Learned Helplessness is a mental health term used to describe people who repeat a pattern. What is Learned Helplessness? In psychology, it’s a mental state in which a person is forced to bear painful or otherwise unpleasant stimuli. They become unable or unwilling to avoid subsequent encounters with those stimuli because it has learned that it cannot.

This behavior can appear in people who have been traumatized. Or have been beaten down. When the same action takes place later, they shut down. Most people don’t realize they have the behavior.

Then a trigger occurs, and they completely shut down. They’re stuck in the trauma memory. Helpless again.

The way to heal is to look within at the trauma and understand it happened to you, and YOU are not at fault. But this is a lesson for another day.

Recognize the signs of slipping into the victim mentality. When that happens, know how to ‘shake it off.’