Is desperate a trait

Answer 1

Desperate describes an emotional state of being, which is typically temporary, but some people have circumstances involving either their health (physical, mental, or both) or their life circumstances (such as being under intense persecution by others as in totalitarian countries), which can cause their desperation to become chronic, almost qualifying as a trait. There is a mental illness called Borderline Personality Disorder which causes its sufferers to feel desperate much of the time, making their desperation a trait unless treated effectively through therapy.

To be desperate is to be in an intense, powerful state of need and distress, tinged with encroaching despair, that arises from the certain knowledge that an absolute requirement for one's sanity, well-being, or even life, is highly unlikelyto be met. A desperate person may take aggressive or self-endangering actions driven by this state. People in this state tend to be wild-eyed, disheveled, and unable to calm down or think/talk rationally.

Depending upon the cause of a desperate person's state, he/she may need counseling. But, if one is desperate for a definite physical thing, for example, if a person who has Type I Diabetes is all out of Insulin, or if one is lost in the woods at nightfall and is rapidly developing hypothermia, then the person must find a way to satisfy that need as soon as possible, particularly if the end result of not doing so is likely to be death! All other concerns must be placed on hold.

The instinct for desperation (which itself is a trait of human beings) has helped the human race to avoid becoming extinct, by driving humans to focus intently upon the satisfaction of a dire need to the exclusion of all other, distracting things, during a true life-or-death emergency.