{"id":75858,"date":"2022-08-12T10:09:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T14:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=75858"},"modified":"2022-08-22T14:32:48","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T18:32:48","slug":"martin-seligman-learned-helplessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What was Martin Seligman’s major contribution to psychology? What is the psychology of helplessness? How can you know if you’ve learned helplessness<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychologist Martin Seligman’s learned helplessness theory<\/a> has changed how we understand pessimism and optimism. Perhaps most importantly, Seligman’s theory helps to explain a leading cause of depression and how to treat it by unlearning helplessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn about Martin Seligman’s learned helplessness theory<\/a> and why it can lead to depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Martin Seligman’s Learned Helplessness Theory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Martin Seligman is a professional psychologist, teacher, and author. Based on his own laboratory studies, Martin<\/strong> Seligman\u2019s learned helplessness theory has become widespread<\/strong>, both in the field of psychology and among laypeople. However, Seligman’s book Learned Optimism <\/em>was published in 1990, and there have been significant advances in the field of psychology since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Seligman, people end up trapped in a helpless mindset<\/a> as a result of modern culture\u2019s overemphasis on personal achievement and self-esteem<\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people suffer from learned helplessness<\/strong>: the belief that they don\u2019t have the power to make positive changes in their own lives or in the world around them. Martin Seligman’s book, Learned Optimism,<\/em> teaches you how to break out of that pessimistic, powerless mindset and replace it with an empowered mindset of optimism and confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Learned Helplessness May Cause Depression<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In psychology, depression is the feeling that nothing is worth doing, or that your actions don\u2019t matter. Therefore, Martin Seligman claims that learned helplessness can lead to depression. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate this point, Seligman discusses an experiment he performed where people were subjected to a loud, unpleasant noise and presented with a panel of buttons. They were told that they could use the buttons to stop the noise, and they just had to figure out the right combination to press. However, for some subjects, the experiment was rigged\u2014the buttons didn\u2019t do anything, and there was nothing they could do to make the noise stop. In other words, they were helpless. After the experiment, the subjects who couldn\u2019t stop the noise showed symptoms of depression: resignation, lethargy, and feelings of powerlessness.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was Martin Seligman’s major contribution to psychology? What is the psychology of helplessness? How can you know if you’ve learned helplessness? Psychologist Martin Seligman’s learned helplessness theory has changed how we understand pessimism and optimism. Perhaps most importantly, Seligman’s theory helps to explain a leading cause of depression and how to treat it by unlearning helplessness. Read on to learn about Martin Seligman’s learned helplessness theory and why it can lead to depression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":75880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[719],"class_list":["post-75858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-psychology","tag-learned-optimism","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nMartin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is Martin Seligman's learned helplessness theory? Learn about his findings, which link helplessness, optimism, and pessimism together.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is Martin Seligman's learned helplessness theory? Learn about his findings, which link helplessness, optimism, and pessimism together.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-12T14:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-22T18:32:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1236\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\"},\"headline\":\"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-12T14:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-22T18:32:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/\"},\"wordCount\":370,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Learned Optimism\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/\",\"name\":\"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-12T14:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-22T18:32:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is Martin Seligman's learned helplessness theory? Learn about his findings, which link helplessness, optimism, and pessimism together.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg\",\"width\":1848,\"height\":1236},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\",\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily Kitazawa\"},\"description\":\"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression - Shortform Books","description":"What is Martin Seligman's learned helplessness theory? Learn about his findings, which link helplessness, optimism, and pessimism together.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression","og_description":"What is Martin Seligman's learned helplessness theory? Learn about his findings, which link helplessness, optimism, and pessimism together.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-08-12T14:09:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-22T18:32:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1848,"height":1236,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emily Kitazawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Kitazawa","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Kitazawa","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb"},"headline":"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression","datePublished":"2022-08-12T14:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-22T18:32:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/"},"wordCount":370,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg","keywords":["Learned Optimism"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle","Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/","name":"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-12T14:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-22T18:32:48+00:00","description":"What is Martin Seligman's learned helplessness theory? Learn about his findings, which link helplessness, optimism, and pessimism together.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg","width":1848,"height":1236},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/martin-seligman-learned-helplessness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Martin Seligman: Learned Helplessness Leads to Depression"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb","name":"Emily Kitazawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emily Kitazawa"},"description":"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overwhelmed-drowning-ocean-trying-to-swim.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75858"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76533,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75858\/revisions\/76533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}