On the hermeneutics of depressive despair

Despair refers to a psychopathological phenomenon which is difficult to grasp. Its formal structure (Formalanzeige) has previously been described in a publication. The formal structure serves in the following as the basis for a hermeneutic examination of depression. Depressive despair is a development which originates from an antagonism within the biographically evolved personality. This antagonism increasingly tears apart aspects of reality and aspects of desire, begins to oscillate in the form of dichotomies and, in the worst case, leads to hopelessness and suicide. In favourable cases, this process can result in a renewal of one's own individual values. The paper closes with a discussion of the corresponding therapeutic implications.