Changing the mindset of “can’t do it” is a step-by-step process that requires continuous effort. The article contains some suggestions to help you gradually change this way of thinking.

Psychological Research on Learned Helplessness

Martin Seligman, the former president of the American Psychological Association, once conducted a famous experiment to study how dogs suffer from depression.

He gathered two groups of dogs. There were cages A and B in the laboratory, and both cages were powered on. Cage A and cage B were connected with the same iron rod, so the dogs in both cages experienced the same electric shock. However, cage A has a lever to cut off the power, but cage B does not.

The dog felt very painful when he received the electric shock, so he jumped around in the cage looking for a way to stop it. The dog in cage A soon discovered that there was a lever in the cage. When the lever was pressed, the power supply stopped. The dog in cage B can do nothing but wait for the dog in cage A to cut off the power.

Later, Martin Seligman put the two groups of dogs into cage C at the same time. Cage C no longer had levers, but the fence of the cage was very short. With the height of these dogs, they could jump out with a slight jump.

When he energized cage C, the dogs in cage A looked around for the lever and couldn’t find it, but they quickly learned to jump out of cage C. But the dog in cage B would just lie down in the cage, wailing and enduring the electric shock, motionless.

Why does the dog in cage A keep trying to jump out of the cage, while the dog in cage B remains motionless despite being shocked?

The answer is that the dog in cage B not only received an electric shock but also learned a belief: nothing I do is useless.

From the previous failure experience, the dog in cage B has learned a belief that no matter what I do, I can’t change the situation, so I will give up the struggle.

Seligman created a famous psychological concept to summarize the behavior of the dog in cage B, called “learned helplessness”, and believed that this learned helplessness was the root cause of depression. The impact of this research is so profound that when we say the term “learned helplessness” we think of depression.

How to Change the Belief of Learned Helplessness?

According to research, re-viewing the present can help improve learned helplessness. Many studies have shown that CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) has a significant effect on improving learned helplessness. When faced with learned helplessness, the following five tips may help you:

Don’t easily say “It can’t be done, it’s impossible”

• You can already do it now or you may have the opportunity to do it in the future. Please allow yourself to try and test it. Even if it is a little different, it deserves encouragement.

Examine your beliefs in difficult situations

• Have we been telling ourselves “I can’t do it” and giving up hope in ourselves? If this is the current belief, we need to change our belief and change “I can’t” to “I can”.

Sometimes hopelessness is just the feeling inside us, it is not reality

• What often overwhelms us is our imagination, and a solid inner imagination is powerful. It can make us stop and panic. When we are scared by it, we ask ourselves, what can we do at this moment? Just do what you can do at the moment.

Find help

• Sometimes it may be realistic to not be able to do it temporarily. It may not be possible through our own abilities, so we can use the power of others to complete it.

Helplessness is not fate

• If you interpret helplessness as my life is like this, then it will be difficult for you to make new attempts. Through understanding ourselves, we can see that this is learned helplessness. Understanding and accepting one’s own helplessness can change. start.

Conclusion

Learned helplessness may indeed make you decadent for life, but getting rid of it can make you a strong person. Just like “Black Vitality.”

Black Vitality are those who have experienced significant trauma, helplessness, and adversity and have overcome these Black moments and developed great strength. May we all come out of helplessness and bravely show our strength.