Feel like nothing you do matters? It may be "learned helplessness"
From Elizabeth Hlavinka at Salon comes this article which is so pertinent to what we are dealing with today and may help some of us to become "unfrozen", as in a spring thaw. I'm writing from Maine, so the analogy.
https://www.salon.com/2025/03/18/the-science-of-learned-helplessness-and-how-to-break-free-from-feelings-of-despair/
In the modern world, we can become overwhelmed with news of the collapse of our ecosystem, the chances of another pandemic, and global warfare, plus the latest political crisis — all within 15 minutes scrolling on our phones. As our brains struggle to process information related to major threats, it's natural to feel completely drowned in anxiety, frozen and unable to do anything except keep doomscrolling. Psychology can help us understand why our reaction to a stressful world isn't always fight or flight but paralysis — and it can help with breaking free from that feeling of helplessness.
In the 1960s, neuroscientists studying how animals reacted to stressors came across a surprising finding. Animals were put into an environment that delivered electric shocks no matter what the animal did to try and avoid them. Afterward, the animals were placed in a new setting where they could escape the stimuli. But, sadly, they stopped trying to escape — as if they had given up.
The authors concluded that the animals had learned they had no control over the situation and named the phenomenon “learned helplessness.”
While this science helped researchers better understand depression because it shares some similar characteristics, it has also helped them better understand how we can build resiliency in the face of stressors. And it turns out that a lot of what they learned has to do with exerting control over the situation — or, in other words, empowering ourselves.
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