"Patients have the right to say no." Discuss this statement in relation to the adoption of the role of learned helplessness in some individuals experiencing illness.

The objective of this essay is to discuss the relationship between a patient's rights to refuse certain treatments, or investigations, and how this non-compliance relates to the concept of learned helplessness in individuals, particularly in a hospital setting. The concept of learned helplessness was first suggested by M. Seligman an animal psychologist, in 1975. During a series of experiments involving rats and dogs, he discovered that the animals which had some control over their environment (in …showed first 75 words of 2198 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2198 total…al. (1993) Nursing practice & health care, 2nd edition, Edward Arnold, London. Nichols, K. A. (1984) Psychological Care in Physical Illness, Croom Helm, Sydney. Pitts, M & Phillips, K (1991) The Psychology of Health: an introduction , Routledge, London. Reich, W (1975) The Mass Psychology of Fascism , Penguin, Harmondsworth. Translation of Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus Skevington, S. M. (1995) Psychology of pain, John Wiley, Chichester. Weinman, J (1995) "Health Psychology", in Colman, A. M. (editor), Controversies In Psychology, Longman, London [Pages 76-92]