‘Demoralise’ is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary in two senses: “Cause (someone) to lose confidence or hope” or “Corrupt the morals of (someone)”. In the 1970’s the notion of a demoralisation syndrome began to gain currency in psychiatric literature. The psychiatric condition began to be explored during the 1970’s and diagnostic criteria for it were formulated.

Someone experiencing demoralisation syndrome is said to display symptoms of existential distress often manifested in feelings of pointlessness, meaningless and hopelessness. The individual will be overwhelmed by a sense of pessimism and will have no motivation to cope differently to how they are currently doing so. To have demoralisation syndrome, the symptoms just mentioned have to have persisted for over two weeks. The line between clinical depression and demoralisation syndrome is very thin, and both play a major role in the development of a person’s desire to die. Dr. Paul Keedwell of King’s College London argues that sometimes a dose of depression is good for an individual, explaining: “I have received e-mails from ex-sufferers saying in retrospect it probably did help them because they changed direction, a new career for example, and as a result they're more content day-to-day today”.