COMPLEX TRAUMA

Learned Helplessness In Trauma Victims

How trauma can rob us of power by creating a self-reinforcing negative feedback loop

Learned helplessness refers to a state of mind in which a person develops the view that they don’t and cannot have any control over their circumstances regardless of their behaviour.

This might be the case even when there might actually be a genuine opportunity to change or improve their condition. As a result of this perspective, such a person decides to give up and discontinue their attempts to escape or end an unpleasant situation. In other words, learned helplessness is when someone simply accepts their real or perceived absence of control and/or powerlessness.

This mentality usually occurs when someone endures repeated traumatic experiences, leading them to believe that there is no way out. It was initially observed in experiments with dogs, where the animals were repeatedly subjected to electric shocks that they could not get away from, to begin with.

After a period, they were placed in situations where they could easily escape, due the previous experiences, the dogs stopped trying to escape or avoid the shocks. The fact that the pain was inescapable and uncontrollable at first, eventually made them believe that these were the conditions they had to accept and live under from now on and that fighting was meaningless.

Fight, flight and freeze are ways we respond to perceived threats or stressors.

People usually respond with one of these when confronted with a dangerous situation.

• Fight: With this response, we would have the inclination to confront and engage with the real or perceived threat. This may be considered aggressive or assertive but it is especially useful if we have to defend ourselves or regain control over a threatening situation to ensure safety.
• Flight: With this response, we would have the inclination to run away or flee from a perceived threat. It is helpful when physically removing ourself from a situation is a viable option. Escaping and avoiding is often one of the most recommended solutions when it comes to abusive relationships (no contact).
• Freeze: This is where learned helplessness comes in. Unlike the previous two responses, which involve taking action, freeze is when we become immobilized. It happens when fighting or escaping is neither an option nor safe. It may involve dissociation and detachment from the traumatic traumatic experience.

Learned helplessness can have serious implications for our mental health as it can lead to feelings of hopelessness and depression. It can also affect our motivation and willingness to try new things and ensure we get stuck in bad situation more than we normally would.

Characteristics of learned helplessness include;

• Perceived Lack of Control: Believing that our efforts are pointless and futile, and will not lead to any solutions as external forces have complete control over us and our circumstances. In other words, it is when we convince ourself that things will never get better so we might as well stop fighting.
• Negative Attribution: Ascribing negative events or failures to factors that are not changeable, such as believing that our situation is beyond our ability to cope and our limitations and shortcomings will always persist. It is also when we persuade ourselves that the world is a dangerous and unpredictable place and we will always remain powerless in the face of our circumstances.
• Passivity: Becoming resigned and not taking any action to improve our situation even when opportunity for change becomes available. It can also include avoiding taking action to prevent triggering distressing emotions and withdrawing from any interactions that might help.
• Emotional Distress: Feelings of hopelessness, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem due to the persistent belief in our lack of control.
• Impact on Recovery: Hindering our ability to engage in therapy effectively and being resistant to change when it comes to altering negative beliefs and attempting to regain a sense of control over our lives.

Childhood trauma has a lasting effect on a person’s mental health and well-being.

Learned helplessness is linked to childhood trauma as traumatic experiences during childhood forms our beliefs about the world and our sense of agency. Trauma often creates a sense of powerlessness and loss of control in children because they are very vulnerable and unable to defend themselves like adults can. This is dangerous because the feeling that they are at the mercy of external forces can carry on into adulthood and even when these people are out of the hostile environment that resulted in the trauma, they can still behave as if they are in the same situation.

Learned helplessness, in other words, is a form of externalising behaviour that only focuses on what is wrong with the external environment, as opposed to developing the feeling that we are in the driving seat when it comes to our actions. In other words, when we externalise we blame or hold other people responsible for the problems in our lives without taking any action to change our circumstances.

When we develop a victim mentality and ruminate on our perceived helplessness, this stops us from finding new ways of thinking. Continuting to play the victim role also reduces our power by turning our victimhood into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just because we repeatedly encounter traumatic situations without the ability to escape or protect ourselves, doesn’t mean there is no way to end it.

The belief that our actions and efforts are futile is the same thing as taking the easy way out. If we simply resign and refuse to fight, we ensure that our circumstances will never change. It doesn’t matter how bad a situation is; fighting may not completely stop whatever is going on, but it will at the very least improve the conditions.

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