You tried to change your situation and failed. You tried again and failed again. Eventually you stopped trying. Not because the situation became impossible, but because you learned that trying doesn’t work. Even when circumstances change and escape becomes possible, you don’t attempt it. You’ve learned to be helpless. The cage door is open but you don’t walk through it because you’ve internalized the belief that walking through doors doesn’t work. This is learned helplessness, one of the most destructive psychological patterns humans can develop. Martin Seligman discovered this phenomenon in the 1960s through experiments with dogs. He put dogs...