existential crisis. What is an existential crisis, or why not everyone loves the weekend The existential horror of being

"Existential crisis" is a typical first world problem: a rational being, freed from the need to constantly solve the most pressing issues of survival, has enough time to think about the meaning of his own life, and often come to disappointing conclusions. But before diagnosing an existential crisis in yourself, it is worth learning more about the philosophy of existentialism and the existential psychology that has grown out of it.

Existentialism had a huge impact on the culture of the twentieth century, but, remarkably, it never existed in its pure form as a separate philosophical trend. Almost none of the philosophers that we now classify as existentialists have indicated their belonging to this trend - the only exception is the French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, who clearly showed his position in the report “Existentialism is humanism”. Nevertheless, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Albert Camus, José Ortega y Gasset, Roland Barthes, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger are ranked among the existentialists. In the intellectual search of these thinkers there was something in common - they all paid special attention to the uniqueness of human existence. The very name "existentialism" comes from the Latin word existentia - "existence". However, by "existence" existentialist philosophers mean not just existence as such, but the individual experience of this existence by a particular person.

A person wants to believe that his life is important, and at the same time, looking at his being as if from the outside, he suddenly realizes that human existence has neither a given purpose nor an objective meaning.

This concept was first introduced by the forerunner of the existentialists, the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, defining it as awareness of the inner being of a person in the world. A person can gain "existence" through conscious choice, moving from an "inauthentic", contemplative-sensual and externally oriented existence to comprehending oneself and one's own uniqueness.

But it is far from always possible for a person to realize himself as "existence" - he is too distracted by everyday worries, momentary pleasures and other external factors. According to one of the existentialists, Karl Jaspers, this knowledge comes to him in a special, "boundary" situation - such as a threat to his life, suffering, struggle, defenselessness before the will of chance, a deep sense of guilt. For example, Hamlet's existential quest - "to be or not to be?" - were provoked by the death of his father.

And if at such a critical moment a person begins to be tormented by questions about the meaning of his own existence, to which he cannot give a satisfactory answer, he has an existential crisis. A person wants to believe that his life has value, and at the same time, looking at his being as if from the outside, he suddenly realizes that human existence has neither a given purpose nor an objective meaning. Such a discovery can cause a deep depression or lead to radical changes in life.

How to approach this issue is a personal matter for everyone. But, as is the case with many people, they try to cope with an existential crisis in the simplest way - not through the search for their individual truth, but through the adoption of some ready-made concept, be it religion, tradition, or just a certain worldview system.

But since we call this crisis "existential", one of the possible solutions to the problem also lies in the field of existentialism. And this philosophy does not give ready-made answers, emphasizing that a person must first of all focus on himself and on his unique inner experience. In this regard, the famous phrase from The Terminator is somewhat consonant with the concept of existentialism - "there is no fate but the one that we create ourselves." And if we rephrase a little - there is no point, except for what we determine for ourselves. Thus, existentialism gives the life of each person to him in full possession, providing maximum freedom of action. But the flip side of this freedom is responsibility to yourself and the rest of the world. After all, if life has no “original” meaning, its value is manifested precisely in how a person fulfills himself, in the choices he makes and his actions. He himself must set himself individual tasks, relying largely on intuition and self-knowledge, and he himself will evaluate how well he managed to cope with them.

Frankl founded a new method of psychotherapy - logotherapy, focused on helping a person find the meaning of life. The psychologist believed that the three main ways to do this are creativity, the experience of life values and the conscious acceptance of a certain attitude to circumstances that we cannot change.

Searching for truth in oneself, without relying on an external “coordinate system” and realizing the whole absurdity of being, is a serious challenge that not everyone is ready for, and that is why existentialism is often called the “philosophy of despair”. And yet this approach allows in some way to look at life more creatively. This is helped by the existential direction in psychology, which helps a person to realize his life and take responsibility for it. The most interesting supporter of this direction is the Austrian psychotherapist, psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl, who was a prisoner of a fascist concentration camp for three years and yet managed to overcome the pangs of spiritual emptiness and a hopeless existence. In his works, he speaks of an “existential vacuum”, a kind of disease of the 20th century, an era of change and destruction, when people felt cut off from traditional values and losing their footing. Frankl founded a new method of psychotherapy - logotherapy, focused on helping a person find the meaning of life. The psychologist believed that the three main ways to do this are creativity, the experience of life values and the conscious acceptance of a certain attitude to circumstances that we cannot change.

Frankl also talks about a particular manifestation of an existential crisis - "Sunday neurosis". This is a depressed state and a feeling of emptiness that people often experience at the end of the work week - as soon as they stop occupying themselves with urgent matters, they begin to feel empty due to the lack of meaning in their lives. Perhaps it is this unfortunate phenomenon that largely supports the income of bars on Friday nights.

How to say

Incorrect "Petya has been dumped by his girlfriend and now he's having an existential crisis." That's right - "He's depressed."

That's right, "He came out of an existential crisis by hitting religion."

Correctly "Existential crisis - a disease of the era of change."

Reading time: 3 min

An existential crisis is an anxious state or a feeling of comprehensive psychological discomfort due to reflections on the essence of being. This concept is common in countries where basic needs are satisfied. The existential crisis of a person can originate in youth or maturity (at the time of evaluating the years lived), with the maturation of the individual. Such an experience can be quite painful, since there is no way to find the answers you need. There are several ways to deal with an existential crisis. Some individuals decide to stop asking these questions, because many different problems require participation and solution. Others seek a way out in the realization that only the present has meaning, therefore it is necessary to live it fully, so that later, not to regret the missed moments.

What is an existential crisis

The phenomenon under consideration is a typical problem of a rational being, freed from the need to solve topical issues related to survival. Such individuals have an excess of time, so they begin to think about the meaning of their own existence of life. More often, such reflections lead to bleak conclusions.

The irrationalist direction of modern philosophical doctrine, which raises the being of human subjects to the center of research and affirms the human instinct as the basic method of comprehending reality, is called existentialism. He had a tremendous influence on the development of the culture of the last century. At the same time, existentialism has never existed in pure variation as a separate direction of philosophy.

The human subject seeks to believe that existence has a meaning, but at the same time, looking at his own being, as if from the outside, he suddenly realizes that the existence of people is not characterized by either an objective meaning or a given purpose.

The existential crisis of a person can be falsely diagnosed, be a consequence or accompany the following phenomena:

- depressive disorder;

– long-term isolation;

- acute lack of sleep;

- dissatisfaction with one's own existence;

– feeling of loneliness and isolation in the world;

- an acquired understanding of one's own mortality, more often due to the diagnosis of an incurable disease;

- belief in the absence of the meaning of existence and the purpose of being;

- loss of understanding of the functioning of reality;

- the ultimate degree of experience, bliss or pain, causing the desire to find meaning;

- awareness of the complexity of the structure of the universe.

Existential problems of man

Guilt is an integral part of being human. The difference between adequate guilt and neurotic guilt lies in the causal factor. Neurotic guilt is based on imaginary misdeeds, allegedly directed against the social environment, parental orders, generally accepted social norms. Normal guilt is a call to conscience, in other words, it encourages individuals to attach great importance to the ethical aspects of their own behavior.

Existential guilt is considered a variation of guilt. There are three forms of it. The first is a consequence of the inability to live in accordance with one's own potential. For example, people feel guilty when they think they hurt themselves. The second one is based on the distortion of the reality of the comrades of the given individual. People may believe that they have harmed relatives or friends. The third is the "guilt of separation", the object of this variation of guilt is nature as a whole.

Existential fault is universal. It nests in self-consciousness and is not the result of non-fulfillment of parental "directives", but it follows from the view that the human subject can perceive himself as an individual who can make a choice and cannot. Hence, the concept under consideration is inextricably linked with personal responsibility. Existential guilt should not be a priori considered neurotic guilt, but it has the resource necessary for transformation into neurotic guilt. At the same time, if you correctly approach the considered variation of guilt, then it can benefit the human subject. It often contributes to the formation in individuals of the ability to reconcile with the world and sympathize with the surrounding subjects, as well as the development of a creative resource.

Existential guilt before one's own person is a payment that an individual pays for the non-embodiment of his own destiny, for the renunciation of his own feelings, the alienation of his own person from his thoughts and desires. Simply put, the concept being described can be expressed as follows: “If an individual admits that he can change a certain trait or habit now, he will be forced to admit that he could change it long ago. Therefore, he is to blame for wasted years, for his own losses and failures. Therefore, the older the individual, the greater his specific problem or general dissatisfaction with being, the deeper will be his fault of an existential nature in front of him.

How to overcome an existential crisis

The phenomenon under consideration arises when the concept of the meaning of existence and its purpose ceases to satisfy, ceases to direct, deprives one of inner peace. When an individual realizes the transience of his own being, he does not understand how to fill his own existence. It disturbs his mind, knocks the ground out from under his feet. However, one has only to set a certain insignificant goal and stock up on determination, as peace of mind returns again.

There are several ways to get out of an existential crisis, one of which is characterized by 4 steps.

The first is to get rid of gloomy thoughts, negative feelings. This is a kind of isolation from the negative.

The next step is fixation. It consists in the fight against alienation, by "binding" oneself to a stable system of value orientations and ideals (God, state, church, destiny, people).

The third step is distraction, which is to prevent your own thoughts from flowing into a negative direction. It is necessary to fill the being with new activities, hobbies, goals, projects that contribute to distraction. It is on new achievements that all energy should be concentrated.

The last step is to . Here you need to direct your own strength in a positive direction: you can play music, do drawing, read poetry - everything that contributes to personal self-expression.

Below are other ways to get out of an existential crisis. First of all, it is recommended to try to realize that the source of the problem is the individual himself. However, the point here is not in the reflections themselves, but in the culprit who gave birth to them. Thoughts arise as a result of the impact of the internal state, the surrounding society and the response to the experience gained.

You should also perceive the environment exclusively as it is. By questioning everything, a person learns to recognize lies and separate them from the truth. The phenomenon under consideration is a fairly common problem. It sometimes seems to almost every human subject that he is bogged down in a game created and controlled by someone from the outside, who does not wish the human race well. When a person feels a crisis, he begins to see that other subjects have achieved heights due to the ability to deceive him, to inspire fear, to completely ignore him. In order to get rid of such thoughts, it is recommended to study the history of civilization, it is necessary to understand how the change of generations takes place on Earth, which has existed for eternity. After that, it is necessary to form your own understanding of the direction of the movement of the world.

Human existence seems to be quite measured and organized, so there is at least a minimum of meaning in it. In order to avoid an existential crisis, one should stop comparing one's own personality with the social environment and individual individuals. This will significantly increase the ability to enjoy life.

Speaker of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"

If you think that the most unfortunate artist in the world was, say, Vincent van Gogh, then you do not know anything about the biography of Edvard Munch. Van Gogh at least had a normal childhood. And Munch was a boy who did not even hope to live to adulthood. True, he still died a deep old man, wealthy and revered. But even this did not bring him even a shadow of happiness.

Edvard Munch was the son of Christian Munch, an army doctor who met and married Laura-Katerina Bjolstad while his regiment was stationed in the small Norwegian town of Löthen in the 1860s. The oldest children were born there: Sophie in 1862 and Edward in 1863. A year later, the family moved to Christiania (now Oslo), where three more children were born - Andreas, Laura and Inger.

Edvard Munch (standing right) with his mother, sisters and brother

Laura-Katerina probably contracted tuberculosis before her marriage, and Munch remembered for the rest of his life how she coughed up blood into a handkerchief. She died in 1868 in front of Sophie and Edward. Christian was distinguished by religiosity even to death, and now he began to remind children every day about the proximity of death and eternal damnation. So little Munch was sure that from day to day he would die and end up in hell. In addition, he was distinguished by poor health: at first he was haunted by constant bronchitis, and from the age of 13 he began to cough up blood. However, he was able to overcome the disease - unlike his sister, who died of tuberculosis.

One joy remained with the poor child - drawing. He climbed onto the stove and painted with charcoal. Already at that time, his peculiarity manifested itself - painting helped him cope with emotional experiences. Munch later said:

“Once I had a fight with my father. We argued about how long sinners are destined to suffer in hell. I believed that God would not torment the biggest sinner for more than a thousand years. And his father said that he would suffer a thousand times a thousand years. I didn't give in. The fight ended with me slamming the door and leaving. After wandering the streets, I calmed down. He returned home and wanted to reconcile with his father. He's already in bed. I quietly opened the door to his room. Kneeling before the bed, my father prayed. I have never seen him like this. I closed the door and went to my room. I was overcome with anxiety, I could not sleep. I ended up taking a notebook and started drawing. I painted my father on his knees in front of the bed. The candle on the bedside table cast a yellow light on the nightgown. I took a box of paints and painted everything in paints. Finally I succeeded. I calmly got into bed and fell asleep quickly.

Christian was categorically against his son's hobby and sent him to study as an engineer. A year later, Edward, despite the fierce resistance of his parent, entered the Norwegian Institute of Arts. Perhaps the father would have come to terms with the choice of his son if he had become a "decent" artist, worked in a traditional manner, received many orders and did not need money. However, Edward chose the most radical direction - expressionism, and even got in touch with a bohemian company, became addicted to alcohol, and began to have affairs with women, including married ones.

At the same time, he began work on his first masterpiece, The Sick Child, in which he depicted his sister Sophie on her deathbed. As he worked, tears streamed down his face. But when the picture was exhibited, the public ridiculed her: “Exhibit this! It's a scandal! The picture is incomplete and shapeless, strange stripes cut through the image from top to bottom...”

Misfortunes fall on Munch one after another. Sister Laura begins to show the first signs of schizophrenia. Father died. Even the fact that Munch is awarded a scholarship to travel to Paris to improve his skills does not lessen his pain. Later, already in the 1930s, he said:

I don't remember anything about Paris. I only remember that before breakfast we drank to sober up, and then drank to get drunk

.
Pretty quickly, Munch becomes famous, even a famous artist. There is still a negative reaction to his paintings, but sometimes there are also enthusiastic responses. Munch continues to transfer his own suffering to the canvas. He conceives the Frieze of Life cycle, a series of paintings on the "eternal themes" of love and death. In 1893, he takes on his most celebrated work, The Scream.

The event that gave rise to the creation of the picture took place a few years earlier, on a walk in Christiania, Munch wrote about this in his diary.

“I was walking along the road with my friends. The sun has set. Suddenly the sky became blood, and I felt a breath of sorrow. I froze in place, leaned against the fence - I felt deadly tired. Blood poured from the clouds above the fjord. My friends moved on, and I remained standing, trembling, with an open wound in my chest. And I heard a strange, drawn-out cry that filled all the space around me.

What the artist writes about may not have been entirely a figment of his imagination. The walk took place in Ekeberg, the northern suburb of Christiania, where the city's slaughterhouse was located, and next door, an insane asylum, where Munch's sister, Laura, was placed; howls of animals echoed the cries of madmen. Under the influence of this terrible picture, Munch depicted a figure - a human fetus or a mummy - with an open mouth, clutching his head with his hands. On the left, as if nothing had happened, two figures are walking, on the right, the ocean is seething. Above, a blood-red sky. "The Scream" is a stunning expression of existential horror.

A separate part of Munch's biography is the history of his relationship with the opposite sex. Despite poor health, Munch was very handsome, friends even called him "the most beautiful man in Norway." Of course, Edward's novels were invariably complex and intricate.

Munch and Tulla Larsen, 1899

Among his vampiric mistresses, Tulla Larsen, a wealthy heiress whom Munch met in 1898 when she was twenty-nine, surpassed all. It was passion at first sight, but when Munch tried to escape, she chased him all over Europe. Nevertheless, he managed to sneak away, and they spent two years apart, but Larsen did not calm down: she tracked down Munch and, having appeared on the sea coast, where he then lived, settled in a neighboring house. Late one evening, a note was brought to Munch: Larsen had tried to commit suicide. Munch rushed to her and found her in the bedroom, but as soon as she saw her lover, the lady cheerfully jumped out of bed. Then there were trials about whether they could be together, as a result of which one of the two had a gun in their hands, someone pulled the trigger, and the bullet crushed Munch's middle finger on his left hand.

Self-portrait with a bottle of wine, 1906

By that time, Munch's financial situation had improved significantly: recognition came to him, and with it orders. However, suddenly Munch began to suspect strangers of secret police agents sent to follow him. In addition, he had bouts of partial paralysis: either his leg went numb, or his arm - alcohol abuse affected. In 1908, friends placed him in a clinic for the mentally ill near Copenhagen, and the artist benefited from a six-month stay there.

In a psychiatric clinic, 1908

Returning to Norway, Munch settled in solitude. He arranged for himself an open-air workshop and surrounded it with walls 4 meters high. In his house there was an extremely unpretentious situation: a bed, a couple of chairs, a table. He continued to make good money and even supported his relatives, but did not communicate with them. He was almost officially recognized as a great Norwegian artist, but the celebrations in honor of his anniversaries did not bother him, and he drove the journalists away. It is worth noting that in 1918 he even had a "Spanish flu", which claimed many lives, but survived, despite his eternal illness. At the same time, he was constantly afraid for his life: he was afraid of getting sick with bronchitis, he was afraid to turn on the gas stove, he was afraid that one of his relatives would get sick and die.

Self-portrait after the Spanish flu, 1919

One day Rabindranath Tagore came to Oslo. He delivered a lecture on art in the assembly hall of the university, in which he argued that the spiritual content plays a greater role in the art of the East than in the art of the Western world. He immediately liked Edvard Munch's art and bought one of his paintings. A few years later a close friend of Tagore came to Oslo.
He brought Munch greetings from Tagore. I took him to Munch and translated the conversation. Tagore's friend bowed low before Munch and said:
“My master and friend Rabindranath Tagore asked me to convey his respectful greetings to you. He values your painting as a gem in his collection.
Munch asked me to thank and ask what he thinks about life after death. The Hindu believed that everyone should relive their lives until they become pure and good.
Munch asked if he knew such pure and kind people who did not need to relive their lives. The Indian replied:
Few are perfect. I know only one - Mahatma Gandhi.
Munch asked if Tagore would avoid having to relive his life. Tagore's friend said:
“My lord is a great master. Maybe he is the greatest writer living in India. But he will have to live life again.
Isn't what an artist achieves in art the most important thing? Ask him if he thinks Tagore has reached the pinnacle of art.
The Indian replied:
— Tagore is a great artist. Maybe the greatest and living in India, but I think he will have to relive life.
- If an artist reaches the heights of art, then he simply has no time to visit the sick and help the poor. Tell him this and ask, is Tagore really not all in his art, has he really not reached the heights of art? The Hindu repeated:
“My master Tagore is a great master. But he, like all of us, will have to relive his life.
At first, Munch silently looked at the guest. Then he took a step forward and bowed deeply. He lost his balance and nearly fell, but he held himself up with a few short, quick steps. And, leaving the room, he said to me:
- Take him to hell.
Rolf Sternen. "Edward Munch"

So Munch lived until the Nazis in Germany included him in the list of "degenerate artists" in 1937. Munch feared for his life when German troops invaded Norway in April 1940. Oddly enough, at first the Nazis tried to win him over. Munch was invited to the organization of Norwegian artists, which was patronized by the new government; he refused and began to wait for the police to break into him. He was later told to get out of his own house, but the order was never carried out. Confused and frightened, Munch continued to work - mainly on landscapes and self-portraits. He died on January 23, 1944, about a month after his eightieth birthday.

One of the last self-portraits - "Munch eats the head of a cod", 1940

But Munch never ceased to amaze even after his death. When his friends entered the second floor of Munch's house, where during his lifetime he did not let anyone in for many years, they were amazed. The room was filled from floor to ceiling with the artist's works: 1,008 paintings, 4,443 drawings, 15,391 engravings, 378 lithographs, 188 etchings, 148 carved wooden boards, 143 lithographic stones, 155 copper plates, countless photographs and all his diaries. Munch bequeathed all his works to the city of Oslo without any conditions, and in 1963 the Munch Museum was opened in the capital of Norway, where everything that was found in his house is stored. A huge legacy of a man who, as a child, was sure that he would die before he could become an adult.

Based on the books by Rolf Sternesen "Edvard Munch" and Elisabeth Lundy "The Secret Life of Great Artists"

Edvard Munch (standing right) with his mother, sisters and brother

“Once I had a fight with my father. We argued about how long sinners are destined to suffer in hell. I believed that God would not torment the biggest sinner for more than a thousand years. And his father said that he would suffer a thousand times a thousand years. I didn't give in. The fight ended with me slamming the door and leaving. After wandering the streets, I calmed down. He returned home and wanted to reconcile with his father. He's already in bed. I quietly opened the door to his room. Kneeling before the bed, my father prayed. I have never seen him like this. I closed the door and went to my room. I was overcome with anxiety, I could not sleep. I ended up taking a notebook and started drawing. I painted my father on his knees in front of the bed. The candle on the bedside table cast a yellow light on the nightgown. I took a box of paints and painted everything in paints. Finally I succeeded. I calmly got into bed and fell asleep quickly.

I don't remember anything about Paris. I only remember that before breakfast we drank to sober up, and then drank to get drunk

.
Pretty quickly, Munch becomes famous, even a famous artist. There is still a negative reaction to his paintings, but sometimes there are also enthusiastic responses. Munch continues to transfer his own suffering to the canvas. He conceives the cycle "Frieze of Life" - a series of paintings on the "eternal themes" of love and death. In 1893, he takes on his most famous work, The Scream.

The event that gave rise to the creation of the picture took place a few years earlier, on a walk in Christiania, Munch wrote about this in his diary.

“I was walking along the road with my friends. The sun has set. Suddenly the sky became blood, and I felt a breath of sorrow. I froze in place, leaned against the fence - I felt deadly tired. Blood poured from the clouds above the fjord. My friends moved on, and I remained standing, trembling, with an open wound in my chest. And I heard a strange, drawn-out cry that filled all the space around me.

What the artist writes about may not have been entirely a figment of his imagination. The walk took place in Ekeberg, a northern suburb of Christiania, where the city's slaughterhouse was located, and next door, an insane asylum, where Munch's sister, Laura, was placed; howls of animals echoed the cries of madmen. Under the influence of this terrible picture, Munch depicted a figure - a human fetus or a mummy - with an open mouth, clutching his head with his hands. On the left, as if nothing had happened, two figures are walking, on the right, the ocean is seething. Above is a blood red sky. "The Scream" is a stunning expression of existential horror.

Munch and Tulla Larsen, 1899

Self-portrait with a bottle of wine, 1906

In a psychiatric clinic, 1908

Self-portrait after the Spanish flu, 1919

One day Rabindranath Tagore came to Oslo. He delivered a lecture on art in the assembly hall of the university, in which he argued that the spiritual content plays a greater role in the art of the East than in the art of the Western world. He immediately liked Edvard Munch's art and bought one of his paintings. A few years later a close friend of Tagore came to Oslo.
He brought Munch greetings from Tagore. I took him to Munch and translated the conversation. Tagore's friend bowed low before Munch and said:
- My master and friend Rabindranath Tagore asked me to convey his respectful greetings to you. He values your painting as a gem in his collection.
Munch asked me to thank and ask what he thinks about life after death. The Hindu believed that everyone should relive their lives until they become pure and good.
Munch asked if he knew such pure and kind people who did not need to relive their lives. The Indian replied:
- Few are perfect. I know only one - Mahatma Gandhi.
Munch asked if Tagore would avoid having to relive his life. Tagore's friend said:
“My lord is a great master. Maybe he is the greatest writer living in India. But he will have to live life again.
- Isn't what an artist achieves in art the most important thing? Ask him if he thinks Tagore has reached the pinnacle of art.
The Indian replied:
- Tagore is a great artist. Maybe the greatest and living in India, but I think he will have to relive life.
- If an artist reaches the heights of art, then he simply has no time to visit the sick and help the poor. Tell him this and ask, is Tagore really not all in his art, has he really not reached the heights of art? - Hindu repeated:
- My master Tagore is a great master. But he, like all of us, will have to relive his life.
At first, Munch silently looked at the guest. Then he took a step forward and bowed deeply. He lost his balance and nearly fell, but he held himself up with a few short, quick steps. And, leaving the room, he said to me:
- Take him to hell.
Rolf Sternen. "Edward Munch"

So Munch lived until the Nazis in Germany included him in the list of "degenerate artists" in 1937. Munch feared for his life when German troops invaded Norway in April 1940. Oddly enough, at first the Nazis tried to win him over. Munch was invited to the organization of Norwegian artists, which was patronized by the new government; he refused and began to wait for the police to break into him. He was later told to get out of his own house, but the order was never carried out. Confused and frightened, Munch continued to work - mostly on landscapes and self-portraits. He died on January 23, 1944, about a month after his eightieth birthday.

One of the last self-portraits - "Munch eats the head of a cod", 1940

Based on the books by Rolf Sternesen "Edvard Munch" and Elisabeth Lundy "The Secret Life of Great Artists"

Despite the mystique of existence, many of us are able to cope with our lives and avoid debilitating feelings of despair, personal failure, and overwhelming meaninglessness. But from time to time we are pulled out of our self-satisfaction and forced to re-evaluate our lives. Here's what you need to know about existential crises and how to deal with them.

The American Psychiatric Association did not include a description of such a condition as an "existential crisis" in DSM -5 (Guide to the diagnosis and statistics of mental disorders - 5). Nevertheless, psychologists and psychotherapists are quite familiar with it.They describe this state as "existential anxiety."

The shock of being in this world

An existential crisis can come in many forms, but its fundamental aspect is deep doubt and a sense of being unsettled about oneself, one's very essence, and one's significance in the world.

“An existential crisis is often relative in nature, that is, people’s attitudes towards everything and everyone around them are questioned,” saysJason Winkler) , a Toronto based psychotherapist who specializes in this area. “Being-in-the-world is carefully considered in an existential crisis, and often there are no answers to the questions that arise. Usually the person feels completely disconnected, existentially alone and confused - even with many loving friends and family, a successful career and professional reputation, material wealth and religious/spiritual beliefs.”

Winkler says the existential crisis is all-encompassing and can permeate every aspect of life. It manifests itself in many different ways, including a loss of meaning, a feeling of deep disconnection from loved ones, despair and horror of being (for example, a lot of thinking “what-is-the-sense?”), and preoccupation with anxieties about global life issues, for example: Why am I here? Do I mean anything? What is my place in the universe?

Psychotherapist Katherine King (Katharine King), also from Toronto, believes that existential anxiety manifests itself in different ways in people, depending on their social status.

“For example, both aging people and people who often face death (for example, in a family line or at work) may experience increased existential anxiety in relation to death, the so-called 'fear of death',” she said in an interview. io 9. Some of King's clients experience a painful preoccupation with the fear of death.

“These clients are struggling with very daunting questions that many of us manage to force out of our daily thoughts,” says King. “In therapy, they may ask questions such as: why live our lives to the fullest if we are going to die anyway? What will be left of me in the world when I die? Will I be remembered? How exactly?"

For these clients, the fear of death may be experienced as an intense horror that overwhelms them after stress or loss. It is not just a fact of existence flashing in the background of their consciousness. It's a heavy burden.

But, as King points out, fear of death can crop up in connection with other losses as well. Some people subject to the fear of death may find themselves in dilemmas regarding any attachments and losses. They may wonder why they dare to love when there is always the risk of the relationship ending. In addition, major life changes can cause terror in people prone to this type of fear.

Exhausting freedom and choice

Existential guilt is also worth considering as an integral part of life's anxiety, sometimes called "ontological guilt." This kind of guilt causes deeply disturbing feelings associated with the fact that a person does not fulfill his potential or has a freedom that he does not enjoy.

“Freedom itself can become a source of stress and anxiety – when a person feels responsible to properly use his freedom, but he is paralyzed in his choices and he fails to act purposefully,” Winkler said in an interview with io 9. “What is called ‘depression and anxiety’ often has an ontological/existential basis rather than a biological one.”

King noticed a particular existential direction in her practice with younger clients. Indeed, young people are more active in making decisions that determine the overall course of their lives, and for some of them this leads to a stupor. This is exacerbated by factors such as online culture, seismic changes in the economy and the concomitant growth of the so-called ‘innovation economy’ with an increase in temporary and precarious jobs. King believes that, more than ever, young people are feeling the pressure to be “proactive” and take sole and sole responsibility for what happens to their lives.

“We know intellectually that some of life's apparent 'choices' are illusory or irrelevant,” notes King. “However, the younger generation is constantly changing their professions or adding new ones and cultivating (numerous) online personalities, and, paradoxically, all this ‘choice’ causes a lot of stress — the constant feeling of being in a difficult situation.”

Existential anxiety spreads a wide web

Both Winkler and King agree that just about anyone can feel existential anxiety.

( Picture: " On the threshold eternity(Old Man in Sorrow On the Threshold of Eternity)",Vincent Van gog (1890))

“I definitely don't think there are groups of people more prone to existential anxiety,” says King. “As with everything related to mental health, some population groups (youth, women) use psychological help more often, but rather it is because they are more likely to encounter such services and also feel more support from society when they seek help. .”

King believes that existential issues can concern any human being, regardless of nationality, socioeconomic status, gender, age, sexual life, etc.

“We are talking literally about the condition of the people; about the immutable aspects of our existence, including death and the dilemma of freedom and limitations,” she explained io 9. “No one can escape these painful components of the human experience, although we certainly differ in the degree to which they are aware or willing to reflect on them.”

Winkler agrees with King, but believes that some people may be psychologically predisposed to an existential crisis.

“Sometimes I believe there is a mysterious force—I don’t even know what to call it—that dictates an 'existential orientation' (much like sexual orientation, gender identity, or even a 'type' of personality) that makes certain people naturally more deeply ask questions of existence and react emotionally to them, take them to heart,” he clarifies. “It's true, I'm sure that existential crisis happens most often in the middle of life (mid 30s - mid 50s), but I've seen it in people of all ages, even children.”

Search for meaning

Existential anxiety and sense of meaning are inextricably intertwined. Work by Tatjana Schnell from the University of Innsbruck( And) shows that a sense of meaning can have a significant impact on our well-being and happiness levels. Five years ago, Schnell developed a program for reflecting existential attitudes, a matrix of four categories, which can be summarized as follows:

meaningfulness: high level of meaningfulness and low level of crisis of meaning.

Crisis of meaning: low level of meaningfulness and high level of crisis of meaning.

existential indifference : low level of meaningfulness and low level of crisis of meaning.

existential conflict : a high level of meaningfulness and a high level of crisis of meaning.

So, according to the first category, some people have a high level of sense of meaning in life, but they do not care. On the contrary, people in the category of “existential conflict” state also experience a high level of sense of the meaning of life, but unsuccessfully try to designate it or make sense of the world. Such a conflict can cause an unambiguous, deeply personal crisis.

To better understand where people are in relation to these categories, Schnell conducted a study among more than 600 German participants. The results showed that 61% of people showed meaningfulness, 35% had existential indifference, and 4% had a crisis of meaning.

IN recent study Bruno Damasio (BrunoDam á sio ) and Sylvia Koller ( S í lviaKoller ) from Complutense University of Madrid achieved similar results. In a survey of over 3,000 Brazilians, the researchers found 80.7% meaningfulness, 9.6% existential indifference, 5.7% crisis of meaning, and 4% existential conflict. This means that 120 of the 3,034 people surveyed felt a high level of meaningfulness and at the same time a crisis of meaning. Cultural, religious, and socioeconomic factors may help explain some of the differences between participants from Germany and Brazil, but it is interesting to note that similar proportions of people in both countries experience existential conflict.

In both works, meaningfulness correlates positively with life satisfaction, happiness, optimism, and hope, while the crisis of meaning correlates negatively with these indicators. The two unusual categories of indifference and conflict were similar in these measures, although indifferent individuals showed higher levels of life satisfaction, happiness, and self-esteem than those in existential conflict.

Damasio and Koller's studies also consideredSearchthe meaning of life and its connection with the four above-mentioned groups. Groups of people actively seeking the meaning of life look like this:

Conflict: 28.55%

A crisis: 24.95%

meaningfulness: 23.15%

Indifference: 20.34%

Thus, being in conflict leads to a greater search for the meaning of life than just going through a crisis (albeit with a slight difference). Unsurprisingly, the researchers also found that indifference leads to fewer searches.

Interestingly, heightened searches for the meaning of life correlate with lower levels of life satisfaction, and lower levels of subjective happiness, in comparison, correlate with average and low levels of search for the meaning of life. And, as the researchers note in their papers, “individuals who are in a state of existential conflict, but only weakly looking for meaning, show the same level of happiness as individuals in the meaningfulness group.”

This raises serious questions about whether the search for the meaning of life is fruitful. It is clear that this is not very pleasant; people who seek meaning are either in conflict or in crisis. Moreover, if they are searching, chances are they are unhappy or unsatisfied with something in their life.

Dealing with an existential crisis

If obsession with the search for the meaning of life is useless, what should a person who is overwhelmed by the pain of existential horror do?

Life is full of them, and it's always hard not to wonder what's on the path you haven't chosen? ( a photo: Nicholas Matton(Nicholas Mutton/CC 2.o))

As Katherine King shared with me, we often find it hard to resist the guilt that comes when we don't live our lives as fully as we believe or know we could—and the further we go along life's journey, the harder it gets.

“Quitting smoking after 40, giving up destructive behavior, or leaving a relationship in which you have been unhappy for decades, or changing careers is inevitable, such changes raise the question, why didn’t a person do this earlier?” she remarks.

Inspired by workStanford University psychotherapist Irvin Yalom , King advises his clients not only to face the fear of doing something risky or difficult, but also to accept the fact that their life would have taken a different turn if they had decided to make these changes earlier. She reminds her clients that what is done is already in the past and cannot be changed, and that they were most likely doing the best they could at the time. Mentioning this, she adds that the future is uncertain and contains new possibilities.

“Simply spoken, these words are unlikely to produce an immediate emotional shift or relieve their existential anxiety,” says King, but “clients need to use therapy to slowly integrate new ways of thinking and feeling on a deeper psychological level while they are doing emotional work.” becoming aware of your fears, accepting your losses, and growing your ability to take advantage of new opportunities.”

At its best," existential psychotherapy ” in the style of Yaloma affirms the will, creativity, self-actualization and human potential, while at the same time accepting the inevitable limitations and conditions. King tells his clients, especially those under 40, that the awareness of freedom and choice must be in harmony with the acceptance of inevitable limitations, as well as the acceptance of risk and uncertainty.

“Despite our best efforts, life often doesn't turn out the way we expected,” she adds. “For younger clients who are paralyzed or overwhelmed with life decisions, this can lead to working in therapy focused on handling uncertainty more calmly, seeing failures as valuable lessons, and appreciating the process more than its outcomes.”

Jason Winkler believes that good relationships and human contact are a great way for most people to lighten the mood and attitude in their personal situation.

“If one person talks to another about their existential anxieties and receives support and understanding in return, then often the level of despair associated with existential isolation decreases,” he explains, adding that it is important for people to continue to formulate their thoughts and feelings in words. .

“I am sure that the best answers to an existential crisis is to keep looking sensitive, understanding and empathic listeners, and to be passionate about the meaningful activities in life - no matter how 'small' or 'big' they are - from sitting on a park bench knitting, listening to the wind rustle through the leaves on the trees, to volunteering in humanitarian aid organizations, to enjoying a family relationship with someone special,” adds Winkler. “Finding the determination to get up and get involved in life daily is incredibly important.” George Dvorsky (George Dvorsky)
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