Synonyms
Definition
Derived from the Latin term spes, meaning hope, despair may be defined as “the complete loss or absence of hope” (Hawkins and Allen 1991, p. 392). In turn, despair has been associated with hopelessness in that despair may be defined as an unbounding sense of hopelessness. Within the philosophical existential-phenomenological literature, a different definition arises, with despair emerging within the concept of the self.
Introduction
Despair as a specific focus has been relatively neglected in the psychological literature. In fact, it is generally located as an illness and a “psychopathological” phenomenon, one emerging within the category of depression, linked to hopelessness and inextricably linked to suicide (Abramson et al. 2000). This is also evident where, for example, the Beck Hopelessness Scale is employed as an assessment of the client’s despair, mostly used in the context of suicide as it is seen to tap into associated aspects.
Burgy (2008, p....
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References
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Loewenthal, D., Gee, J. (2017). Despair. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_502-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_502-1
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