Despair or hopelessness is a pervasively felt inability to control life or alter destiny. In a brief review of the literature, Solomon connects hopelessness with depressive affect and helplessness, but the concept of hopelessness is little clarified beyond the definition. He offers the example of a woman with a traumatic history, including an erratic, hysterical mother and a depressed father. The case is elaborated under the headings of false self, emptiness, fear of neediness, self-envy, self-representation, transference, archaic superego, working alliance, and inner imprisonment. Although this elaboration is confusing in its concepts, it does show how the patient improved when her erotic fantasies connected to the despair were sufficiently analyzed. Solomon recommends a hopeful attitude in dealing with the countertransferential feelings; he implies the need for the therapist to resolve once more his own depressive affects and despair.