Depression, Helplessness, and Aging II

Death from helplessness has been widely observed in animals and people. In one study, wild rats forced to swim until exhaustion lasted for 60 hours before they drowned. Rats that were first held firmly in the investigator’ hand until they stopped struggling, and were then put in the water, swam frantically for about 30 minutes, […]

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Depression, Helplessness, and Aging I

The drive to resist compulsion is more important to wild animals than sex, food, or water. He [J. L. Kavanau] found that captive white-footed mice spent inordinate time and energy just resisting experimental manipulation. If the experimenters turned the lights up, the mouse spent his time setting them down. If the experimenters turned the lights […]

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