Part of our problem

How many of you have heard of “learned helplessness”? It’s a theory about why some of us continue in our misery when we have the ability to escape it. I sure am subject to it. I see learned helplessness as a big part of our problem, at least for some of us.

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I think @SzAdmin or @shutterbug will be able to locate the long thread on this from a few weeks ago.

No applause, just throw money:

I just typed “learned helplessness” into the search box that appears at top right after you click the magnifying glass doomahicky and the above was the first result. Hope it’s what you wanted.

Pixel.

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@crimby See @pixel 's post

Not part of my problem, I don’t think I’ve ever had this. I’ve been very depressed before, and it took me a long time to get out of it last time, but I always saw it as something I have partial control over.

I went through a helpless time as well… everyone was glad that I was finally accepting my diagnosis… people were doing many things for me… my functionality was pretty low… and since I wasn’t doing much on my own… for a while it stayed low.

It was easy to let others do stuff for me instead of me doing it myself. When I started getting more stable… that was when my sense of want kicked in. I had to want to do better.

Then I started working towards it.

I had to learn and break out of the habit of helplessness. It took a while… I have a lot to learn still. But I think I’m on the right path.

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High (twenty-) five.

I see two problems getting out of learned helplessness.

Those who blame themselves for their situation and continue down a self destructive path to escape.

And those who have lost empathy for others but give them the control to do a number on them.