Overcoming an existential crisis

At different stages of life, a person faces various emotional outbursts that could provoke an existential crisis. In some cases, you can identify the events which serve as triggers – for example, an accident, a different kind of loss (for instance, the death of a loved one), illness, loneliness, a decrease in social status, etc.

The biggest question is whether it is possible to overcome the existential crisis by combining negative and positive experiences.

The True Causes of the Crisis

Sad or traumatic experiences are not the only cause of an existential crisis.  Sometimes, they may take the form of joyful and positive events like childbirth, love, and marriage. The other scenario is when the person feels something has changed inside and can no longer live yesterday’s life. Very often, an event that provokes the crisis is negligible, but it’s the last drop in the accumulated emotional load.

Thus, crisis triggers are determined not only by external but also internal content and by the dynamics of the individual’s psychological life. These often remain outside of consciousness and cannot be controlled or foreseen.

Triggers of an existential crisis

It is necessary to consider that the crisis can be provoked not only by the events of personal history. A crisis can be experienced in extreme situations at a global level—for example, political, economic, social, environmental and natural disasters. Suppose you consider things happening on our planet as the context for humanity’s biological, psychological and spiritual development. Then, the relationship between personal and global levels becomes more apparent. Undoubtedly, individual experiences are reflections of the events taking place at the worldwide level. The scale of tragic global events can exacerbate the depth of a personal crisis.

  • the external characteristics of the crisis may be different;
  • the triggers can have a completely different character;
  • the response to the crisis is specific for the individual.

To understand how to cope with the crisis.  You have to determine its inner essence.  This is the psychological mechanism of occurrence.

Life events

A crisis can arise when life events potentially threaten the satisfaction of basic needs.  Sometimes, when this occurs, the person can’t resolve or conventionally escape this threat. In these circumstances, the essence of the crisis is a conflict. The conflict between the old and the new identity of the individual. Dissolving the familiar past and possible future. Or, in other words, who you are and who you could become. The crisis moves a person into a so-called neutral zone, in which the habitual thinking and behaviour patterns do not work. Fears of change accompany this state—fears around being different and breaking away from the usual stereotypes.

Thus, a crisis is a reaction to a situation that requires a change in one’s way of life, mentality, and attitude towards oneself, the world, and basic existential problems. By the way, any crisis is already laid down in the basic properties of the individual—the desire to develop and improve oneself, which means constantly changing.

It looks like someone wants the person to gain confidence and strength, become more open and tolerant, and better understand life. But, alas, we are too busy and don’t care about personal growth. And this “someone,” after several unsuccessful attempts to make a person think, takes a bold decision. At this very moment, a person gets into a situation that destroys all his habitual foundations and creates a problem from which one cannot escape or solve quickly.

How do you successfully overcome an existential crisis?

The person is confused and embarrassed; he perceives the crisis as the evil and darkness hanging over his life, a complete and irreparable ruin.

Well, the key is to learn to meet with the pain, suffering, the proximity of death, etc., not trying to avoid, turn away or soften them. If you learn to take the suffering as part of your spiritual growth, you’ll automatically change its value.

Most psychologists believe that crisis is the most important prerequisite for personal change. Crisis can be either positive—constructive, creative, integrative—or negative—destructive, disruptive, divisive.

This implies that there are two main outputs:

  • Take a risk and stay open to new opportunities, overcoming the fear of change.
  • Maintain the existing order of things.

Almost all researchers who have studied anxiety believe that personal growth and anxiety are inseparable. Often, by choosing the need for security and the desire to preserve the existing order, the person ceases to self-develop, limiting or even destroying oneself.

Thus, to develop (and sometimes survive), you must learn to cope with various critical situations. However, the essence of the crisis causes a person to doubt the possibility of overcoming it. This becomes the biggest problem. Understanding the need for changes is typical for a non-crisis state. But when the person experiences a crisis, he feels this will never end and won’t find the way out. In this case, the crisis is perceived as the ultimate collapse of a life.

Possible negative and positive effects of an existential crisis

Feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, dead-end – these are the most typical feelings for any under-crisis person. During this period, the individual acutely feels the absence of internal support. They have lost touch with the world and with other people.

The pressure of this state pushes the person to immediate solutions. Among them, there could be suicide, neuropsychiatric and psychosomatic disorders, social maladjustment, posttraumatic stress disorder, criminal behaviour, alcohol or drug abuse, etc. Therefore, the crisis may be destructive.  This complicates the process of further growth and development.

On the other hand, crisis is the ability to change and pass to a new stage of personality development. This is a positive aspect. The crisis may be an opportunity to change something about yourself and your life. You can learn something new and set new goals and values. An adequate resolution of the crisis allows moving to the next stage of development and becoming more mature.

The conclusion

The crisis is both dangerous and an opportunity. It is destruction, creation, acquisition, and loss. It can signify the death of the old and the birth of the new. Any phenomenon in this world has its opposite. Our world is dual; this is like one side of the coin exists only because there is another.

Therefore, when dealing with a crisis, you must understand that it consists of both periods of destruction and creation, which are natural components of growth and development. You cannot get something without losing something, and it’s impossible to permanently lose and get nothing in return.

The feature of destruction and creation is that when one is active, the other remains concealed. Sometimes, it seems incredible, but these two processes happen according to specific laws, and all events are logically connected. The problem is that the person inside the destructive phase can’t see it, and only after passing the crisis can he understand that he gained a lot of experience, even though the expertise seemed harmful during the crisis.

Due to our perception of life, the creation process looks much more appealing, and we know more about it. However, understanding and respecting the destruction process as a necessary stage of personal and social development is a gift we can present ourselves. Yes, the destruction is a gift, as it contains creation, though hidden.

The crisis is a time when the caterpillar has to choose whether to stay afraid of darkness or turn into a butterfly.