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Looking at these resources:

I'm still unable to find how widespread learned helplessness is in society. Do you know where I should take a look?

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    $\begingroup$ How common learned helplessness is in society depends on the context (ie in education, in different types of relationships, etc). Fundamentally however, it is extremely prevalent so much so as being applicable to every human at least once. People very commonly do not take risks, conform, or do not live up to their maximum potential (which is extremely untapped) due to incorrectly determining what is or is not possible. [Apologies if this is broad and a bit philosophical. Again, it depends on the context.] $\endgroup$
    – Holiday_Chemistry
    Commented Apr 26, 2020 at 0:07

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The problem with measuring learned helplessness is that while we know it exists and is related to dorsal raphe nucleus 5-HT neurons in the brain, we have no official designation of it as a mental disorder and official study to measure it. However, there is a correlation between depression and learned helplessness, so we might be able to use depression statistics in order to measure the amount of learned helplessness in society. 7.6% of people 12 years and older experience depression in the United States in any two week period and 9.4% of American patients visiting the hospital in 2017 experienced depression. Globally, over 264 million people suffer from depression and thus, they are more likely to suffer from learned helplessness.

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  • $\begingroup$ is there any specific number for the correlation between depression and learned helplessness? Say 8 in 10 or something $\endgroup$
    – Ooker
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 7:41

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