Activating Your Brain’s Hope Circuit: From Helplessness to Empowerment

One of the most empowering things you can do for yourself is to become more hopeful. To many people, this can sound trite. It can sound a lot like the idea that you should just have faith that things will work out, regardless of the reality of your situation. That makes sense because many people use the word “hope” as a synonym for “wish”. We say things like “I hope it all works out for you!” or “I hope that candidate doesn’t win the election.” In other words, we use “hope” to express our preferences for the future, without any reference to our role in bringing those preferred outcomes to fruition. But hope, as an emotion, is much more than mere wishful thinking or faith. Hope is the state of mind where we express not only what kind of future we want, but also the belief that we are capable of achieving that future. It is fundamentally about growing into a better life. In recent years, the psychology of hope has been scientifically studied, along with its many benefits for health and wellbeing. But even more recently, the neuroscience of hope has begun to emerge. In this episode, we will explore the psychology and neuroscience of hope, starting in an unlikely place: the science of learned helplessness and depression.