Learned Helplessness In Child Abuse

Learned helplessness can be primarily found in abuse victims. Learned helplessness was originally discovered when an “animal is repeatedly subjected to an aversive stimulus that it cannot escape” (Cherry, 2016). According to Cherry (2016) the animal will eventually stop trying to avoid the stimulus and behave like it is completely helpless even if they have a way of avoiding the pain. Learned helplessness has a strong tie to animals, however it can be applied to many situations that involve humans, such as abuse, or in domestic violence situations. Along with abuse victims learned helplessness can also occur in children, for example if a child performs badly on a science test or assignments the child may begin to feel that no matter how much
In this Article Shapiro starts off by saying how “feelings of self-blame and helplessness are two frequent consequences of sexual abuse that must be improved if recovery is to occur” (Shapiro 1995). The victim of abuse tends to only feel one or the other; With self-blame they view the abuse as if it was their own fault, blaming themselves for the way they dressed or how they acted. Possibly blaming themselves for their personalities, believing that unknowingly attracted the abuser in some way. On the other hand, when a victim experiences helplessness its seems that they cast blame of the abuse on external factors. The victim believes no matter what they do they could not have stopped the abuse. That the abuse was out of their control. According to Shapiro helplessness in abuse cases has received less attention in the form of investigation and research. It has been found that female adult survivors had harmful long lasting signs of both self-blaming and helplessness when having suffered abuse as children (Hazzard 1993). Both self-blame and helplessness is a good predictor of low self-esteem when associated with abuse but helplessness also can cause other concerns to manifest such as depression and external locus of control. Because the victim feels as though they never had control over the abuse, that they
Sabo is a doctor at Berkshire Medical Center. He specializes in psychiatry and behavioral health. In his article Sabo (1997) “Etiological significance of associations between childhood trauma and borderline personality disorder: conceptual and clinical implications”. Sabo asks whether sexual and physical trauma in early childhood is the cause of BPD, or is it interactive with other factors, such as an inadequate support network, and constitutional factors such as vulnerability to PTSD (Sabo 1997). It was found that at least 20 to 45% of people with BPD did not have a history of child trauma. Population studies have shown 34 to 62% of women were exposed to sexual abuse as a child. This shows that even people who were not exposed to sexual abuse as a child could still develop BPD later in life because of “constitutional or environmental factors” (Sabo