sickness unto death

noun2

1. •
   Personal despair over the disquieting circumstances of human existence.

   • Kafka's illnesses are more existential than physical; they are like Kierkegaard's "sickness unto death." — 1990
2. •
   Despair, profound discontent, or a similar persistent debilitating malaise of the mind, spirit, or soul that produces a decline in mental, physical, or societal health and that may culminate in death or dissolution.

   • These films . . . are evidence of a deep cultural malaise. The need to make them and the desire to consume them are symptoms of a contemporary sickness unto death. — 1993