Abstract
The author refers to Seligman's conception of learned helplessness. Seligman assumed a similarity between learned helplessness and psychogenic depression (as regards causes and symptoms). Depression may result from the individual's belief about his/her lack of control over life events, or from his/her stable habits of pessimistic explanation of events (causal attribution of failures). However, depressive people perceive their influence on the reality more accurately than do non-depressives. Losses more and more frequent with years increase the probability of experiencing depression among older people. The social environment affects not only the course of depression, but also efficacy of its treatment.