AC 7217 - spiritual distress

AC 7217
That distress of spirit denotes a state near to despair,
can be seen from the fact that those
who are in a state near to despair are in internal anxiety,
and are then actually in shortness of breath.
In the external sense
this condition is a compression of the breast,
and from this as it were a difficulty of breathing;
but in the internal sense
it is anxiety on account of
the deprivation of the truth which is of faith,
and of the good which is of charity,
and from this is a state near to despair.