That nagging “i can’t do it”, “it’ll never work”, “it’s pointless” feeling you get when you think about wanting more in life has a name: learned helplessness. Its something you picked up over the years when you felt the pain of being humiliated, put down or made to feel worthless. Its the reason you’re stuck in the trap, and why you can’t get out of it. Its the reason you’re stuck in that shitty relationship being abused, why you can’t get off your ass and get yourself a better job and why you just sit there accepting your lot in life while everyone else seems to be doing something a lot more exciting.
Learned helplessness is defined as:
“A psychological condition in which a human or animal has learned to believe that it is helpless. It thinks that it has no control over its situation and that whatever it does is futile. As a result it will stay passive when the situation is unpleasant or harmful and damaging. It is the view that depression results from the perception of a lack of control over the reinforcements in one’s life that may result from exposure to uncontrollable negative events.”
“A laboratory model of depression in which exposure to a series of unforeseen adverse situations gives rise to a sense of helplessness or an inability to cope with or devise ways to escape such situations, even when escape is possible.”
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