People who suffer from depression will often feel helpless and out of control.

This type of helplessness is triggered by depression and is ultimately fed by the lack of control they feel toward their life and everyday situations.

However, there are two types of people when it comes to control; those who like to have control and those who are indifferent. Helplessness during depressive episodes typically affects both types of people in very different ways.

People less concerned with having control- They will believe that they are unable to take control of every day situations, feeling overwhelmed and lost. This person will then stop functioning as normal and become unable to enjoy activities and socialising.

People who feel they need control – These people will try to control things they can’t, in turn this will cause them to assume responsibility for things out of their control. Carrying all this guilt and responsibility will often lead to frustration, anger and anxiety.

Helplessness is not always due to a lack of external control over a situation, sometimes people feel helplessness over a lack of internal control over their own thoughts and feelings.

Common thought patterns lead to both external and internal helplessness, unfortunately unless you are able to break these patterns your situation is not going to change. We all know there are many solutions to each problem we face, sadly depression rarely lets you see them.

Help from a councillor or psychiatrist has been proven most beneficial to those suffering with the feeling of helplessness. The route taken is one of understanding and reprogramming your thought process.

A therapist will increase the responses given to you by your thought processes, so this will enable you to find solutions to your problems and gain control. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and seeing no way out, you will be able to stay calm and take control of the situation without feeling trapped and helpless.

It is so easy to forget that the seed of helplessness is bred into us from an early age, because this is something we learn in life it is something we can change with professional help.