ABSTRACT
Theories of trauma can be merged with the concept of learned helplessness, a situation where people passively fail to avoid or escape hurtful situations. This chapter introduces post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a specific example of cultural stress and trauma. It discusses cultural trauma and its possible impacts upon people undergoing change. The chapter also discusses the ways to understand learned helplessness and how it can control people subjected to profound change. Self-efficacy is envisioned as an alternative to learned helplessness. The chapter describes overcoming of learned helplessness using self-efficacy to cope with change. The fact that events and trends are transforming the culture and/or people’s relationship to it, however, does not necessarily make the actual “experience” traumatic (as they are perceived by people). Cultural trauma and PTSD are akin to learned helplessness in which people come to believe that nothing they do will make any difference, leading to fatalism and apathy.
