OVERCOMING LEARNED HELPLESSNESS IN ELDERLY CLIENTS: SKILLS TRAINING FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS

Abstract

The concept of learned helplessness has been used to explain many of the depression‐like symptoms found in elderly clients. Persons experiencing learned helplessness perceive events to be beyond their personal control, and learn that it is useless to respond. This syndrome adversely affects cognitive functioning, affect, motivation, and self‐esteem, and these persons present particularly difficult problems for the helping professional. This article relates the theory of learned helplessness to the losses of aging, and describes a brief experiential training program for service providers. The training teaches interpersonal skills useful in working with the depressed elderly. By allowing older persons to have impact within the counseling interaction itself, the process of restoring perceived control and reducing helplessness is initiated.

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