Existential Crisis: Signs, Causes, and How to Cope

At some point, most people find themselves staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m., wondering whether any of it actually matters. The job, the relationships, the carefully constructed routines. That quiet but unsettling question, “What is the point of all this?” is not a sign that something is broken in you. It may be the beginning of one of the most psychologically significant experiences a person can have.

This article covers what an existential crisis actually is, what tends to trigger one, how to recognize its symptoms, and what the research and clinical literature suggest about moving through it. Whether you are in the middle of one yourself or trying to understand what a loved one is going through, the goal here is clarity over comfort.

What Actually Happens During an Existential Crisis

An existential crisis is a period of intense psychological questioning about the meaning, purpose, and value of one’s existence. It is not the same as depression, though the two can overlap. It is not the same as a midlife crisis, though that is one context in which it appears. The defining feature is that a person begins questioning foundational assumptions about who they are, why they are here, and whether their life choices align with any deeper meaning.

Psychologists trace much of this framework back to existential philosophy and the humanistic tradition in psychology. Abraham Maslow, Viktor Frankl, and Irvin Yalom each contributed frameworks for understanding these moments. Yalom, in particular, identified four core existential concerns that tend to drive these crises: death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness. When one or more of these confronts a person suddenly or unavoidably, the psychological disruption can be significant.

Common Triggers Worth Knowing

Existential crises rarely appear out of nowhere. They are typically catalyzed by a specific life event or transition that forces a person to confront questions they had previously been able to avoid. Understanding common triggers can help a person recognize what set their own experience in motion.

The death of a close friend, parent, or partner, especially when unexpected
A serious illness or medical diagnosis affecting the person or someone close to them
Major life transitions such as retirement, divorce, or children leaving home
Achieving a long-sought goal and feeling unexpectedly empty afterward
A global or collective crisis such as a pandemic, war, or natural disaster
Reaching a significant age milestone and feeling uncertain about what comes next
Loss of religious or spiritual belief that previously provided a sense of purpose

The common thread across these triggers is disruption to a person’s existing framework for making sense of the world. When that framework cracks, the questions that were quietly waiting beneath the surface tend to rush in.

Recognizing the Symptoms

Because existential crises involve cognitive and emotional experiences rather than a neat set of physical symptoms, they can be harder to identify than other psychological challenges. That said, there are recognizable patterns that clinicians and researchers have documented.

Symptom Category	What It Might Look Like
Cognitive	Persistent questioning of one’s purpose, identity, or values; difficulty concentrating on ordinary tasks
Emotional	A pervasive sense of emptiness, dread, sadness, or emotional numbness
Behavioral	Withdrawal from social activities, loss of motivation, difficulty maintaining daily routines
Relational	Feeling disconnected from people who once felt close; questioning the authenticity of relationships
Spiritual or philosophical	Loss of faith, disillusionment with previously held beliefs, or obsessive rumination about death and mortality

It is worth noting that these symptoms can mimic or overlap with clinical depression and anxiety disorders. That overlap is real and clinically important. A person experiencing these symptoms for more than a few weeks, or whose daily functioning is significantly impaired, should consider speaking with a licensed mental health professional who can help distinguish between an existential crisis and a diagnosable condition.

The Relationship Between Existential Crises and Mental Health

The clinical picture here is genuinely complex. An existential crisis is not a psychiatric diagnosis. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not include it as a standalone condition. Yet the distress it produces can be severe enough to precipitate diagnosable anxiety, major depressive episodes, or even a crisis requiring immediate support.

Research published in the journal Anxiety, Stress, and Coping found that existential concerns, particularly those related to death anxiety, are significantly associated with elevated levels of generalized anxiety and depression. The relationship runs in both directions. Pre-existing anxiety can make a person more vulnerable to an existential crisis, and an existential crisis can worsen underlying anxiety. This is one reason that professional guidance, rather than pure self-help, is often recommended for people who find themselves struggling to function.

At the same time, some psychologists argue that existential crises carry genuine growth potential. Frankl, who developed logotherapy after surviving the Nazi concentration camps, argued that the search for meaning is the primary human motivation, and that confronting meaninglessness directly, rather than avoiding it, is what allows people to construct a life of genuine purpose. This is not a call to romanticize suffering, but it does suggest that dealing with an existential crisis with appropriate support can sometimes result in a clearer, more grounded sense of self than existed before the crisis began.

Practical Approaches That Have Evidence Behind Them

There is no single solution to an existential crisis, and anyone who tells you otherwise is probably selling something. What the research does support are several approaches that tend to help people move through rather than get stuck in this experience.

Meaning-Centered Therapy

Meaning-centered psychotherapy, developed by psychologist William Breitbart at Memorial Sloan Kettering, was originally designed for cancer patients grappling with mortality. It has since been studied in broader populations. The core idea is to help individuals connect or reconnect with sources of meaning, whether through relationships, creative work, personal values, or a sense of legacy. A meta-analysis published in Psycho-Oncology found the approach effective at reducing existential distress and improving psychological well-being.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, widely known as ACT, helps people clarify their core values and commit to actions that align with those values, even in the presence of uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. Rather than trying to eliminate existential anxiety, ACT teaches a person to hold it with less rigidity. Multiple randomized controlled trials have supported its effectiveness for anxiety and depression, and its value-clarification components make it particularly relevant to existential concerns.

Philosophical Engagement and Journaling

Some people find that reading philosophy, particularly existentialist thinkers like Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, or contemporary philosophers like Susan Wolf, provides a kind of intellectual companionship during a crisis. It normalizes the questions being asked. Pairing reading with structured journaling, where a person writes about their values, what they find meaningful, and what kind of life they want to be living, can help externalize and organize thoughts that feel overwhelming when they stay purely internal.

Social Connection and Honest Conversation

Isolation tends to intensify existential distress. Research consistently shows that perceived social connectedness is one of the strongest predictors of psychological well-being. This does not mean forcing cheerful social interactions that feel hollow. It means finding at least one or two people with whom honest, substantive conversations about life, meaning, and difficulty are possible. Trusted friends, mentors, therapists, or even structured community groups can serve this function.

When to Seek Professional Help

There is a difference between sitting with difficult questions and being paralyzed by them. If existential questioning is significantly disrupting sleep, work, relationships, or basic self-care, that is a signal to bring in professional support. The same applies if the questioning is accompanied by thoughts of self-harm or feelings of complete hopelessness.

Therapists trained in existential, humanistic, or third-wave cognitive behavioral approaches are generally well-equipped to work with these experiences. It is reasonable to ask a potential therapist directly about their familiarity with existential themes before committing to a working relationship. The fit between a therapist and client matters enormously in this kind of work.

Existential questions do not resolve on a schedule, and they rarely resolve completely. What tends to change, with time and the right support, is a person’s relationship to those questions. The uncertainty becomes less threatening. The search for meaning becomes less frantic and more grounded. That shift, modest as it might sound, can make a genuine difference in how a person experiences their daily life.