Learned Helplessness

• learned helplessness is when a person constantly fails at changing their situation
• they come to believe that they will not succeed no matter what they try so they dont even attempt to change their behaviour
• learned helplessness can be applied to addiction such as drinking when they try to give up alcohol by constantly ends up having another drink because they cant help themselves
• a person who has learnt to be helpless believes they have no control over their behaviour so there is no point even trying to give up - this lowers their self esteem to a point where they dont feel capable of changing so dont even try