Despair: quick facts
Despair is a profound feeling of hopelessness, the sense that a painful situation cannot improve and that effort would be futile. It is among the heaviest of the sadness-family emotions, draining energy and motivation…
Category
Complex & secondary emotions
Valence
Negative
Emotion family / blend
Sadness
Typical triggers
Hopeless situations, repeated failure, loss without recourse, dead ends
How it's expressed
Slumped posture, vacant gaze, low energy, flat voice, withdrawal
Sources: American Psychological Association — APA Dictionary: emotion; Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley — Emotions; Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions (Robert Plutchik) — overview; National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) — Depression. Educational information only — not medical or psychological advice. See our sources & fact-check policy.