I never thought of it that way or had hopelessness described for me. Fear of repeated disappointments is exactly what it is!! And boy am I struggling with that right now! I just lost my job for the first time ever (i'm 50ish) and I understand I can only get unemployment six months so that in itself is scary. I'm worried about finding a comparable good job on top of all the daily stuff that I can't seem to be able to handle. :-( Thanks for the definition.....I'm going to think on that one....