How Existential Therapy Can Help You Find Meaning
When you’re experiencing existential dread and anxiety, it can be hard to know the best way to get help. Finding a therapist who has the capacity and training to support you and understand your experience is crucial.
What Is Existential Therapy?
Existential Therapy is a form of talk therapy that incorporates the goal of finding meaning in life by addressing anxieties related to themes such as death, loneliness, isolation, and despair. While a philosophical understanding is important, having a therapist skilled in identifying the root causes of your anxiety is critical.
This type of therapy provides space to feel all of the discomfort that can come from asking big questions about the meaning of life. It does not shy away from discussions about death, including our own, allowing us to move through emotions in a way that brings clarity to the choices we face now. By focusing on the present moment and what needs to happen now to bring more alignment, purpose and meaning to one’s life, we can feel a greater sense of empowerment.
The Role of Meaning in Mental Health
Human beings are natural meaning-makers. We interpret the world and our experiences through stories, and we organize those stories in ways that make sense to us. This framing helps us understand the world and our place in it. We need to feel that our lives and our existence have some purpose, and that there is value that can be learned from our experiences. Meaning-making is also part of how we connect with others and develop a sense of shared experience or relationship, which is vital in combating feelings of isolation or loneliness.
When we have experienced relational or developmental trauma, the stories we have about ourselves might not be true. We may believe things like, “I am unlovable,” or “Nothing I do matters.” Understanding where these stories originated, processing the emotions connected to them, and holding space to challenge them are critical steps in rewiring our brain to use positive neuroplasticity in a way that shifts our perspective. From this new place, we can create new meanings and make different choices.
When we feel a sense of purposelessness or meaninglessness, we may believe that nothing about our lives—or even our very existence—matters. We can get lost in a sense of pointlessness and apathy, and may lose hope. These feelings are highly linked to experiences of suicidal ideation. One of the common beliefs in those experiences suicidal thoughts is that no one will miss them or their presence does not matter, and that in a way, removing themselves from the world relieves a burden on their loved ones. Our brains can trick us into thinking that this is the only way we can relieve our pain.
In reality, life is a mix of beauty and pain. Feelings of love and loss are two sides of the same coin. It is easier to move through these emotions in a community than alone.
Why AEDP Therapy Works for Existential Crisis
AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) is a therapy modality that we use and are trained in at the Collective. It is designed to get below the anxiety you're experiencing to make space for your core emotions. Core emotions help identify what matters to us and what needs addressing in our lives. Once those emotions are accessed and processed, we can enter what is called ‘Core State’. From this place, we are calm, clear, and able to be compassionate with ourselves and others.
In this state, we are able to make decisions in alignment with our values and beliefs, and confront the ways that our life or context may be eroding meaning or blocking our need for creative expression. We are also able to feel genuinely seen and heard. An authentic relationship, even in the therapy space, can go a long way toward undoing the aloneness that comes with existential dread. Having someone with us to explore those uncomfortable emotions can give us the courage we need to feel everything that needs to be felt about our experience. This understanding can guide us in knowing what we need to address, change, or move toward or away from.
Benefits of Existential Therapy
Receiving therapy with an existential lens can reduce anxiety and improve our ability to understand and process our emotions, leading to better mental health and improved resilience. Trusting our capacity to feel and knowing we can work through things to understand our experience helps us build confidence. It reassures us that we can face discomfort and emerge okay on the other side.
As our self-awareness increases, we can become more authentic—both in how we respond to our experiences and in our relationships with others. All of this works to increase our sense of purpose and fulfillment in life.
How to Get Started
If this sounds like something you need, we would love to support you! You can reach out to our clinic or learn more about each of our therapists and the way they work. When you reach out, we will ask what you’re hoping to see shift in therapy or what prompted you to contact us. This helps us understand what matters to you in the present moment. We will work with you to understand, feel and deal with whatever emotions that might be bubbling up, so that you are able to make clear and confident choices about how to move forward in your life.
You can expect your first session to focus on what is surfacing in the moment. We will help you reconnect with your present experience, feelings, sensations, and the thoughts and beliefs connected to them. This process can help untangle what feels complicated so that you don’t have to work through it alone. We would be honored to support you!
