Chapter 2

Discussion

1.)How each character exhibit despair in Dangan ronpa?

2.)How can despair relate to Dangan ronpa?

Definition of despair

   
Despair is defined as desperation or lose of hope it is caused by sadness,depression,major loss, boredom, anxiety, conflict, and etc. In Science the meaning of despair is a psychological disorder, the person who acquires it, will experience over-depression,lack of motivation,confident,low self -esteem causing them to commit suicide or crimes. despair was described as miseries and hopelessness that brings the feeling of anguish,gloom and lose of hope. (http://www.peaceandhealing.com/psychology/despair)/

Despair is related to depression which some have speculated evolved as a means of encouraging wounded and sick animals to take care of themselves. A sick animal or depressed person will tend to seek out a quiet hiding place were they can lie still for days on end licking their wounds. Depression can also run in families and be caused by head injuries. In such cases it is thought to discourage people from engaging in dangerous activities. Lao Tzu wrote that "belief is a colorful hope or fear" and certainly our beliefs can contribute to any despair we might experience. Depressed people often obsess over certain thoughts, and this obsession can sometimes lead to people re-evaluating their beliefs.

However according to Viktor Frankl an existential psychiatrist, "whose concentration camp experience during World War II made him somewhat of an expert on the subject", despair is meaningless suffering in the simplistic but powerful formula Despair is equals to suffering minus meaning (D=S-M) it means that the cause of despair is the loss of hope and the suffering caused by many things like major loss,failures,conflicts,trauma, calamities, etc. (http://pangeaprogress.blogspot.com/2011/03/psychology-today-despair psychotherapy.html%22)

In this chapter the researcher will elaborate the connection between despair and the anime to further understand. The researcher will attempt to see/analyze the signs, pattern or connection that the anime exhibits about despair


A.Factors that connects despair and the anime Dangan ronpa

There are 2 factors that connects anime Dangan ronpa and despair, basically the first factor is the theme of the anime, second is the signs/pattern of despair that exhibited in the anime. In the anime it shows the caused of despair like major loss, lack of confident and etc. it exhibit by the characters and also the effect usually the effect of despair that was exhibit in the anime is killing and suicidal which is common but the main purpose of this paper is to identify the signs and relate it to the past research and prove it if it is correct or not. Hence this paper will give information about the anime and despair.

B. Exhibit the causes and effects

-Causes

In this anime it exhibit 2 kinds of cause of despair psychological, and physical that exhibit by every each character. In the anime each character exhibit the causes of despair.

I. Psychological

In the anime Dangan ronpa Monokuma the principal gave CDs to the students that contains horrible dead picture and videos of their love ones for them to lose hope also Monokuma attempts to blackmail the students to remove their motivation . Monokuma revealed every secretes of the characters in the anime for them to suffer from despair to lose confidence, faith, and self-esteem. It only shows that despair is caused by conflicts, major loss, and problems as my past research stated earlier.

II. Physical

In this part only one character exhibit physical. It happens when the main protagonist Naegi will be executed because he was blamed for killing Mukuro one of the character but he doesn't. the time he will be executed by a smashing wall he was already suffering pyhsically but he was saved by a virus called Alter Ego created by Fujisaki one of the character. Naegi fall from the deep underground where all the garbage were placed there. There is no food or water the only thing is there is garbage and nothing else he was trapped for 3 days suffering from hunger, thirst, and despair. It only shows that conflict can either be physical or psychological. It also shows that the basic needs can also be the cause of despair that the researcher haven't stated.

-Effects

In the anime it shows the effects of despair it also exhibit by the characters. In the anime it shows how they think, feel, and behave.

"Many health specialists claim that stress, depression, and emotional despair can have effects on physical health. In fact, emotions are basically connected to many aspects of physical health. Eating disorders and sleep disturbances brought by emotional despair may lead to low energy, chronic pain, and sexual dysfunction. In addition, ordinary physical symptoms like stomach ache, headache, and lower back pain may be traced to painful memories or experiences that caused a deep emotional, physical, and psychological strain." (http://dustinhines.articlealley.com/emotional-despair-and-its-effects-on-your-body-1407087.html)]

Those effects that the researcher found were exhibited in the anime. There is one scenario were the characters felt aches on their body after they saw the video that was given to them. In the anime they also lost their energy due to major loss. In the anime they also exhibit the common effect of despair, hallucination, schizophrenia, being paranoid, and etc they also shows how they think or behave which is one the effect. In the anime they shows different ways that the despaired people do to escape from despair, suicide and killing, hence at the end, support, time, and hope is the thing that they exhibit to either cure or avoid despair.

Chapter 1

Introduction

A. Background of the study

     Despair is define as totally lose of hope/hopelessness.Despair is described as miseries and hopelessness that brings the feeling of anguish, gloom. People who acquires this kind of mood will experience miseries or depression that makes them commit suicide or crimes. As The researcher gather some more information to elaborate this topic he found out that despair is a mood not feelings, the article that he read stated that despair is a state of low mood that affects person's behavior, emotion, or our mental psychology.

     Despair is caused by low self-esteem, lack of motivation or confident, conflicts, major loss, and etc. that causes to lose hope that makes people to be depressed, powerlessness and pessimism about life and the future. Anxiety is the also the cause of despair because due to lack of support, they feel alone/abandoned that cause depression /despair.For additional information boredom can also cause despair like anxiety person who have boredom can feel loneliness/abandoned. Due to lack of confident, motivation, self-esteem the chances are thinking the meaning of life negatively, they think their lives is useless meaningless that lead us to despair.
     
     The researcher give some samples of despair is conflicts, in the country, meaning war. This war is the example like what happen to the country Syria. Today Syria is in the state of despair due to civil war were hundreds of people died because of that conflict. Some of people who survived, are suffering in despair because of food shortage, major loss, and also the conflicts to their country. This kind pf mood affect their life because they think about the meaning their life to the future in a negative way. Most people think that they are useless, they think of the meaning of their life living in this world negatively that affects their behavior,emotion, and the way of their living. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17258397)

 
     Today many people who are suffering from despair become psycho some people commit suicide/crimes the main reason is their life is hopeless/ no meaning to live or It's the way to escape from despair. As the researcher said earlier despair is caused by major loss, conflicts and etc causing them to think negatively or to think that their life have no meaning anymore. For further explanation despair affects negatively in our psychology that causes to think bad that lead us to the wrong pathway. In the article that the researcher found, in the site of  written by ERIKA KRULL, MS, LMHP, it state about the psychology of people where they are in the state of despair, they said that despair is a mood which affects the people's way of thinking that affects their lives. Despair can affect our live by the way the person behave, since despair is a negative mood it also affect our psychology meaning it affects the way we think but negatively that lead us to do something wrong.(http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/author/erika/)

      Despair can cause people to become crazy depending to the stage where they in, but doesn't mean that a person ho have this kind of mood. The minor stage of despair can be cured but sadly the major stage of despair cannot be cured the only thing that make them alive is hope and nothing else. This major stage can cause people to become psycho or to hallucinate this is also make them to commit suicide due to major loss, conflicts. Anxiety is the also the cause of despair because due to lack of support, they feel alone/abandoned that cause depression /despair.

      The researcher learned from his research that despair can be much worst. Despair can cause anxiety that lead us to hallucinate or schizophrenia, is a perception in the absence of apparent stimulus which has qualities of real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space.This kind of disease can lead us in the wrong pathway or lead us to death..The researcher observe that since despair can affect our mood,emotion or behavior, he think that despair  can also cause heart problems or nervous breakdown, according to his reading this heart problems/nervous breakdown is caused by sadness or stress, since that despair can be also sadness or stress according to his past blogs he think it might cause it in somewhat way. The researcher also conclude that it is also the best way to prevent this kind of mood is therapies ,relaxation (spa,games, and etc), monthly mental check-up

     The researcher observed and found out that the anime "Dangan ronpa" gives links/ signs or patterns of despair. Dangan Ronpa represents the causes and effects of despair to  the characters of  the anime. This anime that the researcher observed he found out that there are several factors/things that are similar to despair. This anime shows psychological effect with regard to despair that are presented by the characters, it shows how they think, what will they do and what are they thinking while suffering from despair.

     This paper will try to link or connect despair with regard to the anime and the other things. This paper aims to link or connect anime to despair and also to give new information about despair.

       

B. Statement of the problem

This paper aims to answer this statement/question.

1.)How each character exhibit despair in Dangan ronpa?
2.)How can despair relate to Dangan ronpa?


C. Significance of the study

   People who are suffering from despair-  This research paper would be beneficial to those who are suffering. This paper will help them to cure their selves from despair
  
   Psychology students- This research paper would be also beneficial to those student who are taking psychology as a course because in the future they might encounter people who are suffering despair somehow this paper is useful to the future psychiatrist to help other people.

    Future researchers- To the future researcher this wold be beneficial since this paper full of facts and science about despair.

D. Scope and Delimitation

      This paper focuses on the definition, facts, and the relation of despair to the anime Dangan ronpa. This paper also included the remedies, causes and effects of despair. Thus this paper only focuses on despair and the things that are connected or related to despair. The researcher aims to emphasize the despair by the readers, his aim is to relate despair to the anime and to other things and also to convince people to be aware.

E. Materials and Methods

     This research paper is pattern/linking type of research it relates the topic to other things just to give and build new information. This paper gives pattern and links to connect despair to the other things. This research paper also giving a factual information comes from the different credible article that can be found on the internet. This paper attempts to give information to the readers about despair and also attempts to connect despair from the other article such as anime, events, facts, and etc.

      This research paper is an appropriate thing to study by people. All the information/articles were gathered to the sites that have a credible authors that can be found on the internet.

F. Definition of Term

Despair is the complete loss or absence of hope. 

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by problems with thought processes and by poor emotional responses.

Hallucination/Hallucinate is a perception in the absence of apparent stimulus which has qualities of real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space.

Hope is the state which promotes the desire of positive outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life or in the world at large. Despair is often regarded as the opposite of hope.

Conflicts a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.

Blogpost #7: Tragic events that involves despair!

     Events is a phenomenon or occurrence located at a single point in space-time, regarded as the fundamental observational entity in relativity theory. In this blog tragedy events that involves despair is what are we gonna talk about.Tragedy is an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe. In this blog events, tragedy and despair is going to talk about.

     The line that, once crossed, destroys any last remaining sense of hope. It could be for a cause, a person, a situation, or simple survival. A character has given up on it, and there is no going back (barring some miracle, which isn't that unlikely in fiction). It can lead soldiers to despair — or even suicide, if they don't simply lose the will to live. It can turn an Ideal Hero into an Anti-Hero or an outright villain, or even, in some cases, vice versa. It is a vital element of Tragedy. I read about an article about this written by Christian Hogsbjerg called "Madagascar Fights For Freedom" where he documented the malagasy rebellion against the colonial rule of french in their country which lasts for a year a group called 'Mouvement Democratique de la Renovation Malgache' (MDRM) a nationalist rebel group wants independence for their country where 8,000 - 10,000 where killed and 80,000 malagasy where escaped from their insurgent zone and those 80,000 persons who escaped are missing supposed to be dead by now in my own opinion and after several years later a historian named "Fremigacci" evaluates the number of deaths and he calculated over 15,000 found dead upon the uprising which leads to trauma to all malagasy citizen. Madagascar was in the state of despair there were seeking for hope thousands of people were died because of that tragic events, all of people are in despair fighting for hope, fighting for freedom of the coutry for the sake of their family who are suffering from despair.   

     "One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam"by Martin Luther King.  Vietnam War is my second tragic events I found the summary of this story from the site of www.history.com by History channel.So after involvement of cambodians in the vietnam war (there is a war going on until they come it became worst) the war at first the turning point was misunderstanding of south and northern vietnam due to communist reign in ho chi minh and the viet minh in the north both ideology counter part each other thats why they ended in war it get worst when Laos and Cambodia came along to the picture and then the United States came also U.S bombarded the parts of Vietnam and ended in huge casualties and famine. The country of Vietnam were in the state of despair due to war. Many people or families were killed. Some people are suffering from hunger due to food shortage and the only thing to stop the despair of the country is to stop the war.

                            -Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.-

                                                                       by John Kennedy-

In this blog we find out some tragic events. We learn how cruel is tragedy. We learn that Tragedy can took person into the state of despair but this quotes from John Kennedy can enlighten us to stop that horrible war or tragic events to avoid despair. 

Blogpost #6: Despair and Anxiety

     Despair and anxiety, is there a difference between them? well, in this blog you will know i f they are different from each other you will also learn what causes anxiety, symptoms, treatments ,and etc. Before you read the articles let's first define Anxiety.First of all what is anxiety? anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.

      In the site of "www.penway.org" I got some information in the article entitled Anxiety written by Wayne Wargo. He said that "anxiety is the feeling we experience when we are faced with a tense, and sometimes unknown, situation. It is a feeling of suspense, helplessness, or alternating hope and despair. Leaders who are inclined to be highly responsible and future-focused seem to be especially prone to the condition. Anxiety is particularly common in fast-paced urban environments where multiple pressures exist.". As the definition in Wikipedia it said that "anxiety is an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behavior, such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints and rumination."People who has anxiety are prone to panic attack that causes them to fail from the tasks that was given to them. In this article they said the common causes of anxiety are problems, intense work, making a speech in front of people, and etc. People describe anxiety as tense, apprehensive, wary, and agitated.They feel restlessness, uncertainty, and are fearful or have a sense of dread. People who have this kind of disorder are prone to confusion, stress, depression, and despair, Yes. anxiety can give a person depression and despair.

    In my second article I found some information about curing/remedies for anxiety "altmedicine.about.com" entitled "Natural Remedies for Anxiety" by Cathy Wong. In curing this kind of disorder one of the remedy is using passion flower (Passiflora incarnata) this is a common remedy for anxiety and even insomnia. Two studies including 198 people were examine the effectiveness of passion flower and it was approved by the researchers but using this kind of herb had side effects or hazard for other people. This herb may include this kind of side effects nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, and rapid heartbeat. This herb needs caution to the people who are pregnant or nursing women, children, or people with kidney or liver disease has not been established.

    People who are in the state of despair or anxiety needs body work massage therapy, exercise, shiatsu, sleep, and etc. They also need mind/body techniques like yoga, breathing exercise, body exercise, meditation, self-hypnosis, and etc. this therapies or remedy that I mention are reducing the stress that you felt in anxiety or despair. Gamma-aminobutyric Acid (GABA)is an amino acid that is known to play a role in the physiology of anxiety. Aromatherapy is one of the remedy to reduce stress it relaxes or minds.skin, and  also our body. there are other 2 herbs that used to cure anxiety valerian and kava.

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”

                                                                        -Amit Ray-

         In life you need to relax because you ma acquire anxiety or despair. Have a time to relax suite your self enjoy you day off, eat well, and most important sleep tight and have a good dream.

Blogpost #5: Hope vs. Despair

     Who will win, Hope or despair? Does hope defeats despair? or does despair defeats hope? well we will find out in this blog. First of all what is hope? It's a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen meaning hope is the source of motivation, confidence or what we called positive emotions. In this blog you will find out what causes people to loss hope or what does people do to regain hope and defeat despair.

     noomii.com is the first article that I read titled "Hope vs. Despair" posted by Wendy Costikyan I learned that despair quickly creeps in to our lives when we are facing circumstances beyond with our limits or control or terrible loss of any kind of things. They said that despair is a natural reaction. People who are in the state of despair is facing the major loss not only that but also from frustration, depression or situations that grow and become seemingly intractable. People living in the state of despair lose confidence they only see obstacle that are seems cannot be overcome that turns us to be discouraged, disheartened, pessimistic and resigned. Inaction is the term that describes despair  in the article that I read because people who are in the stare of despair see no way to overcome it ,whatever good situation is that it will not help people to rise them from despair because the is only one way to rise people from despair and that is "HOPE"- weird right? Hope to despair and despair to hope isn't ridiculous? well they say that to overcome it you just need to think positively,confidently.Hope will arise us because hope gives our spirit or our energy back to life it enables us to see possibilities, to move beyond our fear.

     "10 Tips to Find Meaning and Hope During Times of Despair" is the title of my second article in the site of shakeoffthegrind.com posted by Joe I found plenty enough of tips to expand this blog but this time we will talk about the tips how do we defeat despair. Having a clear life purpose is necessary to make sense of living because having purpose,understanding,clear goal, and etc. lead us to a successful life.We have to live freely without any doubts or regrets we just need to live honestly, choosing the right paths but in choosing decision in our lives we have to be responsible so that can live freely without hindrances in our lives. As I said earlier we have to be more responsible in choosing paths we need to know whether the path were you going is right or wrong. "As we go through life we encounter many risk-factors that steal our joy" so we have be sensitive by knowing right from wrong.
We gain knowledge about what leads to happiness that allow us to experience well-being and what limits our contentment and satisfaction. What it means is that you choices affects your life. Accepting your self is an important ting to do to defeat despair you must accept whats inside of you the use it to as a tool to make your self better try to improve, improve and improve so that you have no doubt to you self . self acceptance is needed by people to be able to move forward in life. Mistakes or loss that you've experience does hurt right? It make us down to despair but instead of  giving up why don't you use your mistakes or loss as a experience then use it as your strength sound ridiculous right? but it means to you the better experience the larger strength you gain like in RGP games right think that your in a game gain more experience to make your self stronger so that you are not easily be take down by your weaknesses. "learn from your mistake" is the fist quotes that comes in my mind when I read this on the internet I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. The last tips that I read is Appreciation self and to others you have to appreciate whats inside of  you strengths and weaknesses accepting other people who made you  horrible. If you accept you self you to accept people around you too.

 "The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life. It provides human beings with a sense of destination and the energy to get started.” 

-Norman Cousins-

     Acceptance,understanding, and appreciation is the thing we learn about this blog this that I mention are the keys to defeat despair. If we are in the state of despair always to remember that death is not always the answer for that scenario... hope! is always the answer for despair.

Blogpost #4: Clinical despair

     In this blog clinical despair is the topic that I chose. First and for most what is clinical despair? Clinical despair is deeply discouraged about the world and their ability to create the kind of life they desire. In this blog you will learn what causes clinical despair and what are the symptoms.

     
In the site of
"psychologytoday.com" I found a post titled "Clinical Despair" posted by Dr. Stephen Diamond. In this article despair become clinical despair "When despair doesn't dissipate but rather deepens, hunkers down, takes control and becomes chronic, diminishing quality of life, impairing functioning, and keeping us from moving toward our goals and dreams and desires".In this article they gestate clinical despair as profound and existential hopelessness,powerlessness about life and future that causes to loss the meaning of their life. People who suffer in clinical despair needs to consult to a psychiatrist to either prevent or to lessen the despair that felt of a patient(s) and to avoid suicidal.Psychologist Erik Erikson's eighth and final life stage known as "integrity versus despair." said that clinical despair can occur at any time in life, from infancy to adolecence to mid-life to old age.

     In the cite of "pangeaprogress.blogspot.com" titled "pangeaprogress" posted by pangeaprogress I found out that clinical despair results from the chronic repression of what Rollo May called daimonic which our ultimate source of vitality, will power and creativity. "When, for example, we habitually deny or repress our anger, sexuality, passion, spirituality, sadness, anxiety, creativity-and even our existential despair--we are cutting ourselves off from the daimonic and our true selves, and drifting toward clinical despair, apathy and depression."that lead us to violent behavior and self-destructive behavior but this can be avoided.

     What I learn from this blog is clinical despair is  dangerous because it can lead us to hate our self that leads to death but we can avoid this in what I learn you just need time, support and people who suffer from this need to consult to a psychiatrist to solve the problem by giving you a therapies and medication. Hope will be always there,family is your hope.

Blogpost #3: Existential Despair

      In this blog Existential despair its to be discuss. First and for-most, what is existential despair?is an existential crisis is a stage of development at which an individual questions the very foundations of his or her life. in this blog you will know the definition the of existential despair.

     While I was browsing I found a poem "Floating down the River of Despair" that pertains about existential despair in the site of "tc.umn.edu" written by James Park. I'm not gonna write all down the poem I'm just gonna explain and summarize it. In the poem the water represent despair,depression,problem, and etc. Floating material represent our protectors like money wealth,family that bring us happiness , so in the poem people who is in the water suffer from despair, people who is not in the water floating by with joy are not in the state of being despair,but in every joy or despair they have only one destination and that is death.

    "The Existential Crisis" comes from the site of "therapytestingva" posted by "Familyfist psychological services"written by Melissa hunt I found the meaning of existential despair.They define it as questioning you self whether if your life has value,purpose or meaning that result of being alone to suffer from despair. In this article said that this only occur when people graduated form college, marriage, major loss,death of love ones, psycho-active drugs, retirement, and etc. This that I mentioned causes anxiety and lead us to depression and death that similar to my first article that I read.  They said that existential despair is a good psychotherapy. It can be helpful to people who is in the state of processing to avoid or heal the feeling of despair. relating this topic to the poem, In this article being alone,state of depression, and etc are people who are suffering from the water of the river of despair. Try to Imagine that the people who is the water the only thing that keep them safe is the log, what if you remove the log from them what will happen? of course they will die. I represent this log or other floating material in the poem as the hope or the happiness that keep us alive no matter what happen even though we will die sooner. The 2 article just one to say is that Existential despair can lead us to death. My two article are saying that existential despair cannot be overcome, or resolve you not chance but to bear with it and to brace it this kind of scenario is permanent you cannot resolve this kind of despair however the only thing that can keeps you unbreakable is the hope that keeps fighting, Toughness, bravery,and support can only help you to endure this kind of feelings.

    We learn that Existential despair cannot be resolve. We learn that Existential is permanent however we learn how to endure it or to brace with it. No matter what happen permanent or not hope is always there for you fight, help, and to endure despair. I just wanted readers to know that there is always room for hope ,it just need time, support to find it or to be enlighten.