OMG
Knowing the Difference.
Basically, devotion and desperation ARE related. How related are they? Simple: they are practically siblings! They have a distinguished fine line that is easily mistaken by commonplace observations; they contain a large "grey area" because of their close similarity. Devotion is usually associated with the concept of mutualism, while desperation is associated with an unbalanced scale.
Generalities are Dangerous.
Of course, everything has categories, subcategories for the categories, and subcategories for the subcategories! Everything is linked like one grand dichotomous key that is written by the standards of society's point-of-view: so basically those in power can author, re-author, and revise the old keys. Bias--or at least individual bias--can come in handy, but is just as dangerous as the blind bias of the public.
Where is the Grey Area?
The "grey area" or blurred lines of devotion and desperation are hard to explain, but if we were to go by just basic standards it would be this: depending on the strength of the emotion, the obsession level, and the motives for the emotion, the grey area is endless.
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The Risks They Hold.
Devotion and Desperation each have their own "risk factors" as well as standards of description. Devotion's would be: overprotective, instinctive/primal, dominance battles, abusiveness, and opportunity of obsession. Desperation's would be: addiction, weirdness, misunderstandings, restraining orders, obsession, and unrelated justification.
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Linking Questions
Not exactly questions more than they are observations between the two. I am, though, going to try to clear up this rather messy relationship between these two and dismantle the confusion.