OLGA ROGACHEVSKIKH

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Learned helplessness or how to deprive people of their ability to make decisions.

As Russian the annexation war against Ukraine has been going on for more than a year, many people wonder why Putin remains in power. Today, we will discuss the phenomenon of learned helplessness, how it is formed within an entire country, and how it is regularly reproduced.
But first, let's define the term. Learned helplessness refers to the passive behavior of a person of any age due to repeated situations where they have no control over events that happen in their life. Subsequently, scientists interpreted the results through the function of control over the current situation, or over one's entire life. However, this does not change the confirmed fact that a person deprived of the results of their own actions is deeply traumatized, leading to depressive states and even death. Despite the complexity of the meaning, we will consider everyday matters and turn to understandable European values.
The key European value is freedom. A person has the right to be themselves in all aspects of their life and express themselves in legal ways while not infringing the freedom of others. Here's how it looks.  A child freely runs on a safe playground, their opinions are listened to and considered. They trust relatives and their friends, and professionals such as nannies, teachers, and doctors. They are taught to respect others and prioritize safety from an early age. Later, they can discuss their ideas in school and become a political force in the country. But all of this happens in Europe. What has been happening in Russia for over 30 years? Let's take this timeframe as an example. If we exclude major cities and look at the rest of the country, you won't find any safe playgrounds for children. When they are not in school, where the educational system crushes them daily, they will play with random objects unsupervised. School grades, starting from the second year of education, do not reflect the child's knowledge but rather serve as a fake representation of the teacher's work. Most children who finished school in 2000 will not demonstrate a solid understanding of almost any subjects, including their native language. When a child goes to school, their opinion is invalidated there. An active child who wants to acquire knowledge and learn something new will "learn" by the end of the first year that they need to "complete" their daily homework and move on to the next lesson. The volume of homework is so overwhelming that children can't cope with it, they don't understand the purpose of doing it, and their brains become overloaded and freeze. On top of that, children learn and internalize that it is unacceptable to argue with teachers, that teachers may favor certain students, and that teachers can insult or bully a student in front of the whole class. I remind you, readers, that this is what happens in the first year of an eleven-year school, and unfortunately, it deeply traumatizes many generations of children. We are talking about a span of 30 years. School has truly been and continues to be a daily ordeal for many children in Russia, and the situation has worsened significantly due to direct war propaganda. I assure you that an aggressive state uses schools as a powerful tool to influence the new generations of children in Russia. But let's return to the learned helplessness. When a child is denied a voice and supportive conditions every day, when their efforts can be instantly destroyed, and when they cannot trust anyone, that's when the lack of control over their life emerges. At the age of seven, just like at seventeen, a child is dependent on the evaluation of school staff who are not interested in their freedom of speech, or their sense of freedom. No matter how well a teenager debates about literature, if the teacher doesn't like it, they can lower the grade without any consequences. Similarly, it is incredibly difficult for younger students to overcome the stereotype of being a "mediocre student" imposed on them by a teacher for their own reasons.

A big problem in Russia is that parents blindly trust the education system and have no control over the process. On the contrary, they, like teachers, employ repressive measures and do not stand up for their children. As a result, children experience a double and profound deformation in their understanding of freedom. They begin to internalize that there is no freedom, no support, and that they must do as they are told. The most crucial aspect is that such trauma becomes the norm for generations within a state, as it is convenient to control people who trust those who deprive them of their freedom. In school citizens are pressured by teachers with a "gatekeeper syndrome," and then by employers or the government. The main message of the system is "Stay silent." The parent knows better, the teacher knows better, the employer knows better, the state knows better. You, as an individual, don't know anything about yourself and can't make decisions. Never. You can’t make any decisions. And this is seriously instilled in various ways from birth. How long do you think a child can withstand such pressure? Indeed, it is impossible to endure. Children are constantly under stress and in a state of trauma. They resign themselves and take a passive position. Moreover, they begin to "learn" non-involvement in any political activity in the country because it makes no sense to them; they believe they cannot influence anything and have no idea how to influence politics in the country. Yes, you won't find any civil society tools in any educational program of Russian schools in 30 years. No one knows how to become a politician, why it is necessary, and how to influence the authorities. That information doesn't exist. It has been erased. An 18-year-old after finishing school does not possess it. People are unaware of their rights and possibilities; they do not know how to use them. The phenomenon of Alexei Navalny lies precisely in the fact that he was able to teach people to be politicians through his own example, and now we see how his educational work as a lawyer has led to an increased interest in politics among the 30+ generation. Now, in Europe, young Russian politicians are known, but unfortunately, as political prisoners. These important psychological aspects bring about the criticality of the situation. When children, above all, are in an oppressed state for more than a decade, it becomes easy to shape them into apolitical adults who will return their own children to the same system with full trust. Thus, multiplying collective trauma and producing generations of unfree individuals.
Now I will provide you with examples that confirm the enduring and formed quality of "learned helplessness":
- Most people in Russia do not travel. Over half of them do not leave the places where they live. Less than 10% have passports to travel outside the country. However, this number has increased slightly due to mobilization.
- Most citizens are not represented in political forces and do not belong to political parties.
- Trade unions of most enterprises are either absent or puppet-like, serving only a formal purpose. They do not protect people's rights.
- All rallies against the current government have not been numerous. After they were brutally dispersed, people stopped taking to the streets.
All of this tells us that people in Russia do not feel in control of their own lives. They are intimidated and deeply traumatized from early childhood. They do not know how or in what way they can defend their rights in a now repressively authoritarian state. They do not trust themselves; they are fearful and lack the strength and resources to bring about any change.

People in Russia need help, but they also pose a danger to the world. Knowing these pitfalls, the developed global community, particularly Europe, can prepare and assist people in understanding, accepting, and realizing the true value of freedom and reclaiming control over the shattered and crushed psyche of the Russian people.

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