#Existential Despair

Despair as the Refusal of Selfhood

In The Sickness Unto Death (1849), Kierkegaard describes the self as a “relation that relates itself to itself,” suggesting that personhood is not a static trait but an ongoing task. You become a self through the way you integrate your possibilities, limitations, values, and commitments into a coherent life. Consequently, despair arises when that relation is mismanaged—when you cannot bear to be what you are, or refuse the responsibility of becoming. This moves the quote from motivational slogan to existential claim: the most common despair is not dramatic collapse, but a persistent misrelation—a life lived at a distance from one’s own reality. [...]

The Power of Suffering: Camus on the Soul’s Limits

Building on this philosophical lineage, contemporary psychology provides empirical backing to Camus’s claim. Conditions such as depression and severe psychological trauma are often linked to somatic symptoms and, in tragic cases, suicidal behavior. According to the World Health Organization, the profound burden of mental illness can directly endanger physical health, showing how psychological distress reverberates throughout the entire person. [...]