LEARNED HELPLESSNESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL THEORY OF DEPRESSION

*Learned helplessness is the state of mind created when an animal or human being learns to behave helplessly, even with the means to escape or avoid an unpleasant situation. The learned helplessness theory holds that clinical depression and other mental illnesses may arise from the perceived lack of control over a situation, according to psychologist Martin Seligman. Seligman and his colleagues found that human motivation to initiate responses is also undermined by a lack of control over one's surroundings.

*The Environmental theory of Depression states that depression occurs when a sad event made a negative impact in our life. This includes: death, unemployment, abuse, conflicts between families, and other personal problems that occur throughout our lives. We are not born with depression, instead any of these events change our perspective of life after having a bad experience. It is triggered by things that appear in our life without expecting them.

*These two ideas are bonded in a certain way. Learned helplessness disrupts normal development and learning, and it leads to emotional distrubances such as depression. The issues or problems that provoke an emotional damage can be caused by events that involve our environment. For example, the death of a family member will disrupt our emotions, leading humans to a dysfunctional behavior.