Learned helplessness occurs when a person who has experienced repeated challenges comes to believe they have no control over their situation. They then give up trying to make changes and accept their fate.

Maier SF, Seligman ME. Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. Psychol Rev. 2016;123(4):349-367. doi:10.1037/rev0000033

Hockenbury DE, Hockenbury SE. Discovering Psychology. New York: Macmillan; 2011.

American Psychological Association. Learned helplessness.

Nuvvula S. Learned helplessness. Contemp Clin Dent. 2016;7(4):426-427. doi:10.4103/0976-237X.194124

Seligman ME. Learned helplessness. Annu Rev Med. 1972;23:407-12. doi:10.1146/annurev.me.23.020172.002203

Vollmayr B, Gass P. Learned helplessness: unique features and translational value of a cognitive depression model. Cell Tissue Res. 2013 Oct;354(1):171-8. doi: 10.1007/s00441-013-1654-2

Goetz TE, Dweck CS. Learned helplessness in social situations. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1980;39(2):246-55. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.39.2.246

Butkowsky IS, Willows DM. Cognitive-motivational characteristics of children varying in reading ability: Evidence for learned helplessness in poor readers. Journal of Educational Psychology. 1980;72(3):408-422. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.72.3.408

Hammack SE, Cooper MA, Lezak KR. Overlapping neurobiology of learned helplessness and conditioned defeat: implications for PTSD and mood disorders. Neuropharmacology. 2012;62(2):565-575. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2011.02.024

Fincham FD, Hokoda A, Sanders R Jr. Learned helplessness, test anxiety, and academic achievement: a longitudinal analysis. Child Dev. 1989 Feb;60(1):138-45. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1989.tb02703.x

Peterson C, Park C. Learned helplessness and explanatory style. In: Barone DF, Hersen M, Van Hasselt VB, eds. Advanced Personality. Springer US; 1998:287-310. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-8580-4_12

Greenwood BN, Fleshner M. Exercise, learned helplessness, and the stress-resistant brain. Neuromol Med. 2008;10(2):81-98. doi:10.1007/s12017-008-8029-y