Thursday, October 4, 2012

October 3, 2012--Part II

On Learned Helplessness

I was reading something in my textbook yesterday and it said that some people have "learned helplessness." This is a concept in which people have tried many different approaches to solve a problem, but it doesn't work, so they "learn" to be helpless. They sort of give up. Then I started to wonder if I had "learned helplessness" and if this related to the fact that I was easily discouraged. Could it be connected? Could it be that in my past, I've encountered so many failures (real or perceived) that has caused me to acquire learned helplessness? I don't succeed on something, and I think that it's better not to try at all--driving, washing dishes, making something out of myself. I'm already a highly anxious person and with the added perception and rumination on all of my failures, I learned to give up, to not try, to not hope. Could helplessness be connected to hopelessness? I wonder. This will be a facet of my personality I will explore more in-depth as the year goes by.

Be back with periodical updates and insights. 

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Hi, I'm jumira-wings, likely to be one of the strangest people you'll ever meet.