"A Society Where 'It's Impossible Anyway' Proliferates" - Learned Helplessness Born from Crisis and Anger

The longer a crisis persists, the wiser people should become—or so it was thought. Reality often goes the opposite way. Open the news and you'll find war, disasters, prices, division. At work, the standards for success are shaky, and at home, there's less room to breathe. The speed at which we "understand" something increases, while the sense of "changing" something becomes more elusive.

What happens inside people at this time is the automatic generation of "it's impossible anyway." The key point is that pessimism is not derived from personality but is formed as a learning from the environment. In psychology, this state has long had a name: "learned helplessness."

When people learn "nothing changes even if I try," they choose "not to try."

"Learned helplessness" strengthens when experiences accumulate where efforts do not change the outcome. More than failure itself, the severance of "the connection between one's actions and results" becomes fatal. For example, in a workplace where rules frequently change, both hard-working and lazy days receive the same evaluation. Or, no matter what you say, it causes a backlash, and even if you say nothing, you get criticized. If such situations continue, the brain rushes to a conclusion: "The optimal solution is to do nothing."

Helplessness is not an excuse for laziness. Rather, it is an energy-saving mode for the mind to protect itself. If effort is not rewarded, stop making the effort. Learning from pain is the same for both animals and humans. However, the complexity of modern society lies in the fact that the reasons for "no results" are too complex, making individual controllability hard to see.

The "continuous presentation" of crises blocks the circuits of action

More dangerous than the crisis itself is the "continuous presentation" of crises. When crisis information keeps flowing, people can never relax. Moreover, many crises are on a scale that cannot be solved by individuals. As a result, what we can often do is only "emotional reactions." Anger, lament, fear, sarcasm, resignation. All are natural reactions, but without an "exit for action," reactions become ruminations, and helplessness becomes fixed.

Furthermore, social media maximizes the "immediacy" of reactions. Anger spreads easily, and lament gathers empathy. As a result, "expression of emotions" is more likely to be rewarded than action. Herein lies a pitfall. The more we can verbalize emotions, the more we feel we have "dealt with it." However, unless real controllability increases, "nothing has changed" remains at the core. This gap casts a shadow similar to fatigue and depression.

The era of therapy has produced "convenient words" and "high costs"

In recent years, the vocabulary of psychology and care has certainly permeated society. Boundaries, trauma, self-care—words that should be a source of salvation can sometimes strengthen helplessness in another form.

This happens when words become tools for "playing diagnosis" or "exoneration." If all the causes of problems are placed on the "environment," feelings become lighter, but the room for action disappears. Conversely, if all causes are placed on "one's own weakness," the weight of responsibility becomes immobilizing. Both are extreme. What is needed is not the correctness of the cause but a perspective that carefully delineates "what is within one's control."

The concept of therapy is originally meant to assist in this delineation. However, in the short-text environment of social media, delineation is often omitted, leaving only labels. "I am this type," "This is a reaction," "The other person is like this." The more labels increase, the more human relationships seem organized, but if that organization comes with "cessation of action," helplessness is reinforced.

The "universalization of victimhood" creates a void of responsibility

In a society with many crises, everyone is a victim of something. This is close to the truth. However, when "everyone is a victim," a strange phenomenon occurs. The location of responsibility becomes dispersed. No one is at fault, so no one can fix it. Or, someone is at fault, but that "someone" is too large to reach. Then people tend to seek "victory in the narrative" rather than real change. They want to stand on the right side, be understood, be indignant. This is also natural, but without accompanying small actions, the mind learns "it's impossible anyway" again.

Reactions on social media: Empathy, backlash, and caution against "self-responsibility theory"

When the theme of this article is thrown into social media, reactions tend to be divided. Here, typical reactions that are likely to occur on social media are organized as "tendencies" (not quoting specific individual posts).

1) The "I understand" group: The feeling of crisis fatigue comes first
"The more I watch the news, the more depressed I get," "Nothing changes even if I get angry"—empathy arises from the reality of life. Here, the word "helplessness" works not as an explanation but as "salvation." It confirms that one is not weak alone.

2) The "still, it's action" group: The desire to give a pep talk
On the other hand, those who encourage action say, "In the end, you just have to do it." This is a sound argument, but if said incorrectly, it can have the opposite effect. Those sinking in helplessness often already have experiences of "effort not being rewarded." When strong scolding comes in, they learn "after all, I'm not understood" and close off further.

3) The "looks like self-responsibility theory" group: Caution against being hurt
When the content is read as "don't lament, act," backlash occurs. "Don't push structural problems onto individuals," "Don't blame those who are weak." Balancing encouraging action and not blaming the person involved is not easy.

4) The "pros and cons of therapy culture" group: How to handle the spread of words
"Psychological terms are too convenient and used carelessly," "But it's better than the era without words." The debate over pros and cons is endless. Words help people, but words alone do not change situations. How to maintain this distance becomes a point of contention.

A practical prescription for "relearning" helplessness

Instead of "stopping a big crisis," "recovering small controllability" becomes a realistic entry point.

• Break down what can be controlled to the smallest unit
  "The world is uncertain" doesn't lead to action. However, "Don't watch the news 30 minutes before bed," "Choose a specific charity to donate to once a week," "Research one local government system" can lead to action. Action works through repetition, not size.

• Separate "reactions" from "actions"
  Do not deny anger or lament. However, let reactions be completed as reactions. Then place one action that can be done in five minutes afterward. Re-teach the brain that "I can have an impact."

• Adjust the use of social media to match "your own nerves"
  The timeline is not the world but a vending machine of stimuli. It's difficult to recover energy in a place where anger increases. Determine which emotions increase in a place and keep a distance.

• Use therapy vocabulary not for "exoneration" but for "designing recovery"
  Understanding oneself through words is important. On top of that, concretize options like resting, relying, refusing, trying. Do not end with labels, but increase room for action.

Conclusion: What is needed in an era of crisis is "tangible results" rather than "hope"

Hope is beautiful, but hope alone cannot sustain. What is needed is tangible results. The feeling that one's actions, even slightly, have touched reality. As tangible results accumulate, helplessness fades.

The crisis may continue. Anger may not disappear. However, finding "what I can do" and reaching out there, even in small ways, is possible. While we may not have the power to change society at once, we can protect our nerves a little today. This circuit of "can do" is what puts the brakes on the slide into depression.

Reference URL

1. https://www.welt.de/kultur/plus695b9880b0086aa64be6efb8/krisen-therapien-frust-erlernte-hilflosigkeit-ist-die-garantierte-depression.html
   Reference article (WELT). Used for setting the theme of this article, based on the argument (crisis/therapy culture/frustration and the connection with "learned helplessness").

2. https://dictionary.apa.org/learned-helplessness
   Used to confirm the definition of "learned helplessness."

3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4920136/
   Used to confirm the review of learned helplessness research (background and overview of mechanisms).

4. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlernte_Hilflosigkeit
   Used to assist in organizing the theory history and overview of learned helplessness (keywords and related concepts).

5. https://x.com/welt/status/2008417905503813815
   Used to confirm that the article can be shared on social media and reactions may occur (existence of official media posts). *Numbers and reactions change at the time of viewing.