Learned Helplessness: Entering the Victim's Psychology

The learned helplessness is perhaps one of those psychological phenomena whose importance affects the existential plane of the human being, and whose investigation and answers that science gives in this regard must be able to improve the way we relate to each other others. 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 day-to-day lives.

Learned helplessness: a syndrome to consider

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 without relevance in reality, but something that affects the daily life of many people and, on many occasions, their lives may depend on the effective help of a family member or mental health professional try 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 is inhibited before aversive or painful situations when the actions to avoid it have not been fruitful, ending up developing passivity in this type of situation. 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 its self-esteem.

The contributions of Martin Seligman, the researcher who discovered learned helplessness

Seligman Y Overmaier were among the first researchers to ask the question about why an animal or a person who suffered in his own flesh constant adverse and painful conditions did nothing to abandon happiness situation. This finding was reported in dog research, and was subsequently followed by some researchers such as Watson Y Ramey, who studied learned helplessness in humans.

On the other hand, there is no specific situation that generates helplessnessIn other words, many people can experience the same adverse situation (even in a group) and yet react differently to it. It was Bernard Weiner who considered the influence of the interpretation and the perception that each individual has of the event in the development of the defenselessness and also in the way of facing it.

Signs of learned helplessness

When someone falls into helplessness, he manifests it in three deficits: the motivational, the emotional and the 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 (deficit motivational). Similarly, a series of behavioral disorders, the most common being state of anxiety and the depression (emotional deficit), which are making a dent to the point that the affected person is unable to see solutions to the problem that torments him (cognitive deficit).

The answer to the question of why does a person in a situation clearly do nothing to get out of it lies precisely in the comprehensive involvement not only of these three areas (motivational, emotional and cognitive) but also at a physiological level. In a word, his whole person, the different psychic and somatic spheres, join in this syndrome. Consequently, it will not be enough to make the decision to break the negative cycle, but rather it implies unlearning the way in which the aversive or painful situation is processed.

Why do some people develop learned helplessness?

How do you get helpless? An easy way to understand it is the story of the frogs. It is said that to cook a living 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 throw it into the already boiling water, the frog will jump; it will escape from the boiling water. With this example I want to explain that learned helplessness is a thought scheme that develops from gradually and that little by little eats away the psychic and corporal strengths to the point of Will.

The sad thing to consider is the ease with which learned helplessness can develop. We are all vulnerable to adopting these types of thinking patterns, as there is seldom a Emotional education to be able to face it.

It is enough to continually expose the potential victim to adverse circumstances, lower their morale, overload them with work, shutting off external support for a long time and repeatedly. The person who has been treated in this way will soon manifest deficits in the aforementioned areas: affective, emotional, cognitive and even somatic. And no, it is not something that does not happen every day: domestic violence and / or the intimate partner violence they are common examples in which different degrees of learned helplessness on the part of the victim are usually perceived.

• Related article: "The helplessness learned from victims of abuse"

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, the violence can be psychological, economic, moral, among others.

Fix 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 repeating to the victim what she should do or how she should think. It would be like telling a person with the flu not to feel bad: both the flu virus and the mindsets that lead to learned helplessness are sufficiently rooted in the person as if to resist mere well-meaning words or cursory advice on how to cope.

Indeed, the person who suffers from learned helplessness does not feel bad because he wants to but because his her psyche has consolidated dysfunctional schemes that inhibit her from changing her 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 It is not only that others tell you what you “should” or “should not” do, but also reaffirm your capacity and your self-esteem; return control to her life so that she is able to take control of what she saw without a solution at the time.

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 getting ahead.

To end, helplessness is not a merely individual matter. It can be made "viral", if the expression may be allowed. That is, helplessness can be spread to an entire society or a social group. The Second World War was an extreme case where all the cruelty of which the human being is capable was revealed, and the fields of Nazi concentration witnessed thousands of human beings who, having lost all hope of survival, practically surrendered to the death.

Anyway, it is not necessary to go that far in time or space. Family violence, bullying, the mobbing they 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 it and to fight not only to minimize its effects, but also to combat its causes.

Bibliographic references:

• http://www4.ujaen.es/~rmartos/IA.PDF
• http://mariangelesalvarez.com/igualdad/relacion-de-control-o-igual/la-indefension-aprendida