In the midst of all the doom and gloom (not mentioning the
R-word!) it’s good to find reasons to be hopeful. The best
reason I’ve found lately is that Martin Seligman, the researcher
who told us about ‘learned helplessness’ decided to listen to
his little daughter and think about ‘learned happiness’ instead!
Learned helplessness is a theory from psychology. It tells us
that when a person or animal suffers physical or emotional
trauma repeatedly, apparently at random, and when they have no
sense of control over this, they develop ‘learned helplessness’.
In other words, they give up. They no longer seem to avoid the
pain or to try to do anything to make their lives better.
Sometimes friends and family get frustrated with people who are
substance dependent or ‘addicted’. Why doesn’t she want to get
better? Why won’t he just try? Drug abuse can lead to a vicious
cycle of trauma – which can then lead to learned helplessness –
nothing I do makes any difference so I’ll stop trying. Imagine a
teenager who uses cannab