Existential Dread: Living Through History in 2025
Addressing Existential Dread In Therapy
Questions involving our purpose as human beings, our capacities to make essential moves and create wanted change both for ourselves and for future generations are topics clients seem to be bringing more often to therapy. Prolonged or chronic doubt surrounding our confidence in the directions we’ve pursued in life, or in the world we inhabit, going unresolved may lead to feelings of powerlessness, a crisis of faith, or crisis of meaning.
More and more we can observe how very personal experiences of existential concern are intersecting with and being made complicated by the macrosystems we inhabit, the cultural and political climates we’re steeped in, the economic pressures we may experience, and our sense of agency or mobility in society.
Existential dread can involve feeling stuck, trapped, stressed, or lost, leaving us unable to find our bearings, or navigate through life fueled what matters to us, perhaps causing us to question what does matter anymore. How can we work through this internal experience while acknowledging very real barriers to change we may face, that we may have less control over, or any external forces impinging on our capacity to trust in a potential vision of the future?
When the Social and Political Meets the Personal
Ecological Systems Theory is one of many that encourages us to look at the individual, not as a siloed off entity, but as one in constant interaction with their environments, both closer to home and those more global in nature. In recognizing this we are challenged to hold the tension between what may and what may not be in our locus of control despite the possible antidote offered by placing fault wholly inside or outside of ourselves.
Putting the blame for our circumstances solely on ourselves may salvage some sense of power at the steep price of self-understanding, leaving us unable to view ourselves compassionately in the complex context of a whole. Putting the blame completely in others or on our external circumstances risks leaving us helpless over the long term and releases us from taking necessary accountability for the trajectories our lives do take moving forward.
Working Through an Existential Lens in Sessions
Exploring therapy sessions through an existential approach will offer a focus on meaning, investigating lack of meaning and making meaning, especially when our sense of internal and external security or identity feel as though they’re hanging in the balance. It can reorient us when we feel scattered, unmotivated, or resistant to making intentional, self-directed choices for our lives amidst realistic confines, valid disappointment, or profound uncertainty.
Experiencing Existential Dread, Overwhelm, or Feeling Anchorless?
Working with a therapist from an existential focus may support you in finding acceptance, direction, authenticity, creative perspectives, and an improved experience within community and relationships. Feel free to reach out to me for a 20-minute consultation to discuss how an existential framework for therapy may be applied to your unique situation.
FAQs About Existential Concerns
What Is Existential Dread?
Existential dread may present as a deep sense of anxiety or unease that arises from confronting fundamental questions about life or one’s role or place in the world. It may be fueled by personal struggles, societal pressures, unpredictability or ambiguity about the future.
What is Existential Therapy?
Existential therapy is a form of humanistic psychotherapy that confronts an individual’s struggle to find purpose or meaning in their lives by reflecting on themes of freedom and responsibility, emptiness and isolation, and establishing connectivity with self, values, others, and the world.
How Can Therapy Address Existential Concerns?
Therapy using an existential framework explores meaning making, agency, and identity in periods where clients may feel helpless, avoidant, or uncertain. It supports folks in making sense of their experiences while holding the real-world constraints and challenges they may face.