It is the flower for discouragement and despondency when things go wrong. At the moment they improve, this kind of discouragement tends to disappear on its own, however the flower can be used to eliminate this defeatism more quickly so that the person can recover and feel capable of overcoming it successfully, instead of just wishing for things to go better.

The state of Gentian is often confused with that of Gorse, but in fact they can be easily differentiated. People in the Gorse state have given up and refuse to be encouraged, and even when convinced they try to reluctantly ensure that it is not even worth trying again. People in the Gentian state are discouraged but will try again as soon as things improve.