Link Between Learned Helplessness to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression in Battered Woman

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Link Between Learned Helplessness to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression in Battered Woman

Summary:

Bargai,Ben-Shakhar, and Shalev (2007) designed a study to test the hypothesis that learned helplessness (LH) intervenes the relationship between violence severity and mental disorders in battered women, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression (MDD). They also hypothesis that the severity of LH, PTSD, and MDD is positively correlated with the severity of violence. Lastly, it was hypothesized that here is a significant correlation between LH and the invested background factors such as child abuse, socioeconomic and male-dominated backgrounds. The sample consisted of 102 battered woman from eight out of 11 Israel's shelters. All but one completed the 18-month course of this study.

This study was conducted as correlational study in order to determines the relationship between the variables being measured. The independent variables of this study are the battered women. All these women were involved in a heterosexual relationship were they experience some form of violence. 90% of these women experienced severe violence in the form of physical and/or sexual. There are four dependent variables: violence exposure, the symptoms of PTSD and MDD, LH and background variables that can attribute to the behavior. These variables were evaluated through self-report questionnaires and clinical interviews.

The procedures ran as following: the participants must sign an informed consent after they were given a complete briefing on the purpose of this study. Once signed the participants were given 200 NIS, which is equivalent to $45. At the shelter, each participant was taken individually, and a trained b...

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...attered woman. They conducted this study on 101 women of eight out of 11 Israeli shelters. The utilized clinical interviews and self-reports questionnaire to measure LH, and the severity of violence and PTSD and MDD symptoms. They also looked into different aspect of the person’s upbringings. The hypothesis was confirmed. The results show that LH is positively correlated to male-dominated backgrounds. Furthermore, LH is considered to increase risk of mental disorder.

Reference

Bargai, N., Ben-Shakhar, G., & Shalev, A. Y. (2007). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression in Battered Women: The Mediating Role of Learned Helplessness. Journal of Family Violence, 22(5), 267-275. doi: 10.1007/s10896-007-9078-y

Smith, R. A., & Davis, S. F. (2013). The psychologist as detective: An introduction to conducting research in psychology. Boston: Prentice Hall.

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