Coping with helplessness best done alone

HAIFA, Israel, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel have found that if one is going to experience a period of helplessness, it's best to do it alone.

In his doctoral dissertation, Dr. Qutaiba Agbaria, under the supervision of Dr. Richard Shuster, examined the differences in learned helplessness among rats exposed to uncontrollable conditions -- alone and in pairs.

Rats exposed to a situation in which they are powerless -- electric shocks that they can't possibly avoid -- or "learned helplessness" had a more difficult time learning how to avoid them in the future than rats that were never exposed to situations of helplessness.

The study also found rats exposed to uncontrollable conditions in pairs coped less well when they were no longer in uncontrollable situations than rats that were exposed to these situations alone.

The researchers also found that a rat that had never been exposed to an uncontrollable situation such as the electric shocks showed greater adaptability than pairs that had been exposed.