As we as a society continue to place increased emphasis on mental health, it often highlights the idea that we as people, should have agency in power-making capabilities in our own lives. Though it doesn’t always feel this way. I think that one of the main issues with the mental health movement is that even though we as individuals are aware of the necessity to prioritise mental health, many still feel powerless and feel that they do not necessarily have the capacity to better their mental health on their own. Because in actuality, this is much easier said than done.
I think that at the beginning of the “mental health revolution” that started in the early 2010s, one of the biggest goals of the movement was simply education and awareness. Educating people on the dangers of mental health disorders, making people aware of the importance of empathy and compassion, etc. I think that at this point in time, we all know quite a bit about the importance of taking care of our mental health. We see this being reinforced in PSE sessions and awareness campaigns like RUOK Day, in which we are all invited to take part in evaluating our own life choices and the way we view mental health.
That being said, we are often given the tools to help others. We are told how we should interact with those we feel may be depressed or anxious, and what we can do to help them. But more often than not, this energy is not carried through to the idea of how we can actually take care of ourselves. Beyond the simple, ‘talk to someone if you’re struggling’ and the basic ‘10 self-care practices you should be doing’, we’re not really told how we can make actual, tangible and impactful change in our own lives. And I feel like, for me at least, it’s due to this overwhelming feeling of powerlessness and the idea that we cannot control our circumstances to an extent where we are in a position to prioritise mental health.
At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I think that sometimes it is a privilege to be able to prioritise your mental health. Not everybody has the flexibility to choose when they want to take a break and when they want to ‘disconnect’, especially in the academic environment we live in. Let’s face it - for some of us, our school environment is one that breeds competition and also actively degrades those who are not able to step up to the plate. At the end of the day, if you are within some specific social groups, if you’re not getting good grades while doing five hundred extracurriculars and instead decide to just ‘take a break’ people will look down on you. Not just students, but teachers and parents too.
At this point within the IB, it becomes more and more difficult to unplug, because as tests and IAs begin to pile up, one cannot simply stop what they are doing to take a break. For me at least, I know that if I stop to take a break, the work is just going to continue to pile up to a point where I feel even more overwhelmed. I can stop, but the world around me will keep moving, whether I want it to or not.
Perhaps, this may just be me projecting, but all too often I have heard the passive-aggressive remarks from other students about kids whose grades have suddenly fallen when they are in depressive periods. The whole, “Oh, I thought he was smart?” spiel I’ve heard at least twenty times in the period after internals. Of course, nobody comes right out and says it, but it’s all too clear in the kind of language they use. It’s almost like a microaggression in a way. We live in a community that feeds into this idea of ‘Learned Helplessness’ which essentially traps us in a mindset that leaves us feeling impotent.
Learned helplessness, was a term coined by psychologist Martin Seligman. The basic premise refers to a state of perceived powerlessness or lack of control that arises from a history of uncontrollable negative events. When individuals repeatedly face situations where they believe their actions have no effect on the outcome, they may develop a cognitive and emotional pattern of helplessness. This belief that their efforts are futile can contribute to feelings of hopelessness and depression.
An example of this in our context would be the week after grade 11 internal exams. I swear, I saw more people crying in the week after internals than I have the entirety of high school. And that’s saying something. After receiving poor grades on one test, despite putting hours into studying, you may start to believe that your effort does not really amount to anything. So, why bother trying? You start to believe that no matter what you do, you can’t change the outcome.
This learned helplessness can manifest as feelings of hopelessness, lack of motivation, and a diminished sense of self-efficacy. When you are put into an echo chamber where you are told by most people in your life that these exams will be the determining factor for your future, and you don’t do well in them, obviously it’s going to take a toll on you. It’s often exacerbated by the fact that sometimes, within the same week (or even the same lesson) when you get your grades back, your teacher is already talking about the next assignment, the next test, the next IA; which just adds salt to the wound. But I feel that even if you do well, on these exams, it simply doesn’t feel like enough. Okay, so I put a lot of hard work into these exams, I feel burned out and I don’t know if I can physically sustain myself any longer, but you want me to write a paper that will be worth 20% of my grade that is due in two weeks? I think the never-ending carousel of things to do also adds to this learned helplessness because if you feel that you are not in control of anything in your life, you will continue to feed into this cycle of self-pity.
You may be thinking - “you’re being dramatic” and “If it’s really that bad, just don’t prioritise school so much” and you may be right to some extent. But as I mentioned earlier, being flexible is often a privilege that many of us don’t have. Having to conform to increasingly high expectations, becomes a dangerous game when you’re so high up; because you have an incredibly long distance to fall when you fail.
To sum it up, learned helplessness is caused by a repetitive cycle of feeling like you lack control in your life. It may not be within studies or the academic sphere, but no matter the cause, the consequences can be severe. Learned helplessness is often heavily linked with issues such as anxiety and depression, something which is already incredibly prominent. In order to mitigate its effects, real structural change is needed, particularly in the way that we view mental health. It seems as if people are always praised for accepting help from other people, but not usually for taking steps to help themselves. That being said, the main way to mitigate these effects in the short run is by being supportive and actively working to break the echo chamber that exists. Being compassionate goes a longer way than people give it credit for. Empathy and active help are needed, both from adults and students within the community and this could be as simple as being more aware of the way that you talk and communicate with others.
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