Learned helplessness is a concept familiar to every psychologist. In short, this is when a person learns that he is not able to change the situation and “gives up.” Seligman discovered in 1967 this mental phenomenon, when a person does not feel the connection between efforts and results, and we all remember the experiment with dogs and electric shock (dogs were shocked through the floor, they were convinced that it was impossible to avoid the shocks. Then they were transferred to another room where there was a safe part of the floor, but they did not try to find it - this is learned helplessness). Often we can suspect learned helplessness in a person, however, there is another interesting phenomenon - active passivity. Its essence is that a person, firstly, has a passive attitude towards solving problems, feeling helpless (and this combines active passivity with learned helplessness), but at the same time he actively demands that others solve their problems. It is the tendency to seek help from others distinguishes active passivity from learned helplessness. In both cases, a person feels helpless, but with AP he still has a chance to cope with the situation thanks to the help of others. Where does AP come from? If a person has experience of failures that befall him even when making the maximum effort, and those around him do not understand and do not accept the fact that he really may not be able to cope with a specific complexity, and also do not help him teach him to actively propose difficulties, - the person effective active coping strategies do not emerge. When a client exhibits active passivity, but the psychologist does not fully understand what exactly is happening, he can disable him (not recognize real difficulties), and can also encourage passivity if he himself considers the client unable to cope with difficulties on his own. Also persistent attempts by the client , especially when it comes to BPD, demanding that a psychologist solve his problem can provoke many unpleasant emotions in the psychologist, both irritation and a feeling of helplessness, the psychologist can push away or blame the client (usually this is disguised as an intervention), and this, naturally, only aggravates the difficulty. What should a person do to cope with his active passivity? How can a psychologist help such a client? On the one hand, recognize the lack of problem-solving skills. On the other hand, to believe that a person is able to learn them and then effectively solve their difficulties on their own. This can be difficult and may require additional supervision from the psychologist..