Knowra Existential crisis Existential crisis An existential crisis is a period of intense doubt about life’s meaning, identity, freedom, or purpose, often prompted by major change or awareness of mortality.
Existential anxiety : Distress arising from awareness of freedom, uncertainty, isolation, or mortality. The crisis often takes shape as anxiety about the conditions of human existence.
Existentialism : A philosophical tradition emphasizing existence, freedom, responsibility, and the search for meaning. Its central questions provide a vocabulary for understanding this kind of crisis.
Existential therapy : A form of psychotherapy that addresses meaning, freedom, responsibility, isolation, and mortality. Therapists use this approach to explore the concerns underlying existential distress.
Søren Kierkegaard : A Danish philosopher who examined anxiety, choice, faith, and the individual’s relation to existence. His account of anxiety connects personal choice with the unsettling openness of possibility.
Terror management theory : A psychological theory that explains how awareness of death influences beliefs and behavior. It examines how mortality awareness can destabilize or reinforce a person’s worldview.
Absurdism : The philosophical view that humans seek meaning in a world that offers no assured answer. The clash between longing for meaning and uncertainty often surfaces during existential doubt.
Logotherapy : A psychotherapy developed by Viktor Frankl that centers on the search for meaning. It offers a structured way to examine meaning when familiar purposes have collapsed.
Friedrich Nietzsche : A German philosopher who challenged inherited morality and examined nihilism and value creation. His response to the collapse of inherited values speaks directly to crises of meaning.
Cognitive dissonance : Mental discomfort caused by conflicting beliefs, values, or actions. A crisis can intensify when a person’s choices conflict with their self-understanding.
Free will : The capacity to choose among possible actions in ways attributable to an agent. Questions about whether choices are genuinely one’s own can unsettle a sense of direction.
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