Learned helplessness: when people stop trying

In short: Learned helplessness describes the state in which someone, after repeated experiences of losing control, stops trying to change their situation, even when it has since become possible. The term goes back to experiments by Martin Seligman and Steven Maier in the 1960s.

In more detail: Later on, Maier and Seligman reinterpreted their own findings: under prolonged stress, passivity is more of a default reaction, and what is mainly learned is the opposite, namely the experience of being able to influence things. The concept still plays a role in understanding motivation and low mood.

In detail

• The original experiments: Animals that could not escape unpleasant stimuli later stopped trying even when escape would have been possible; from today’s point of view such experiments are ethically controversial.
• In humans: People, too, give up more quickly after a series of uncontrollable failures, for example after many bad marks despite studying.
• Explanatory style: Someone who interprets failures as permanent, all-encompassing and entirely their own fault (“I’ll never be able to do this”) is more vulnerable than someone who sees them as temporary and situational.
• Typical thoughts: “It’s pointless anyway”, “Whatever I do, nothing changes.”
• Link to depression: The model was used to help explain depressive states; however, depression has many causes and cannot be reduced to this single mechanism.
• Regaining control: Small, easily achievable goals provide experiences of success and show that your own actions make a difference (motivation-und-ziele-erreichen).
• Checking your thoughts: It helps to ask whether a failure really applies to every area of life and for ever (resilienz-psychische-widerstandskraft).
• Getting help: If a lack of drive lasts for weeks, a GP or a psychotherapist is a good place to start; in Germany, the TelefonSeelsorge helpline is available round the clock on 0800 111 0 111 or 0800 111 0 222.