Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn’t matter. –Arnold Schwarzenegger
The experiment for learned helplessness involved dogs who received a mild shock when attempting to change their circumstances. Eventually those poor pups gave up even after the shock mechanism was turned off. When faced with an ongoing or repeated difficult situation we might make a few attempts at change. For example, we might try to leave our abusive partner only to return when pressured. This can also cause us to form a trauma bond with the abuser. Simply giving up can occur in less dramatic situations such as attempting to improve a negative situation at work only to find our concerns fall on deaf ears. When our initial attempts at improving our situation are initially thwarted, even though we can still make it better, we stop trying.