 If you're impotent, you're in trouble. No, I'm not talking about that kind of impotence, but a special kind. You may have heard of the psychological term learned helplessness, which means that it's a learned pattern of thinking and behavior. This perceived lack of power, psychological impotence, makes people do strange things. It makes us all feel powerless out of control, weak. It's not a nice feeling, and to address it, people would go to great lengths. Some people become bullies, yeah, bullies. Control freaks, angry, micromanagers, resentful, and yet some others become sad, anxious, or depressed. It depends on the person. It depends on the decision. That's why I'm fond of pointing out to people that there are two common elements to a mental health problem, hopelessness and helplessness. These two are strongly linked. Hopelessness means that you feel like you can't do anything, and hopelessness means to feel like nothing you do will ever make a difference anyway. They're both derivatives of a perceived lack of personal power, but they're both illusions, not real. People are powerful beyond belief, but they've learned to behave in a helpless way, a powerless way, an impotent way. And as a result, have lost all hope of being able to make a real difference. That's a sad state of affairs. The exciting news here is that if you change these patterns, you will increase your power and your hope. You will tap into it. All quality ingredients for good mental health.