Hopelessness: understanding it
Hopelessness is a heavy feeling, not a fact about your future. It can lift, and you don’t have to wait alone.
By the numbers
How common feeling hopeless is, and how many people get help.
Young people (U.S.)
Getting help
World
What hopelessness is
A feeling that things won’t get better, and that trying won’t help.
Hopelessness is the sense that the future will be bad and that nothing you do can change it. Researchers describe it as a negative way of seeing your prospects for the future. It is a feeling and a way of thinking, not a personal failing.
Most people feel hopeless at some point: after a loss, a long stretch of stress, or a run of setbacks. It often fades as life shifts. It needs more care when it hangs on for weeks or starts to shape every choice you make.
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Hopelessness looks forward. It says “this will never change” or “there’s no point trying”. That forward-looking quality is what makes it feel so heavy: it seems to close off tomorrow, not just today.
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Some people feel hopeless and keep going to work or school as usual. The sign may be small: no longer making plans, letting go of hobbies, or saying “what’s the point?” more often.
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The VA notes that feelings such as hopelessness and loneliness can change a lot in just a few hours. They are strong, but they are not fixed.
With depression, NIMH notes that people usually feel better gradually once they start treatment.
How it can show up
In your thoughts, your body, and what you do each day.
Hopelessness doesn’t look the same in everyone. It can show up in thoughts, in the body, and in small changes to daily life. These are common human experiences, not a test to score yourself on.
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Hopeless thoughts often use words like always, never and nothing. The American Academy of Pediatrics lists statements such as “Nothing matters” and “I don’t care anymore” as ones worth taking seriously in teens.
Common patterns
- Blaming yourself for everything that went wrong
- Expecting the worst outcome every time
- Noticing only what went wrong
- Seeing things as all good or all bad
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Long-lasting low mood can change sleep, eating and energy. Big changes in sleep, appetite or time with others are signs worth noticing, especially if they last for weeks.
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- Dropping hobbies or things you used to enjoy
- No longer making plans
- Seeing friends less
- Struggling more than usual with schoolwork, chores or tasks
Where it comes from
Pain, loss and long stress can wear hope down.
Hopelessness usually grows out of emotional pain. That pain can come from shame, guilt, loneliness, feeling like a burden, defeat, anger or emptiness. When pain feels like it will never get better, it is hard to imagine anything different.
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Money worries, caregiving, illness, unsafe housing or a job you can’t leave can feel like a weight with no end. Research on stress shows that long stretches without any sense of control can leave people feeling stuck and passive.
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Losses and setbacks can bring defeat and unhappiness, which are common sources of emotional pain. They can also take away the future you pictured. For more, see Grief: understanding loss.
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Feeling cut off from others is a major source of emotional pain. Connection works the other way too: researchers see it as a buffer against hopelessness and pain.
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NIMH lists feelings of hopelessness or pessimism among the signs of depression. If hopelessness comes with low mood, loss of interest and tiredness for two weeks or more, it is worth talking with a doctor or mental health professional.
Depression is common and treatable. For more, see Depression: understanding it.
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In a 2021 survey of young people in ten countries, 75% said they think the future is frightening. Feeling worried about the world is common and understandable. See Feeling hopeless about the future for ways to cope.
Why the mind gets stuck
Under long stress, giving up is the brain’s default. Control is learned.
Decades of research on “learned helplessness” were updated in 2016. The researchers concluded that becoming passive after long, uncontrollable stress is the brain’s default reaction. What we learn is that we have some control, and that learning can protect us later.
This is hopeful news. It suggests that feeling stuck is a natural response, not a weakness. It also suggests that small, real experiences of control can teach the brain that effort can matter again.
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When pain feels unbearable and like it will never get better, it becomes hard to see any way forward. Feelings like hopelessness can shift a lot within hours, so the view can open again.
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In the research, earlier experiences of having control helped protect against the effects of later stress. In daily life, that might mean choosing one small task you can finish, and noticing that you did it.
A feeling, not a forecast
Hopelessness tells a convincing story. You can check it.
Hopeless thoughts can feel like plain facts. Often they follow common patterns: expecting the worst, focusing only on the bad, thinking in all-or-nothing terms, or blaming yourself for everything.
Catch it, check it, change it
- Catch it: notice the thought, for example “Nothing will ever get better”
- Check it: what is the evidence for and against it? Is there another way to see this?
- Change it: try a more balanced thought, like “Right now it feels like nothing will change, but things have changed before”
- If the thought won’t shift, that’s OK. Not every thought can be changed in the moment
Hopelessness, sadness and depression
How they overlap, and when hopelessness is a warning sign.
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Sadness usually has a clear cause and eases with time and comfort. You can feel sad and still believe things will get better.
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Depression can include hopelessness, along with low mood, loss of interest, tiredness, and changes in sleep and appetite, lasting most of the day for two weeks or more. Most people with depression benefit from treatment.
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NIMH lists feeling empty, hopeless, trapped, or having no reason to live as a warning sign of suicide. Research also links hopelessness with suicidal thoughts. This is why hopelessness deserves care and attention.
Why hope can come back
Hope can be rebuilt, often one small piece at a time.
Hope is not something you either have or don’t. Programs that teach hope skills, like setting goals and planning ways to reach them, have led to small but real gains in hopefulness and life satisfaction.
In recovery, SAMHSA describes hope as the starting point: the belief that a better future is possible. Hope can grow inside a person, and it can also be nurtured by peers, family, friends and helpers.
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Other people can believe things will get better for you before you can. Peers who have been through hard times can be especially powerful reminders that change is possible.
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NIMH notes that with time and treatment, depression can lift. Talk therapy is one option. Talk with your clinical provider about what is right for you.
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NIMH suggests trying things you used to enjoy, even if you don’t feel like it, because they can improve mood. Do what you can as you can.
How community helps
Connection is one of the strongest buffers against hopelessness.
Feeling connected to others protects against despair. Suicide prevention experts describe connectedness as a buffer against hopelessness and emotional pain. Even one caring person can make a difference.
Ways community can help
- A faith group, club or team where you feel you belong
- A friend or family member you can be honest with
- A peer support group with people who understand
- Helping someone else, which can ease the weight of stress
- Regular check-ins, even short texts
When and where to get help
Signs it’s time to reach out, and who to contact.
Reach out for support if
- Hopelessness lasts for weeks or keeps coming back
- It is getting in the way of school, work, sleep or relationships
- You are pulling away from people and things you used to enjoy
- You have thoughts of not wanting to be alive
A good first step is a doctor, school counselor, or mental health professional. Tell them how long you have felt this way and how it affects your days.
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Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, to talk with a trained counselor at any time. It is for anyone in emotional distress, and for people worried about someone else. For Spanish, press 2 or text AYUDA.
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If talking feels too hard, text HOME to 741741 to reach a trained crisis counselor. It is free and confidential.
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Veterans, service members and their families can dial 988 and press 1, text 838255, or chat online. You don’t need to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care.
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The Trevor Project offers free, confidential crisis support for LGBTQ+ young people, 24/7, by phone, text or chat.
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Find A Helpline lists free, confidential helplines by phone, text or chat in many countries. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number.
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Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2026). Unmet Need for Mental Health Services Among High School Students Experiencing Persistent Feelings of Sadness or Hopelessness — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2025 (MMWR Supplement 75(1))
- The Lancet Planetary Health (peer-reviewed) (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey (Hickman et al., The Lancet Planetary Health 5(12): e863–e873)
- UNICEF and Gallup (2021). The Changing Childhood Project: Global outlook
- Peer-reviewed research, via PubMed Central (NIH) (2017). Hopelessness predicts suicide ideation but not attempts: a 10-year longitudinal study (Qiu, Klonsky & Klein, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 47(6))
- Peer-reviewed research, via PubMed Central (NIH) (2016). Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience (Maier & Seligman, Psychological Review 123(4))
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Depression
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Warning Signs of Suicide
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (2019). Help Is Available for Your Emotional Pain and Distress: Together We Can
- American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org) (2024). Suicide Prevention: 12 Things Parents Can Do
- NHS (Every Mind Matters). Reframing unhelpful thoughts
- Peer-reviewed research (Springer, open access) (2011). A meta-analysis of hope enhancement strategies in clinical and community settings (Weis & Speridakos, Psychology of Well-Being 1:5)
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2012). SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery: 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (#BeThe1To). #BeThe1To: The 5 Action Steps and the evidence behind them
- Peer-reviewed research, via PubMed Central (NIH) (2016). Prosocial Behavior Mitigates the Negative Effects of Stress in Everyday Life (Raposa, Laws & Ansell, Clinical Psychological Science 4(4): 691–698)
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. What to Expect
- Crisis Text Line. Crisis Text Line
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Crisis Text Line (Disaster Behavioral Health Information Series)
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Crisis Line
- The Trevor Project. Get Help
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Suicide Prevention Resources
- Find A Helpline (ThroughLine). Find A Helpline
- American Association of Suicidology (AAS) (2021). Find a Helpline Tool Expands to the United States in Partnership with the American Association of Suicidology
This guide is for education and self-care. It is not a diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. Please talk to a counselor or clinical provider about your health. Reviewed October 2026.
