While the learned helplessness effect has been reliably found in dogs and other species (e.g., cats, mice, fish, and humans), it has been somewhat difficult to obtain in rats. In addition, it has been demonstrated that electroconvulsive shock (ECS) reverses learned helplessness in dogs, but ECS induced reversal has not been demonstrated in the rat. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was twofold: (1) to determine if the learned helplessness effect could be reliably demonstrated in rats; and (2) if so, will a single ECS attenuate this phenomenon. If it could be shown that ECS attenuates helplessness, then two purposes would be served: (a) it would extend the generality of learned helplessness theory by indicating additional parallels between dog helplessness and rat helplessness; and (b) it would expand the parallels between learned helplessness and human depression, thereby increasing the validity of the learned helplessness model of depression. In Experiment 1, rats were randomly assigned to one of three groups: escape, yoked-inescapable, and no shock control. Each rat in the escape group received 80 trials of unsignaled escapable shock. The escape group rats were required to perform a progressive fixed-ratio bar press to escape shock. The yoked-inescapable group received exactly the same intensity, frequency, and duration of shock its escape partner received; but no response would escape shock. The no-shock control group received only pre-exposure to the training apparatus. The following day all rats were tested on a FR-2 shuttlebox escape/avoidance task. After test, half the rats in each group were given a single ECS and then were retested 24 hours later in the shuttlebox. The learned helplessness effect was clearly demonstrated during the test phase. In addition, a single ECS attenuated the learned helplessness effect in rats. In Experiment 2 rats were given training exactly as described in Experiment 1. Following training, one-third of the rats in the escape and yoked-inescapable groups were given a single ECS immediately, one-third were given a single ECS 23.5 hours later, and one-third received no treatment. In the no-shock control group one-third of the rats were given a single ECS 24 hours prior to test, one-third of the rats were given ECS 30 minutes prior to test, and one-third of the rats were not given ECS. Then, all rats were tested 24 hours following training. The test session was identical to the test session in Experiment 1. The learned helplessness effect was clearly demonstrated during test in the NO-ECS condition. In addition, it was demonstrated that ECS attenuates or reverses learned helplessness training when given immediately following training. Delayed ECS also reverses helplessness, but less dramatically than immediate ECS. In both experiments the criteria which characterize learned helplessness were matched: (1) Failure to initiate the escape response in the presence of shock; (2) failure to maintain escape behavior even after occasional escape response occur; and (3) that conditions 1 and 2 above are a result of inescapability and not a result of shock per se. In addition, since ECS attenuates helplessness, the generality of helplessness theory was extended to rats, and the validity of learned helplessness model of depression was strengthened. / Doctor of Philosophy

This study investigated the possible differential effects of a series of soluble discrimination problems on internal versus external locus of control subjects. It was hypothesized that externals exposed to a series of discrimination problems would perform better on a test task than external controls, while internals exposed to the same problems would not perform better on the test task relative to their controls. As anticipated, the internals were not affected by the discrimination problems. However, contrary to expectations, the externals were not facilitated by exposure to the soluble problems. Since many external subjects failed to solve all of the soluble problems, a facilitative effect may depend upon the problems being solved.

The response deficit following exposure to inescapable shock has been termed "learned helplessness." This experiment was designed (a) to determine whether learned helplessness following an inescapable footshock induction procedure extends to 48 hours, and (b) to test the hypothesis that electroconvulsive shock (ECS) reverses learned helplessness in rats. Subjects were tested for helplessness in a bar-press shock-escape task. Results indicated that helplessness was not present 48 hours after exposure to inescapable shock. A slight indication of helplessness was observed in the first 10 trials of the 60-trial task. In addition, ECS was shown to enhance performance in the test task; however, this facilitation effect was seen only in control animals that were not previously exposed to inescapable footshock.

To determine the relationship among learned helplessness, locus of control, and academic achievement, data from 86 sixth graders were gathered and intercorrelated. Contingency of teacher-administered rewards and punishments as perceived by school children, and helpless behavior of students as judged by their teachers were measured. The Children's Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale was used to measure locus of control orientation. A positive relationship between academic achievement and locus of control was found. The contingency of reward scale was found to be predictive of academic achievement and helpless behavior. Virtually no significant relationships were found between any of the other variables and the contingency of punishment scale. Helpless behavior was found to be predictive of low academic success and an external locus of control.

In this study the psychological phenomenon of learned helplessness is investigated to determine its significance as a characteristic of members of progressive co-operatives within the South African context . Most of the members of these co-operatives are black South Africans. It is argued that because of the country's racial policy, many of the members have become accustomed to a passive response to events in their lives and this gives rise to their failure to utilise the freedom and opportunities of the co-operative structure. The researcher hypothesises that this passive response could be explained in terms of a high level of learned helplessness among co-operative members. Two hypotheses are investigated in this study: Hypothesis 1: Passive co-operative members will have higher levels of learned helplessness than active members. Hypothesis 2:The level of learned helplessness decreases as the length of co-operative members involvement increases. Data collection for this study was carried out by combining a personal interview and a standardised questionnaire (the Attributional Style Questionnaire). To distinguish between the passive and active members, a Participation Index was constructed. The ASQ was translated into Xhosa, adapted for the sample and two translators were employed to conduct the interviews in Xhosa . The sample consisted of 50 black South Africans, many with limited education and was drawn from six co-operatives in the Eastern Cape. No significant differences were found between the active and passive groups in terms of their levels of learned helplessness. Furthermore, the length of involvement in the co-operative had no effect on the level of learned helplessness. No support was found therefore for Hypothesis l and 2 . A significant difference, however, was found between active and passive members and the number of months of involvement. This suggests that the length of involvement has an effect on how active members will be in the co-operative . The results of this study indicate that generally the sample does not suffer from learned helplessness . It is argued that Hypothesis 2 is not supported due to confounding variables. The study raises many doubts as to the reliability of the ASQ and the Participation Index used in the study.

The impact of a short-term training program upon learned helplessness among nursing home staff and residents was studied. Learned helplessness among staff was defined in terms of depression, self-monitoring, short-term memory, absenteeism, and turnover. Among residents, urinary incontinence was the selected measure of helplessness.

To investigate the impact of helplessness-induction on cognitive performance in the aged, 66 community-residing elderly persons (X=72.5 years) were administered a word association task, disguised as a test of onterpersonal empathy, under a) response independent (RI), b) response dependent (RD) reinforcement, o c) control conditions. The subjects were categorized as either depressed or non-depressed. Three (treatments) by two (levels of depression) by two measurements (pre- vs. post-treatment) ANOVA's were performed on scores from both short term memory and intelligence measures. These suggested that the more depressed elderly demonstrated greater helplessness-induced short term memory deficits, and to a lesser extent, fluid intellectual deficits.

The thesis deals with the effects of professional failure and helplessness experienced by nurses working in palliative care. The objectives of this thesis were to find out whether nurses often suffer from the negative feelings, to examine the influence of the job on their personal lives, to identify the most common problems related to their jobs and to find out if they regret choosing this type of job. To achieve these objectives, the following questions were asked: What is the influence of palliative care environment on nurses' lives and personalities? What factors influence nurses' professional performance? Why did they choose this type of job? What are the most stressful situations they experience? Does the workload make them feel helpless? What helps the nurses cope with stressful situations? We used qualitative research methods and conducted half structured interviews with fifteen research participants; eight of them work in non-hospice palliative care and seven participants work in hospices. The research results showed that palliative care has an influence on nurses' personal lives to a large extent; however, not only in negative ways. The research participants find their jobs mentally demanding and hard to separate from personal lives but they do not regret choosing the job. The participants responded that they often feel helpless but not hopeless. The feeling of failure is rather rare and occurs only under specific conditions. The most common and serious problems the participants encounter were characterized as conflicts at work, work stress, patient´s worsening state of health or patient's death, communication with family of a patient who passed away, big responsibility, misunderstandings with patients or their families, taking care of confused or aggressive patients and of patients with persisting pain, death of a young patient, patient's inability to find reconciliation with their condition or patient's unawareness of their state of health. This thesis also outlines a close relationship between high demands of palliative care and burnout syndrome and could be used for further research on this topic. Simultaneously, the data received from the research participants provides an analysis of palliative care nurses' feelings and work satisfaction and will be communicated to the management of given facilities. The findings of this work could be also presented at a conference in the future.

[pt] A metapsicologia consiste no núcleo fundamental da teoria psicanalítica. De acordo com a metapsicologia freudiana, a pulsão só se manifesta no psiquismo na forma de representantes psíquicos, que são de duas naturezas distintas: representações e (quotas de) afeto. A presente pesquisa pretende investigar o desenvolvimento da teoria dos representantes psíquicos da pulsão, privilegiando a abordagem do ponto de vista econômico da metapsicologia freudiana, principalmente no que diz respeito à primeira divisão tópica do aparelho psíquico. Também é apresentada a contribuição de Green para a teoria dos afetos, bem como a concepção de Laplanche acerca do recalque originário e do processo de tradução psíquica. Em seguida, partimos para uma investigação da angústia na obra freudiana, destacando o desenvolvimento do quadro psicopatológico de neurose de angústia. Por último, é feita uma abordagem do pânico, aproximando o quadro psicopatológico contemporâneo de transtorno de pânico do quadro psicopatológico freudiano de neurose de angústia, mostrando que também é possível desenvolver outras explicações de caráter metapsicológico para o pânico, sem abrir mão de categorias utilizadas pelo próprio Freud (a exemplo da noção de desamparo), mas que não foram suficientemente desenvolvidas e associadas a uma teoria mais ampla acerca do pânico. Assim, a presente pesquisa visa contribuir para o estudo das psicopatologias ditas contemporâneas, em especial para o conhecimento da psicodinâmica do transtorno de pânico. Por outro lado, este trabalho também pretende oferecer uma revisão sistemática de alguns dos conceitos fundamentais da metapsicologia freudiana, acrescentando ao corpo teórico da metapsicologia desenvolvimentos realizados por teóricos pósfreudianos. / [en] Metapsychology consists of the basic nucleus of the psychoanalytical theory. According to the Freudian metapsychology, drive is only manifested, in psyche, as psychical representatives, which have two distinct natures: presentations and (quotas of) affect. The present research intends to investigate the development of the theory of the psychical representatives of the drive, being privileged the boarding of the economic point of view of Freudian metapsychology, mainly the first topical division of the psychic apparatus. Also the contribution of Green for the theory of affects is presented, as well as the conception of Laplanche concerning the primal repression and the process of psychic translation. After that, we make an inquiry of the anxiety in Freudian works, detaching the development of the psychopathological set of anxiety neurosis. Finally, a boarding of panic is made, approaching the contemporary psychopathological set of panic disease of the Freudian psychopathological set of anxiety neurosis, showing that it is also possible to develop other explanations, of a metapsychological character, for panic, without abandoning the categories used by Freud himself (for example, the notion of helplessness), but that have not been enough developed and associated to an ampler theory concerning panic. Thus, the present research aims at to contribute for the study of the, said, contemporaries psychophatologies, in special for the knowledge of the psychodynamics of panic disease. On the other hand, this work also intends to offer a systematic revision of some of the basic concepts of Freudian metapsychology, adding to the theoretical body of metapsychology, developments added by post-Freudian theoreticians.

O estresse sido relacionado às causas de diferentes transtornos psiquiátricos, como os transtornos de humor. Dentre os modelos utilizados no estudo da neurobiologia da depressão e que empregam a exposição a agentes estressores, o desamparo aprendido tem sido bastante empregado. Nesse sentido, a adaptação ao estresse parece envolver um fortalecimento da neurotransmissão serotoninérgica do Hipocampo Dorsal (HD) ou do Núcleo Mediano da Rafe (NMnR), estruturas essas anatômica e funcionalmente vinculadas. O HD recebe projeções serotoninérgicas oriundas do NMnR, onde também estão localizados receptores de glutamato de tipo NMDA (NMDAr), os quais controlam a liberação de serotonina no HD e também no próprio NMnR. Entretanto, ainda não se sabe qual o papel dos NMDA na adaptação ao estresse. Assim, o objetivo desse trabalho é investigar se as ativações dos NMDAr do NMnR são capazes de prevenir ou atenuar os efeitos da exposição a choques elétricos inescapáveis. Para tanto, foram utilizados ratos Wistar com cânula guia direcionada ao NMnR e submetidos ao desamparo aprendido. Os animais foram divididos de acordo com o tratamento farmacológico (injeções intracerebrais - i.c.) com salina, AP7 e/ou NMDA, combinadas de forma compor os seguintes grupos: salina + salina, AP7 + salina, salina + NMDA e AP7 + NMDA. O tratamento intracerebral foi realizado imediatamente antes (inj + CI CE; Estudo 1) ou depois (CI + inj CE; Estudo 2) da exposição a choques inescapáveis nas patas (CI). Após 24h os animais foram submetidos a choques escapáveis sinalizados (CEs) por uma luz. O grupo controle do estudo (inj CE; Estudo 3) recebeu os diferentes tratamentos i.c. e foi testado 24h depois. As respostas de esquiva, fuga, falha bem como as latências de respostas e cruzamentos foram registradas e agrupadas em blocos de cinco respostas consecutivas (BT). Os dados dos animais que tiveram sítio de injeção confirmado, após análise histológica, foram analisados estatisticamente utilizando-se MANOVA de medidas repetidas com post hoc de Bonferroni. Foi considerado como significativo o valor de p<0,05. O tratamento antes da pré-exposição com AP7 + NMDA aumentou o número de esquivas, diminuindo a latência para essas respostas. Quando o tratamento com AP7 e/ou NMDA foi realizado imediatamente após a pré-exposição, não foram observadas diferenças em relação ao grupo controle (salina + salina). Não foram observadas diferenças entre os grupos na condição controle. Os dados mostram que o bloqueio da neurotransmissão mediada por NMDA no NMnR previne os efeitos da exposição prévia a um estressor, sugerindo que a ativação destes receptores é importante para a aquisição das memórias relacionadas ao episódio estressante. / Exposure to stressful situations has been related to different psychiatric diseases, such as mood disorders. Learned helplessness has been widely used to investigate the neurobiology of depression among the animal models that involve exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli, learned. In this sense, it seems adaptation to the stressful conditions involves an increase in serotoninergic neurotransmission within the dorsal Hippocampus (dH) or Median Raphe Nucleus (MnRN), which are interrelated. The dH receives serotoninergic projections from the MnRN which, in turn, also has NMDA-type glutamate receptors (NMDAr). These NMDAr regulate serotonin release in the dH and also within the MnRN itself. However, the role of MnRN NMDAr it is not known in the development of tolerance to stress. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate if MnRN NMDAr activation can prevent and/or attenuate the behavioural effects of exposure to inescapable electric footshocks. Male wistar rats with guided cannulas aimed to the MnRN were submitted to the learned helplessness model. Animals were divided into groups according to the pharmacological treatment (intracerebral injections) they received of Saline, AP7 (NMDAr antagonist) and/or NMDA (NMDAr agonist) as follows: saline + saline, AP7 + saline, saline + NMDA or AP7 + NMDA. Intracerebral treatment was performed immediately before (inj + Ifs SEFs) or after (Ifs + inj SEFs) exposure to inescapable footshocks (IFs). Twenty-four hours later rats were tested and received light-signalized escapable footshocks (SEFs). In an additional control condition, rats received the intracerebral treatment 24 h before test, but were not pre-exposed to IFs (inj SEFs). Avoidance, fight, failure and latency to these responses were registered and presented in blocks of five consecutive trials. Data of animals with confirmed brain site injections were analyzed by repeated measures MANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test. Significance was considered for p<0,05. Pre-exposure treatment with AP7 + NMDA increased number of avoidance responses, decreasing latency to response. When treated with AP7 and/or NMDA immediately after exposure to IFs, no differences were observed when compared to control rats. Also, no differences between groups were detected in control condition, when rats were treated 24 h before test with SEFs. Our data shows that blockade of NMDAr prevents development of behavioral consequences of stress, suggesting that activation of these receptors are important for the acquisition of stressful memories.