learned helplessness

noun

1. the act of giving up trying as a result of consistent failure to be rewarded in life, thought to be a cause of depression

Example Sentences

The country where this happens experiences a crisis of democratic legitimacy and other profound changes in the order of things: "Normalcy" becomes malignant; the public sinks into learned helplessness and survival mode.

From Salon

A local psychologist is finishing a lecture on how to overcome "learned helplessness" and believe you have the power to change your life.

From BBC

By comparison, President Biden’s supporters and voters, and the American people as a whole, are tired, exhausted, and succumbing to a state of learned helplessness.

From Salon

Such dangerous leaders and other pathocrats want us to surrender to learned helplessness and be in awe of their power.

From Salon

Ultimately, the American neofascists and their allies want to deprive the American people of this knowledge as a way of creating a complaint public that will succumb to learned helplessness and a belief that resistance is futile.

From Salon