When experience with uncontrollable events gives rise to the expectation that events in the future will also elude control, disruptions in motivation, emotion, and learning may ensue. "Learned helplessness" refers to the problems that arise in the wake of uncontrollability. First described in the 1960s among laboratory animals, learned helplessness has since been applied to a variety of human problems entailing inappropriate passivity and demoralization. While learned helplessness is best known as an explanation of depression, studies with both people and animals have mapped out the cognitive and biological aspects. The present volume, written by some of the most widely recognized leaders in the field, summarizes and integrates the theory, research, and application of learned helplessness. Each line of work is evaluated critically in terms of what is and is not known, and future directions are sketched. More generally, psychiatrists and psychologists in various specialties will be interested in the book's argument that a theory emphasizing personal control is of particular interest in the here and now, as individuality and control are such salient cultural topics.

Summarizing 25 years of research, the author integrates virtually the entire published literature on the phenomenon of learned helplessness, as well as some unpublished data, into a single coherent theoretical framework. Dr. Mikulincer accounts for the complex nature of the phenomenon by focusing on cognitive, motivational, and emotional processes, and then details a new coping perspective to deal with uncontrollable events. His groundbreaking work will become an essential reference for all future work in the field.

Understanding and Overcoming Learned Helplessness is intended for anyone who suffers from obsessive compulsive learned helplessness and desires to understand and be free of this troubling condition. Likewise, this book can be helpful for any social worker, mental health counselor, psychologist, physician, or clergy who desires to help clients who suffer from obsessive compulsive learned helplessness or who desires to educate themselves about this condition or enrich themselves by working the Twelve Steps of Recovery.

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In Psychopathology: A Social Neuropsychological Perspective, Lee and Irwin demonstrate that mental distress often defies traditional forms of medical classification. Integrating both psychosocial and neuropsychological frameworks, they present a unique and balanced perspective on psychopathology, emphasising the importance of context, relationships and neuroplasticity. Written to support teaching and learning at the undergraduate level, Psychopathology: A Social Neuropsychological Perspective encourages students to explore alternatives to traditional diagnostic models. Pedagogical features such as reflection points in each chapter encourage critical engagement and classroom debate. The result is an original examination of mental distress and a stand-alone resource for students in this area.

Embracing all aspects of personality study, Advanced Personality addresses major established theories and vital current research topics in the field, from the perspectives of both clinical and scholarly settings. This impressive text-reference features chapters that cover, among other topics-psychobiological theories of personality- conscious and unconscious functioning-and personality disorders from a trait perspective. Written for entry-level graduate and upper-level undergraduate students, the book includes an introductory chapter with a chronological table listing all major figures in the history of the field, and tables that summarize key aspects of various theories.