Understanding Languishing

Languishing is characterized by feeling disconnected from a community, not making a significant contribution to the world, disliking parts of one's personality, lacking warm relationships, not being challenged to improve, lacking confidence to express opinions, feeling a lack of meaning or direction in life, and overall dissatisfaction. To be diagnosed as languishing, one needs to have an absence of at least seven out of 14 signs of flourishing, with one sign being a deficit in happiness. The remaining deficits focus on functioning well, such as lacking purpose, a sense of belonging, feeling one matters, appreciating one's personality, understanding the world, and more. Languishing can be seen as a state where individuals lack the elements that give life meaning or purpose, leading them to feel empty or devoid of vitality. Prolonged languishing poses risks for various issues, including depression.