumulated tension can result, for example, in agoraphobia - the fear of open and crowded areas. “I will have a heart attack, and people will pass by, and no one will help me” - this is one of the obsessive fantasies of those suffering from agoraphobia. Fear of publicity, hypochondria, uncontrollable rage (usually in the family), claustrophobia - all these are consequences of learned helplessness.

How to define learned helplessness?

You try not to discuss difficult issues. That's better. You are a peaceful and non-conflict person, and difficulties will somehow resolve themselves, you just need to be patient and wait.
You leave the topic and take the conversation in a different direction even when they expect a clear position from you and expect a reaction.
Your relationships with relatives, loved ones, and friends are melting. You feel boredom and lack of agreement between you, but you don’t want to deal with it.
You tend to use softening phrases in conversation: “as if”, “like”, “maybe”, “possibly”, etc.
Making jokes and chatting are your best methods for resolving conflicts.
Your interest in life fades; it seems gray and monotonous to you. You want to see people less and less, and they don’t want to communicate with you either. Your choice is voluntary isolation.

How to get rid of learned helplessness?

It is impossible to overcome learned helplessness on your own. It drags on like a quagmire. You don't see the problem even when the situation is worse than ever. It's hard to see the veil when it's in front of your eyes.

And even if, after reading this article, you realized that you suffer from learned helplessness, self-medication can be destructive. Like any illness, if it is not treated correctly, learned helplessness will only progress. As a result, it can lead to irreparable, ugly forms.
In order to understand how to treat learned helplessness, you need to know what its cause is. And this is a task for an experienced psychotherapist.

Want to make sure that learned helplessness doesn't rule your life? Have you seen signs of learned helplessness in your loved one? Call the number indicated on the page and we will arrange a meeting and diagnostics.

Recently I came across an interesting article about “learned helplessness”. And since the topic of helplessness, impotence, and the inability to change one’s situation regularly occurs in work with clients (both in psychotherapy and in the context of coaching, about work and professional), I decided to write about it in more detail.

I first read about this phenomenon in Martin Seligman’s book “How to Learn to Be Optimistic.” It was discovered back in the 1960s, more than fifty years ago, during experiments on dogs that were given electric shocks to see how they would cope with situations of uncontrollable stress. Here's how it was set up:

This has not been done to animals for a long time, but in life with people it occurs with the same frequency - in close relationships, at work, in relations with the government.

This condition is called "learned helplessness" = learned (acquired) helplessness. The key factor causing this condition: the inability to influence the situation, the lack of connection between actions and results. The experience when “no matter what I do, I can’t change anything.” Moreover, this situation is repeated many times, so that there is a feeling that not only is it bad now, but in the future it will be no better or even worse.

The psychological mechanism looks like this:

Uncontrollable, repeated stressful events;
Perceived lack of control;
Learned skill of helplessness.

That is, both we and animals draw conclusions from the experiences that happen to us. (And this is logical). The problem is that we over-generalize: if it's happening now and has been for a while => it means it will continue to happen in the future.

And then this conclusion leads us to the point that we stop trying, stop hoping and looking for opportunities to jump out.

It often happens that one problem supports another, so in in this case: helplessness leads to hopelessness.

In such situations, both dogs and people often “fold their paws,” literally and figuratively, and fall into depression and apathy.

The key question is: what can help here?

Firstly, it is important to know that helplessness can be unlearned. More precisely, you can learn the skill of not being helpless, and regain the feeling that I can influence the situation.

At a minimum, the same dogs in Seligman’s experiments were able to be retrained - by showing them that if they jumped out, they would still be safe.

Secondly, you can know that in some situations there is more likely find yourself in a state of helplessness, and then knowledge becomes an antidote to this. This can help create distance between the overgeneralized “I = helpless” (incapable, worthless, etc. generalized, blaming descriptions of oneself) and the more specific description of what is happening: “[the situation in this project/relationship] is causing me to feel feeling helpless" - and then I can remember other projects (situations, relationships, contexts) where I feel okay, active, able to influence my own life.

Here are some ideas for dealing with helplessness:

"Remedy 1:Do something.

Way to cope: Do something because you can. Choose what to do with your free hour before bed, what to cook for dinner and how to spend the weekend. Rearrange the furniture in the room to make it more comfortable for you. Find as many points of control as possible where you can make your own decision and implement it.

What can this do? Remember about Seligman's dogs? The problem isn't that they couldn't jump over the barrier. It’s the same with people: sometimes the problem is not the situation, but the loss of will and faith in the significance of one’s actions. The “I do because I chose to do” approach allows you to save or return subjective feeling control. This means that the will does not move towards the cemetery, covered with a sheet, but the person continues to move towards a way out of a difficult situation.

Remedy 2:Away from helplessness - in small steps.

Ideas about yourself: “I can’t do anything,” “I’m worthless,” “my attempts won’t change anything” are made up of special cases. We, as in the children's game “connect the dots,” select some stories and connect them with one line. It turns out to be a belief about yourself. Over time, a person pays more and more attention to experiences that confirm this belief. And stops seeing exceptions. The good news is that beliefs about yourself can be changed in the same way. This is done, for example, by: together with a helping practitioner, a person learns to see alternative stories, which over time he combines into a new idea. Where there used to be a story about helplessness, you can find another: a story about your value and importance, about the significance of your actions, about the ability to influence what is happening.

It is important to find special cases in the past: when did I succeed? When was I able to influence something? when did you change the situation with your actions? It is also important to pay attention to the present - this is where small achievable goals will help. For example, tidy up the kitchen cabinet or do important call, which you have been putting off for a long time. No goal is too small – all are important. Did you manage? Happened? Wonderful! We need to celebrate the victory! It is known that where there is attention, there is energy. The more attention to achievements, the more fuel for a new preferred story. The higher the chance of not giving up.

Way to cope: Set small, realistic goals and celebrate when you achieve them. Keep a list and re-read it at least twice a month. Over time, you will notice that your goals and achievements become larger. Find an opportunity to reward yourself with some joy for each completed item.

What can this do? Small achievements help you gain resources for larger-scale actions. Increase confidence in your abilities. String new experience like beads on a fishing line. Over time from individual parts you'll get a necklace - new story about yourself: “I am important,” “My actions matter,” “I can influence my life.”

Remedy 3:Another look.

Seligman found that animals can learn to resist helplessness if they have previous experience of successful actions. Dogs that were initially able to turn off the current by pressing their head against a panel in the enclosure continued to look for a way out even when they were restrained.

In collaboration with famous psychotherapists, Seligman began to study people's behavior and their reactions to external circumstances. Twenty years of research led him to the conclusion that our tendency to explain things one way or another influences whether we seek opportunities to act or give up. People with the belief, “Bad things happen because of me,” are more likely to develop depression and helplessness. And those who believe, “Bad things can happen, but it’s not always my fault and someday it will stop,” cope faster and come to their senses under unfavorable circumstances.”

We can work with these beliefs to replace them with more adaptive and supportive ones. The article provides one of the basic techniques ABCDE cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps you understand your attitudes. You can do it yourself, in in writing. .

If you try to formulate very briefly what can help cope with helplessness and its sister hopelessness, then I think it is strength and hope. And then the task is to find contact with such a self who can be strong and continue to hope, take steps, jump out of the “cage” (like the hamster from one story).

And it’s worth knowing: yes, there are times when it may seem like you have no strength. Knowing this, you can prepare in advance: what could help me in such a situation?

P.S. Sometimes, to jump out of helplessness, you need to be able to lose.

It is very important to have permission to leave a traumatic situation. Yes, in most cases it is important not to give up. Keep trying. But sometimes it’s worth being able to admit: I lost this battle. Or I can't win. For example, because the situation depends not only on me. For example, in a relationship you need the desire of both partners; for a successful result at work, many systemic factors must come together (at the level of the organization, business processes). You can continue to “bang your head” against the wall, but in some cases this will only lead to a broken head, and the wall (corporate or relational) will not go away. And then it is better to be able to lose the battle - but win yourself.

The ability to lose is a very important life skill.

Book fragment Ilyin E.P. Work and personality. Workaholism, perfectionism, laziness. M.: Peter. 2011

The book covers a wide range current issues, among which the ratio modern people to work, psychological consequences of job loss, personality traits and choice of activity, professional personality deformation, psychology of professional addictions, workaholism, laziness and a tendency to laziness, as well as many others.

The phenomenon of learned helplessness is associated with passive, maladaptive human behavior. Learned helplessness is a violation of motivation as a result of the uncontrollability of the situation experienced by the subject, i.e. independence of the result from the efforts made (“no matter how hard you try, it’s still to no avail”). Learned helplessness syndrome was first described by American psychologists Martin Seligman and Stephen Maier (Seligman, Maier, 1967) based on experiments on dogs when they were irritated with electric current.

The dogs, which were first exposed to weak shocks (which they could not avoid), were then placed in other cages, where their activity could help them avoid unpleasant effects. However, contrary to the predictions of behaviorist learning theory, dogs did not want to learn in such seemingly simple things and were passive. The essence of the discovery was that this passivity, or helplessness, has its source in the animal's perceived independence results (outcomes) from his actions (efforts). Experience convinced them that their actions did not influence the course of events in any way and did not lead to the desired results, which gave rise to the expectation that the results of their own actions were uncontrollable, a feeling of inability to control events (the situation) and, accordingly, the pointlessness of efforts.

Gordeeva T. O. 2006. P. 81.

Then numerous studies revealed the existence of this phenomenon in humans. Learned helplessness has attracted great attention researchers abroad (Hanusa, Shulz, 1977; Hiroto, 1974; Human helplessness..., 1980), etc.

Hiroto (1974) repeated the experiment by exposing subjects to an unpleasant loud sound that could be interrupted by selecting a key combination on a remote control. According to Hiroto, two extreme groups of people emerged: one group (which included every third) did not fall into a state of learned helplessness at all; the other group (which included every tenth subject) did not try to do anything to counteract the growing noise; the subjects sat motionless near the remote control, despite the fact that they were trained in how to stop the effect of the sound.

There are situational and personal helplessness.

Situational helplessness- this is a temporary reaction to certain events beyond a person’s control.

Personal helplessness is a stable motivational characteristic of a person, formed in the process of development under the influence of relationships with others (Tsiring D. A., 2005). Personal helplessness is manifested in isolation, emotional instability, excitability, timidity, pessimistic worldview, a tendency to feel guilty, lower self-esteem and a low level of aspirations, indifference, passivity, and lack of creativity.

Everyone probably remembers being little, when they wanted to do something themselves. Looking at our clumsy attempts, adults, instead of helping and showing us how to do it, grumbled displeasedly and stopped our independent actions. By giving us a hand, they took away from us the opportunity to receive pleasure from the consciousness of something of our own. They helpfully cleaned our toys, our bed, put us on clothes and shoes, and did any kind of work as long as we didn’t occupy them. precious time. And gradually we realized: we shouldn’t strain ourselves to hear once again that we are doing everything wrong.

Lukyanova A. I. 2010. P. 171.

Seligman notes that learned helplessness is formed by the age of eight and reflects a person’s belief in the degree of effectiveness of his actions. He points to three sources of helplessness:

Experience of experiencing adverse events, i.e. lack of ability to control the events of one’s own life; at the same time, the negative experience acquired in one situation begins to be transferred to other situations when the possibility of control actually exists. Seligman considered uncontrollable events to include insults inflicted by parents (and, one might add, by teachers and educators in children’s institutions), the death of a loved one and animal, serious illness, parental divorce or scandals, job loss;
Experience of observing helpless people (for example, television stories about helpless victims);
Lack of independence in childhood, the willingness of parents to do everything instead of the child.

The relative stability of learned helplessness has been confirmed by F. Fincham et al. (Fincham et al., 1989) and M. Burns and M. Seligman (Burns, Seligman, 1989), and the latter of these authors believe that helplessness remains for life.

Learned helplessness is characterized by deficits in three areas - motivational, cognitive and emotional. Motivational deficit manifests itself in the inability to act, actively interfering in the situation, cognitive - in the inability to subsequently learn that in similar situations the action can be quite effective, and emotional - in a depressed or even depressive state arising from the futility of one’s own actions.

Gordeeva T. O. 2006. P. 93.

Subsequently, Seligman reformulated his behavioral approach to learned helplessness into a cognitive-behavioral one. At the same time, he proceeded from the views of B. Weiner (Weiner et al., 1971), who showed that a subject’s persistence in the face of failure depends on how he interprets this experienced failure - simply as a result of a lack of his efforts or as a result of circumstances over which he has no power or control. Seligman and his colleagues (Abramson, Seligman, Teasdale, 1978) extended these views to explain why some people experience helplessness and others do not. It depends on what style of explanation a person has for failure - optimistic or pessimistic.

The most important role in the formation of learned helplessness in early stages Ontogenesis is played by the family (Tsiring D. A., Savelyeva S. A., 2007; Tsiring D. A., 2009).

Significant differences in parenting styles were found among parents of children with personal helplessness and among parents of independent children.

Parents of helpless children are more likely to exhibit an unstable parenting style. In addition, it is obvious that the influence of maternal and paternal parenting styles on the formation of personal helplessness and independence differs significantly. Mothers of helpless children are more inclined to indulgence than mothers of independent ones; they more often strive for the maximum and uncritical satisfaction of any needs of the child, turning his desire into law, and the need for this style of education is argued by the exclusivity of the child, the desire to give what they themselves were deprived of, the lack of father's family. In children with helplessness, fathers, on the contrary, are less inclined to uncritically satisfy any needs of the child than fathers of independent children. It can be assumed that paternal indulgence is perceived by the child as encouraging independence, while maternal indulgence is perceived as suppressing it. Compared to mothers of independent children, mothers of helpless children are more overprotective, devote too much time, effort and attention to the child, and his upbringing often becomes the most important matter in their lives, they are also prone to excessive demands-prohibitions (dominance), and the fathers of these children, on the one hand, do not set clear boundaries and requirements for the child’s behavior, assign too few responsibilities to him, do not involve him in household chores, and on the other hand, they are prone to excessive sanctions (hard parenting style), i.e. they often overreact even to minor behavioral violations, are more committed to strict punishments for failure to comply with family requirements, and are convinced that maximum severity is useful for children<…>

Both mothers and fathers of helpless children tend to project their own undesirable qualities onto the child. In this case, the parent is inclined to see in the child those traits that he does not want to admit in himself. The parent fights against these qualities of the child, both real and imaginary, extracting emotional benefit from this for himself. All sorts of negative roles are imposed on the child, and this allows the father or mother to believe that they themselves do not have these qualities. Parents demonstrate a latent confidence that the child is “incorrigible”, that he is “by nature” like this.<…>The child, in turn, can make efforts to “correct,” but since the father and mother are sure (and demonstrate this to him) that he cannot change, the parents’ reaction to any variant of his behavior remains the same. Thus, the child cannot feel control over what is happening, which is the most important prerequisite for the formation of helplessness.

In addition, fathers of helpless children in to a greater extent There is a tendency for a child to prefer childlike qualities. Children become helpless with fathers who are more inclined to create a role " small child" Such fathers more encourage their children to preserve childish qualities (spontaneity, naivety, playfulness), they experience fear or reluctance in their children growing up, and perceive growing up rather as a misfortune. Treating a child as “small” reduces the level of demands placed on him. The child does not receive sufficient experience in overcoming difficulties, responsibility, or active influence on the situation.<…>

Helplessness develops in children whose fathers have less developed paternal feelings. This category of fathers of helpless children is characterized by a superficial interest in the affairs of their children and a reluctance to communicate with them.

Tsiring D. A. 2009. pp. 25–26.

According to I. O. Devyatovskaya (2005), the formation of learned helplessness among managers was facilitated by high level motivation to avoid failures (this coincides with N. Borovskaya’s data regarding the lazy) and control over action according to the type of state orientation (according to Yu. Kuhl). The boss's authoritarian leadership style contributes to the formation of learned helplessness among employees.

Learned helplessness syndrome is psychological condition, in which a person cannot avoid an aversive stimulus, even if there is an opportunity to escape, since he was forced to do this before and now does not control it.

Learned helplessness mental condition, in which the body is forced to endure aversion to stimuli that are painful or unpleasant, becoming unable or unwilling to avoid subsequent encounters with those stimuli because it has falsely decided that it has no control over the situation.

The theory of learned helplessness was developed by American psychologists Steven F. Maier and Martin E. P. Seligman, University of Pennsylvania in the late 1960s and 70s.

Conducting experimental studies that were designed as a variation of Pavlov's famous "classical conditioning" experiment, Seligman accidentally discovered that dogs given unavoidable electric shocks failed to respond to subsequent situations - even those that were possible - escape or evasion.

The experiment was replicated in humans (using loud noise rather than electric shocks), yielding similar results. Seligman coined the term “learned helplessness” to describe the results.

Learned helplessness syndrome has since become a core tenet of behavioral theory, demonstrating that previous learning can lead to sudden change behavior. She explained why people accept and remain passive in negative situations, despite the obvious ability to change them.

Opening

Scientists experimented on dogs, producing conditioned reflex: When the bell rang, food was given, the dog produced saliva. Later, if the bell was simply rung, the animals salivated. Professor Seligman then tried to experiment by restraining the dog with harmless electric shocks.

The dogs were placed in a box that contained two chambers separated by a low barrier. The floor was electrified on one side. Dogs previously subjected to classical conditioning did not try to escape, even though the shock could be avoided simply by jumping over a small barrier.

To study this phenomenon, we designed another experiment.

In the first group, the dogs were tied to sleds for a certain period of time and then released.
The dogs in the second group were placed in the same harnesses, but were exposed to electric shocks that could be avoided by pressing the panel with their noses.
The third group received the same shocks as the second, except that they could not control the shock. For the dogs in the third group, the shock seemed completely random and beyond their control.

The dogs were then placed in a box. Animals in the first and second groups quickly learned that jumping over a barrier eliminates shock. However, participants in the third group did not try to escape the pain. Because of his previous experience they have developed a cognitive expectation that nothing will prevent or eliminate the shock.

The same theory applies to human behavior, explaining the psychology of depression. A person becomes depressed because he has experienced difficult relationships or have lost a loved one, been a victim of physical or mental abuse, or have experienced a serious illness.

However, depression can also be genetic, in people with low self-esteem, pessimistic thinking and unable to cope with stress.

Symptoms

Learned helplessness is when a person begins to believe that they have no control over a situation.

The mantra of a person suffering from the syndrome is: “What's the point in trying?”

Seligman discovered that the dogs “learned” in the early part of the experiment that the electric shock was random, inevitable, and independent of their own behavior. The animals could actually just jump out of the box to avoid the shock, but they thought otherwise.

This pattern of behavior has been demonstrated in humans when they have been subjected to punishment or discomfort that seems random and inevitable.

Feeling helpless and unable to improve one's circumstances is one of the key factors depression.

Learned helplessness leads a person to the false belief that he is more powerless than he actually is. This leads to bad choices being made, making situations worse, creating vicious circle problems.

Link between helplessness and personality disorders

If you are in a relationship with someone who suffers from a personality disorder, chances are you have been subjected to repeated disappointments that appear randomly. The actions and attitudes of a person with a personality disorder often do not make logical sense to others. Loved ones often have to search for answers with little success.

Some look for causes and correlations to explain mood disorder behavior. Sometimes correlations are identified, but often these discoveries fail because the patient's behavior cannot be easily controlled.

In most cases, the partner experiences further disappointments and eventually begins to feel that the situation is hopeless.

The reality is that the person with a personality disorder is the one in control of their behavior. Although such people usually do not have direct control over how they feel, they do have control over how they behave.