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PubMed1986

Mildly mentally retarded and nonretarded children's learned helplessness.

The relationship among four measures identified as operational definitions of learned helplessness was assessed in 44 mildly mentally retarded and 44 nonretarded children of equivalent mental age. Assessment of perseverance, response initiation, teacher perception of helplessness, and attributions for positive and negative achievement outcomes revealed an absence of corroboration in the two subgroups. The findings suggest that ability grouping and instrumentation are meaningful variables when evaluating learned helplessness in retarded and nonretarded students.

Child↗

PubMed2005

Stressor controllability and learned helplessness: the roles of the dorsal raphe nucleus, serotonin, and corticotropin-releasing factor.

The term 'learned helplessness' refers to a constellation of behavioral changes that follow exposure to stressors that are not controllable by means of behavioral responses, but that fail to occur if the stressor is controllable. This paper discusses the nature of learned helplessness, as well as the role of the dorsal raphe nucleus, serotonin, and corticotropin-releasing hormone in mediating the behavioral effects of uncontrollable stressors. Recent research indicates that (a) uncontrollable stressors sensitize serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe, and that a corticotropin-releasing factor-related ligand, acting at the Type II receptor, is essential to this sensitization process, and (b) the consequent exaggerated release of serotonin in response to subsequent input is at least in part responsible for the behavioral changes that occur. Finally, implications for the general role of corticotropin-releasing hormone in stress-related phenomena and for the learned helplessness paradigm as an animal model of either depression or anxiety are discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Effects of learned helplessness on brain GABA receptors.

GABA is involved in both clinical depression and in animal models of depression; however, the roles of GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptors in specific brain regions are not clear. Changes in densities of both GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptors have been reported with the learned helplessness animal model of depression and with chronic antidepressant drug treatment. However, some of these findings are discrepant. Thus, we used quantitative autoradiography to study the GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptors in learned helplessness and we used an experimental paradigm that allows non-specific effects of stress to be differentiated from learned helplessness. Densities of GABA binding were measured in prefrontal cortex, septum, hippocampus, hypothalamus and amygdala. In the septum, learned helpless rats had increased densities of GABA(A) receptors and rats that did not become helpless after inescapable stress had decreased GABA(B) receptor densities. No significant group differences of GABA(A) or GABA(B) receptor densities were observed in any other brain region studied. These results suggest a unique role for the septum in modulating GABA in the learned helplessness animal model of depression.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Effects of rolipram, a phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, in combination with imipramine on depressive behavior, CRE-binding activity and BDNF level in learned helplessness rats.

The brain cAMP regulating system and its downstream elements play a pivotal role in the therapeutic effects of antidepressants. We previously reported the increase in activities of phosphodiesterase 4, a major phosphodiesterase isozyme hydrolyzing cAMP, in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of learned helplessness rats, an animal model for depression. The present study was undertaken to examine the combination of effects of rolipram, a phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, with imipramine, a typical tricyclic antidepressant, on depressive behavior in learned helplessness rats. Concurrently, cAMP-response element (CRE)-binding activity and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels related to the therapeutic effects of antidepressants were determined. Repeated administration of imipramine (1.25-10 mg/kg, i.p.) or rolipram (1.25 mg/kg, i.p.) reduced the number of escape failures in learned helplessness rats. Imipramine could not completely ameliorate the escape behavior to a level similar to that of non-stressed rats even at 10 mg/kg. However, repeated coadministration of rolipram with imipramine (1.25 and 2.5 mg/kg, respectively) almost completely eliminated the escape failures in learned helplessness rats. The reduction of CRE-binding activities and BDNF levels in the frontal cortex or hippocampus in learned helplessness rats were ameliorated by treatment with imipramine or rolipram alone. CRE-binding activities and/or BDNF levels of the frontal cortex and hippocampus were significantly increased by treatment with a combination of rolipram and imipramine compared to those in imipramine-treated rats. These results indicated that coadministration of phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitors with antidepressants may be more effective for depression therapy and suggest that elevation of the cAMP signal transduction pathway is involved in the antidepressive effects.

3',5'-Cyclic-AMP Phosphodiesterases↗

PubMed1987

Attributional style and learned helplessness: relationship to the use of causal schemata and depressive symptoms in children.

The attributional style associated with learned helplessness in children is examined in terms of its stability over a six-month period; impact on causal schemata used by children; and association with depressive symptoms. Seventy-three fifth grade children provided attributions for success and failure and were divided into learned helpless and mastery-oriented groups on the basis of the attributions typically associated with these response patterns. The attributional styles were relatively stable, influenced responses to stimuli used to investigate the use of causal schemata and were related to depressive symptoms. These results are discussed in terms of research on learned helplessness in children and several research questions are identified.

Aptitude↗

PubMed1985

Learned helplessness and immunization: sensitivity to response-reinforcer independence in immunized rats.

In experiments 1 and 2, we examined the learned helplessness and immunization effects using a test in which appetitive responding was extinguished by delivering noncontingent reinforcers. Contrary to learned helplessness theory, "immunized" animals showed performance virtually identical to that of animals exposed only to inescapable shock, and different from nonshocked controls. Experiment 2 suggests that the helplessness effect and the lack of immunization are not due to direct response suppression resulting from shock. In Experiment 3, where the immunization effect was assessed by measuring the acquisition of a response to obtain food when there was a positive response-reinforcer contingency, immunization was observed. These results cannot be explained on the basis of proactive interference, but suggest that animals exposed to the immunization procedure acquire an expectancy of response-reinforcer independence during inescapable shock. Thus, immunization effects may reflect the differential expression of expectancies, rather than their differential acquisition as learned helplessness theory postulates.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Learned helplessness and urinary MHPG levels in unipolar depression.

OBJECTIVE: Studies of the learned helplessness paradigm in laboratory animals show increased central noradrenergic activity following exposure to uncontrollable stressors. In clinical studies, depressed patients as a group report higher perceptions of helplessness and powerlessness. The authors examined the relationship between perceptions of powerlessness and noradrenergic activity in depressed patients. METHOD: Twenty drug-free patients (12 women and 8 men) meeting DSM-III criteria for major depressive disorder were given the Kobasa Hardiness Questionnaire, which contains subscales measuring feelings of powerlessness, security, and alientation. Concurrently, 24-hour urine samples were collected for measurement of urinary MHPG. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between MHPG levels and total hardiness scores as well as between MHPG levels and total powerlessness scores but not between MHPG levels and total security or total alientation scores. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that depressed patients with high urinary output of MHPG are more likely to show the cognitive features of learned helplessness.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Voluntary alcohol intake in two rat lines selectively bred for learned helpless and non-helpless behavior.

RATIONALE: A high comorbidity between depression and alcoholism has been reported in several studies, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown. OBJECTIVES: We tested whether learned helplessness in rats as a model for depression is associated with enhanced alcohol intake and relapse behavior. METHODS: Congenital learned helplessness (cLH) and congenital non-learned helplessness (cNLH) rats were selectively bred for differences in an escape paradigm. Sucrose preference was tested at the first hour of the dark phase. In order to study an association with alcohol drinking behavior, rats underwent a free-choice procedure with access to water, and 5% and 20% alcohol solutions for 6 weeks. After acquisition of alcohol drinking behavior, the alcohol deprivation effect (ADE) was assessed. Sensitivity to the sedative-hypnotic effect of alcohol was measured by loss of the righting reflex. RESULTS: cLH rats showed significantly lower preference for sucrose solutions during the second half hour of the dark phase than cNLH rats. Alcohol intake of male cLH rats was not significantly different from that of male cNLH rats. In contrast, cLH female rats consumed higher amounts of alcohol than female cNLH rats. The ADE was more pronounced in female animals, although the magnitude of the ADE was similar in both cNLH and cLH female rats. The time to regain the righting reflex was significantly higher in both male and female cLH rats than in cNLH rats. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, these data suggest that an inborn depressive-like behavior in female rats is associated with enhanced alcohol intake.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed2004

An antidepressant effect of Sho-ju-sen, a Japanese herbal medicine, assessed by learned helplessness model in mice.

The antidepressant effect of Sho-ju-sen, a Japanese herbal medicine composed of extracts of three herbs; kumazasa leaf (Sasa Kurinensis Makino et Sibata), Japanese red pine leaf (Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc) and ginseng radix (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer), was assessed using a learned helplessness model in mice. The learned helplessness was produced by presenting 120 unavoidable/inescapable shocks for 3 days to the mouse in a shuttle box, and the avoidance training was carried out on day 4. Compared with the control group given tap water, free consumption of Sho-ju-sen (1%, 3% and 10%) for 21 days resulted in a significant amelioration of the response rate at 1% and 3%, and both the response rate and % avoidance at 10%. Although Sho-ju-sen (10%) caused no significant effect following the 7-day intake, it ameliorated the response rate following the 14-day intake. The extract of Japanese red pine leaf, but not kumazasa leaf or ginseng radix, mildly improved the response rate. Learned helplessness was significantly and dose-dependently reduced by imipramine (10 and 30 mg/kg i.p.), while only mildly by diazepam (1 mg/kg p.o.). These results suggest that a long-term consumption of Sho-ju-sen is effective for the amelioration of depression, and the effectiveness is derived mainly from the extract of Japanese red pine leaf.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

An experimental examination of learned helplessness in older adolescents and young adults with long-standing asthma.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of experimentally induced learned helplessness in older adolescents and young adults with long-standing asthma. METHODS: Thirty-nine participants (18-24 years of age) with histories of long-standing asthma (AS) and an age-matched healthy cohort (HC) (N = 94) received either contingent or noncontingent feedback on an experimental task. Participants' anagram-solving performance was assessed following the experimental procedure. Participants also completed a measure of depression and pretest-posttest measures of mood, expectancy, and attributions related to experimental task performance. RESULTS: The AS participants demonstrated significantly greater problem-solving deficits following response-noncontingent feedback, compared to the HC group. Further, whereas both AS and HC participants made more internal performance attributions when given response-contingent feedback, only AS participants demonstrated a pattern of increased internal attributions (i.e., self-focus) following response-noncontingent failure. In addition, 21% of AS participants met DSM-IV criteria for major depression, compared to only 5% of the HC group. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with long-standing asthma may be at increased risk for depression and for learned helplessness deficits, specifically impaired problem solving, in response to environmental noncontingency. Results are discussed in terms of both learned helplessness theory and perseverative self-focus conceptualizations of depression. The implications for both short- and long-term management of pediatric asthma are also discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Learned helplessness in children and adolescents with juvenile rheumatic disease.

OBJECTIVE: To examine a learned helplessness conceptualization of psychological sequela in children and adolescents with juvenile rheumatic diseases (JRD) via an experimental procedure utilizing behavior-outcome contingent and noncontingent feedback. METHODS: Thirty-eight children and adolescents with JRD completed measures of transient affect, self-efficacy for functional ability, and causal attributions prior to and immediately following a computerized learned helplessness induction procedure. RESULTS: Children across contingent and noncontingent feedback conditions experienced decreased positive affect with a slightly more pronounced decline in the noncontingent condition. Noncontingent feedback resulted in poorer internalization of success for problem solving, while contingent feedback resulted in greater internalization of success for problem solving. Additionally, posttreatment control self-efficacy was significantly greater for children in the contingent condition that initially endorsed higher levels of internal task attributions. CONCLUSIONS: Children with JRD who experience behavior-outcome contingency in their environment may develop increased perceptions of control over functional ability. Furthermore, environmental noncontingency may result in poorer internalization of success, whereas contingent reinforcement may enhance cognitive appraisal mechanisms (i.e., causal attributions) associated with favorable disease outcome. Despite a modest decline in positive affect for children in the noncontingent condition, mood dysfunction is not entirely explicable within the context of noncontingent reinforcement.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1979

Frustration-instigated behavior and learned helplessness.

This paper compares Seligman's recent work on learned helplessness with N. R. F. Maier's work on frustration-instigated behavior published some 30 years ago. Some striking similarities are noted between the two approaches, and it is concluded that some of the differences are more apparent than real and that the learned helplessness model could provide an explanation for the "abnormal fixations" reported by Maier.

Animals↗

PubMed1990

Criterion for learned helplessness in the rat: a redefinition.

Numerous investigators have reported difficulty obtaining reliable learned helplessness. Various laboratories have used differing test environments and criteria, making comparisons among experiments difficult. Some use an escape deficit criterion, in which escape is slowed down in a shuttle box, while others have used an escape failure criterion, in which rats do not escape at all on most test trials. Little work has been done to test the validity of LH, i.e., the prediction of persistence of escape failure after exposure to uncontrollable shock. The present studies demonstrate that the reliability and validity of learned helplessness can be improved by 1) modifying the shuttle box to increase task difficulty and decrease random escape behavior and 2) adopting a new escape failure criterion for helpless behavior which is based on statistical prediction of the persistence of escape deficits.

Animals↗

PubMed1990

Effects of an extract of Ginkgo Biloba (EGB 761) on "learned helplessness" and other models of stress in rodents.

The effects of repeated oral administration of an extract of Ginkgo Biloba (EGB 761) on various behavioral models of stress in rodents were investigated. The models in rats included "learned helplessness," shock-suppressed licking (Vogel conflict test) and forced swimming-induced immobility ("behavioral despair"). The models in mice included shock-suppressed exploration (four plates test), spontaneous exploration (staircase test) and food consumption in a novel situation (emotional hypophagia). Further tests in rats examined the effects of EGB 761 on memory (passive avoidance test) and responsiveness to shock to determine whether the preventive effects observed with EGB 761 in the learned helplessness procedure were due either to drug-induced impairment of memory or to reduced shock sensitivity. In all experiments EGB 761 was administered over 5 days at daily doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg PO. In some experiments (Vogel test, four plates test, staircase test, emotional hypophagia) the effects of acute administration were also investigated. The results showed that repeated administration of EGB 761 (50 and 100 mg/kg/day) before exposure to unavoidable shock (preventive treatment) clearly reduced the subsequent avoidance deficits in the learned helplessness procedure but was less effective when first administered after "helplessness" induction (curative treatment). EGB 761 did not affect performance in the passive avoidance task or alter the animals' response to electric shock, suggesting that the effects observed in the learned helplessness procedure were not due to impaired memory or reduced shock sensitivity. Anxiolytic-like activity was also seen in the emotional hypophagia test in mice where repeated administration of EGB 761 increased the amount of food consumed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

PubMed1986

Effects of elevated calcium on learned helplessness and brain serotonin metabolism in rats.

The effects of elevated calcium on learned helplessness in rats was tested by maintaining animals on either distilled water or water containing 2.5% calcium. Animals that were maintained on drinking water containing high calcium showed elevated levels of brain and serum calcium. Rats that were maintained on high calcium drinking water showed significantly longer escape latencies than their non-calcium counterparts after they were pretreated with inescapable electric shocks. Lower levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5HIAA) were found in the forebrain and brainstem of animals maintained on high calcium drinking water. There was no significant correlation between blood or brain calcium or 5HIAA levels and latency of escape. We conclude that elevated levels of calcium enhance learned helplessness and decrease brain serotonin turnover. The relationship between depressive states and calcium homeostasis is worthy of further investigation.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

Learned helplessness and the detection of contingency: a direct test.

Two studies tested a basic hypothesis of the learned helplessness model: That performance deficits associated with exposure to uncontrollable outcomes are directly mediated by an individual's perception of response-outcome independence. In the first experiment 48 subjects were exposed to noise bursts. For one experimental group, the termination of the noise was response-contingent. For five other groups, noise-burst termination was independent of subjects' responses. These five groups varied in the number of trials on which they received positive feedback: As predicted, subjects over-estimated the amount of control they had over noise termination as a positive linear function of the amount of noncontingent positive feedback they received. Although subjects exposed to either noncontingent positive or negative feedback showed subsequent performance deficits on an anagrams task, the expected relation between perceived control and subsequent performance failed to emerge. These findings were replicated in a second experiment. In addition, subjects' locus, stability, and globality attributions failed to predict subsequent performance. These results call into question the central premises of helplessness theory: That perceived uncontrollability and causal attributions mediate learned helplessness.

Achievement↗

PubMed1978

Reductions in experienced control and depression in psychiatric inpatients: a test of the learned helplessness model.

Used a measure of reduction in experienced control to investigate two aspects of the learned helplessness model of depression. Consistent with this model, psychiatric inpatients who reported reduced control over life events prior to hospitalization were significantly more depressed than individuals who reported no such reductions. Locus of control (IE) was not related to depression scores, and it was suggested, in light of previous research, that future research on the antecedents of depression employ more specific measures of control rather than measures of generalized expectancies. Additionally, depressive as a diagnostic group reported greated reduced control than chronic schizophrenics, paranoid schizophrenics, and patients with personality disorder diagnoses. These results were interpreted as supporting the specificity of learned helplessness to depression. It was suggested that research on learned helplessness and depression, which has relied on college student analogues, can be complemented profitably by studies of reduced experience control within clinical populations.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Learned helplessness and cocaine dependence: an investigation.

Low personal control and a sense of meaninglessness of life, attributes associated with a pattern of human learned helplessness, have also been described as contributing to the onset of adolescent drug use, as well as the maintenance of chronic substance abuse. However, despite its intuitive appeal as an etiologic factor, the absence of psychometrically sound and easily administered measures of learned helplessness has limited the ability of researchers to empirically test its role in the addiction process. Accordingly, the publication by Quinless and Nelson (1988) of a relatively brief Learned Helplessness Scale (LHS) led us to administer it to a sample of 30 consecutive cocaine dependent individuals seeking treatment for the first time at our facility. Our results indicated that the LHS was internally consistent when administered to this clinical sample and that theoretically meaningful and statistically significant relationships with other measures of psychological functioning were observed. Moreover, scores on the LHS were related to treatment retention/outcome.

Adult↗