🌱 The Three Stages of Existential Therapy

Life-Changing Yet Unintrusive

Existential therapy is life-changing as it enables individuals to confront and integrate the fundamental aspects of human existence, leading to a deeper self-understanding and healing. This therapeutic approach makes sense because it addresses the core existential issues that underlie many psychological difficulties, fostering a more coherent and authentic sense of self that significantly improves mental well-being and personal growth.

🔄 How is Existential Therapy Different?

Existential therapy stands apart from other therapeutic approaches in several key ways. While many therapies focus on symptom reduction or behavioral change, existential therapy addresses the fundamental conditions of human existence and how we make meaning in our lives. Rather than viewing psychological distress as primarily a medical condition, it sees many struggles as arising from our confrontation with life's inevitable challenges and limitations. This approach differs from traditional talk therapies by emphasizing the phenomenological method—understanding your unique subjective experience rather than imposing preconceived theoretical frameworks. It also places special importance on authenticity, freedom, responsibility, and the therapeutic relationship itself as a genuine human encounter. While approaches like Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy focus on changing thought patterns and behaviors, existential therapy invites a deeper exploration of what it means to be human. It addresses questions of purpose, meaning, and authentic living that often lie beneath surface-level symptoms.

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced." — Søren Kierkegaard

For more detailed information about the philosophical foundations and practical applications of existential therapy, you can explore the works of key figures in the field below.

Key Philosophical Influences

Influential Existential Therapists

🔄 What Happens in an Existential Therapy Session?

In an existential therapy session, we begin by creating a safe, open space where you can explore your unique experience of being in the world. Unlike more structured approaches, existential therapy doesn't follow rigid protocols or techniques. Instead, it emphasizes authentic dialogue and phenomenological exploration—a process of examining your lived experience without imposing preconceived interpretations. During sessions, your therapist serves as a fellow traveler rather than an expert with all the answers. Together, you'll explore existential themes like freedom and responsibility, isolation and connection, meaning and meaninglessness, and mortality. This exploration isn't merely intellectual—it's aimed at helping you connect with a more authentic way of living that acknowledges both the possibilities and limitations of human existence. Existential therapy often involves questioning assumptions, examining values, and confronting anxieties that may be limiting your growth. The goal is not simply symptom reduction but a deeper transformation in how you relate to yourself, others, and the fundamental conditions of life.  

  

• What gives my life meaning and purpose?

 

 

  

• How am I using my freedom and facing my responsibilities?

 

 

  

• In what ways am I living authentically or inauthentically?

 

 

  

• How do I relate to the inevitability of death?

 

 

  

• How do I navigate the tension between connection and isolation?

 

 

  

• What values guide my choices and actions?

 

---

🧠 Existential Exploration and Integration

Existential therapy employs a methodical process to help individuals explore and integrate their experiences more authentically. This process begins with phenomenological inquiry—setting aside assumptions to truly understand how you experience your life. Your therapist helps you examine the choices you've made, the meaning you've created, and the ways you may be avoiding freedom or responsibility. Through this exploration, you'll develop greater awareness of how you're living in relation to the four fundamental dimensions of existence: the physical world of embodiment and mortality, the social world of relationships, the personal world of identity and authenticity, and the spiritual world of meaning and values. This multi-dimensional approach helps create a more complete picture of your existence. The integration phase involves bringing these insights together to create a more coherent and authentic life narrative. Rather than merely analyzing the past, existential therapy emphasizes how you can live differently now and in the future, making choices that align with your deepest values and accepting the anxiety that comes with authentic living.

🌟 What Conditions does Existential Therapy Treat?

Existential therapy has diverse applications based on the latest research in existential psychology and philosophy. While not focused on diagnosing and treating "disorders" in the traditional medical sense, it effectively addresses a wide range of psychological challenges by exploring their existential dimensions:

Athletic Performance Enhancement:

Athletes can use existential therapy to overcome mental and emotional barriers that affect their physical performance. By processing past failures, confronting performance anxiety, and connecting athletic pursuits to deeper values, athletes can achieve a more focused, authentic, and resilient mindset that enhances their performance.

Existential Crisis in College Students:

College represents a critical time of identity formation and existential questioning. Existential therapy provides a framework for navigating these important developmental challenges, helping students connect their educational pursuits with deeper meaning and authentic values.

---

🧘 What Does Existential Therapy Feel Like?

We have multiple clinicians available at Taproot Therapy Collective who are trained in existential therapy and other complementary approaches to address a wide variety of issues and conditions.

---

🔍 What are the Techniques of Existential Therapy?

Existential therapy employs various approaches tailored to the unique needs of clients. Unlike more technique-driven therapies, existential work emphasizes authentic presence, phenomenological exploration, and philosophical inquiry. Here's a breakdown of some approaches within existential therapy:

Existential Therapy: Healing Across Time

Existential therapy is a gentle yet powerful therapeutic approach that addresses the profound questions of human existence. Developed through the philosophical traditions of thinkers like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre, it works with the understanding that our early experiences shape our sense of self, our patterns of relating, and our ways of being in the world.

The Neuroscience of Existential Experience

Modern neuroscience provides fascinating insights into how existential therapy works on a biological level. Researchers like Allan Schore and Daniel Siegel have shown how our experiences literally shape the architecture of our brains. When we face existential concerns with avoidance rather than courage, it affects neural pathways associated with anxiety, depression, and a range of psychological difficulties. Existential therapy helps reshape these neural patterns by supporting clients in confronting existential givens—death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness—with awareness and authenticity. This confrontation activates neuroplasticity, allowing for new neural connections that support psychological flexibility and resilience in the face of life's inevitable challenges.

Healing the Whole Person

Existential therapy aims to heal the whole person by addressing all dimensions of human existence. In a typical session, the therapist guides the client through an exploration of their physical relationship with mortality and embodiment, their social connections and isolation, their personal identity and choices, and their search for meaning in a universe that doesn't provide ready-made answers. This multi-dimensional approach creates a scaffold for integrating life experiences that may have previously seemed fragmented or overwhelming. As clients move through these dimensions, they develop a more coherent sense of self and a deeper capacity for authentic living despite the anxieties inherent in human existence.

Mythic and Spiritual Parallels

The concept of integrating different aspects of existence has deep roots in human spiritual and mythological traditions. Carl Jung wrote extensively about archetypal patterns that reflect existential themes across cultures. Many spiritual traditions also address existential concerns—the Buddhist concept of impermanence relates to mortality, Christian themes of choice and responsibility reflect existential freedom, and virtually all traditions grapple with questions of meaning and connection. Existential therapy respects these diverse spiritual and mythic approaches while helping clients find their own authentic way of engaging with existential givens. It doesn't prescribe specific beliefs but helps clients clarify what genuinely matters to them in the face of life's fundamental questions.

Integration and Transformation

By weaving together insights from neuroscience, developmental psychology, existential philosophy, and wisdom traditions, existential therapy offers a profound path to wholeness. It helps clients honor their past, embrace their present, and open to future possibilities with courage and authenticity. Some of the many issues existential therapy can help with include:

 

  

• Trauma and PTSD, by gently revisiting and reprocessing painful memories

 

 

  

• Anxiety and depression, by building inner resources and existential courage

 

 

  

• Anger and reactivity, by developing self-awareness and responsibility

 

 

  

• Relationship struggles, by healing patterns of inauthenticity and avoidance

 

 

  

• Low self-worth, by cultivating self-acceptance and meaning

 

 

  

• Grief and loss, by finding continuity of meaning amid change

 

 

  

• Life transitions, by integrating past experiences into a new chapter

  At its core, existential therapy is about coming home to ourselves—embracing all parts of our existence with awareness and authenticity. It's a way to heal the past, empower the present, and transform our future through meaningful choices and genuine connection. If you feel called to experience the integrative potential of existential therapy, we invite you to reach out and schedule a session. Together, we can explore the profound questions of your existence and discover authentic pathways to meaning, freedom, and connection.

Research and Evidence Base

While existential therapy has historically emphasized philosophical understanding over empirical validation, a growing body of research supports its effectiveness for various conditions. Studies show existential approaches can be particularly beneficial for:

 

  

• Improving quality of life and reducing anxiety in cancer patients (Meaning-centered psychotherapy)

 

 

  

• Addressing existential concerns in palliative care settings

 

 

  

• Reducing symptoms of depression and enhancing meaning in life

 

 

  

• Supporting individuals through major life transitions and identity crises

 

 

  

• Helping people confront mortality and death anxiety

 

 

  

• Enhancing authentic living and personal growth

  Meta-analyses suggest that structured existential interventions like meaning-centered approaches show particularly promising outcomes, with significant positive effects on meaning in life, self-efficacy, and reduction of psychopathology. The therapeutic relationship and phenomenological exploration have been identified as key factors in successful existential therapy. For more information on the research supporting existential therapy, we recommend exploring the work of Mick Cooper, Joel Blackstock, and Irvin Yalom, who have contributed significantly to the empirical foundations of existential approaches.

Varieties of Existential Therapy

Existential therapy encompasses several different approaches, each with unique emphases while sharing core existential principles:

Classic Existential Analysis:

This approach focuses on helping clients explore their unique way of being-in-the-world across four dimensions: physical, social, psychological, and spiritual. By examining how they navigate these dimensions, clients gain insight into patterns of meaning-making and avoidance that shape their existence. This comprehensive exploration helps integrate different aspects of experience into a more coherent whole.

Logotherapy:

Developed by Viktor Frankl, this approach emphasizes the search for meaning as central to psychological health. Clients are helped to discover meaning through creative work, meaningful experiences, and attitudes toward unavoidable suffering. This method is particularly effective for those experiencing what Frankl called an "existential vacuum"—a sense of emptiness or meaninglessness that underlies many psychological difficulties.

Existential-Humanistic Therapy:

This American variant, developed by Rollo May, James Bugental, and Irvin Yalom, combines existential concerns with humanistic emphasis on growth and potential. It focuses on present experience, authentic presence in the therapeutic relationship, and developing the courage to face existential givens. This approach balances confronting existential anxiety with affirming human capacity for growth and meaning.

Meaning-Centered Therapy:

This structured approach applies existential principles to specific populations, particularly those facing serious illness or major life transitions. Through both individual and group formats, it helps clients identify sources of meaning, recognize how existential concerns manifest in their specific circumstances, and develop strategies for living meaningfully despite limitations.

Existential-Phenomenological Therapy:

This approach emphasizes the phenomenological method—closely examining lived experience without imposing preconceived interpretations. It helps clients develop a richer description of how they experience existential themes in their daily lives, leading to greater self-awareness and the ability to make more authentic choices based on this awareness.

Existential-Somatic Approaches:

These integrative methods explore how existential concerns manifest physically in the body. By attending to somatic experiences—tension, breathing, posture, movement—clients discover how they physically embody their relationship to existential givens like mortality and freedom. This body-oriented work helps integrate intellectual insights with felt experience for more comprehensive healing.

Existential Therapy for College Students

College represents a critical developmental period when young adults confront fundamental questions about identity, purpose, and their place in the world. Existential therapy offers a particularly valuable framework for supporting students through these transformative years.

Navigating Identity Formation

College students often experience significant shifts in how they understand themselves as they move away from family-defined identities and explore new possibilities. Existential therapy helps students navigate this process by exploring questions like "Who am I beyond my roles and expectations?" and "What values genuinely matter to me?" Rather than simply adopting socially prescribed identities, students learn to develop authentic self-understanding based on their unique experiences and values. This exploration is particularly valuable for students who feel pressured to pursue majors or career paths based on external expectations rather than personal meaning. Through existential dialogue, students can clarify what genuinely matters to them and make educational choices aligned with their authentic values.

Addressing Academic Pressure and Performance Anxiety

Many college students experience intense anxiety about academic performance, viewing grades as determinants of their worth and future prospects. Existential therapy helps reframe these concerns by exploring broader questions of meaning and purpose beyond achievement. Students learn to relate differently to anxiety, recognizing it as a natural part of making meaningful commitments rather than a symptom to eliminate. For students paralyzed by perfectionism or fear of failure, existential approaches offer perspective by examining questions like: "What does success really mean to me?" and "How do my academic pursuits connect to my larger sense of purpose?" This broader context often relieves excessive pressure while deepening commitment to learning that genuinely matters.

Building Meaningful Connections

College often involves significant social transitions, with students leaving established support networks and building new relationships. Many experience profound loneliness or struggle with authentic connection amid social pressures. Existential therapy addresses these challenges by exploring the fundamental tension between our need for connection and our inevitable separateness. Students learn to develop more authentic relationships based on genuine sharing rather than persona maintenance. By acknowledging existential isolation while cultivating meaningful connection, students develop social resilience that supports them through college transitions and beyond.

Finding Purpose in Studies and Beyond

Questions of meaning and purpose become particularly acute during college years as students make decisions that shape their future direction. For many, this leads to existential crises when initial academic or career paths don't provide expected fulfillment. Existential therapy helps students develop a more nuanced understanding of meaning that transcends specific outcomes or achievements. Drawing on Viktor Frankl's insights about meaning, therapists help students discover purpose through creative pursuits, meaningful experiences, and attitudinal choices even amid academic challenges or uncertainty about the future. This approach is particularly valuable for students questioning their direction or feeling disconnected from their studies.

Addressing Existential Depression and Anxiety

Many psychological difficulties common among college students—including depression, anxiety, substance use, and identity confusion—have significant existential dimensions. Rather than viewing these exclusively as symptoms of disorder, existential therapy explores how they may reflect deeper struggles with fundamental life questions. For students experiencing existential depression—a profound sense of emptiness or questioning of life's meaning—this approach offers validation and a path forward through philosophical exploration rather than pathologizing their important questions. Similarly, existential anxiety about freedom and responsibility is addressed through supportive dialogue rather than simply treated as a symptom.

Supporting Major Life Transitions

College represents multiple transitions—from home to independence, from structured high school to self-directed learning, from adolescence to adulthood. These transitions inevitably trigger existential awareness as students confront their freedom and responsibility in new ways. Existential therapy provides a framework for making these transitions mindfully, helping students recognize both the anxiety and opportunity in newfound freedom. For international students, first-generation college students, or others experiencing particularly dramatic transitions, this approach offers valuable support in integrating different aspects of identity while moving forward authentically.

College-Specific Existential Therapy Services

At Taproot Therapy Collective, we offer existential therapy specifically tailored to college students' unique developmental needs. Our therapists have experience supporting students from diverse institutions, including: Whether you're struggling with academic pressure, identity questions, relationship challenges, or broader existential concerns about your direction in life, our existential approach can help you navigate college with greater authenticity and purpose. We offer both in-person and teletherapy options to accommodate busy student schedules.

How Does Existential Therapy Use the Whole Brain?

Existential therapy engages the whole brain, incorporating insights from neuroscience and theories like memory reconsolidation to facilitate holistic healing. Here's how it engages different parts of the brain:

Left Brain:

The left hemisphere, known for logical, analytical, and language-processing capabilities, is engaged in existential therapy through the creation of coherent narratives about one's existence. By helping clients articulate their life stories and existential concerns, the therapy activates left-brain functions that organize experience into meaningful patterns. This structured approach enables clients to make logical connections between existential concerns and concrete life choices.

Right Brain:

The right hemisphere, which processes emotional content, non-verbal experience, and holistic awareness, is engaged through the experiential and relational aspects of existential therapy. When clients connect with feelings related to existential givens—like anxiety about death or freedom—they activate right-brain emotional processing. The therapeutic relationship itself, with its emphasis on authentic presence, stimulates right-brain networks associated with attachment and emotional regulation.

Limbic System:

The brain's emotional centers, including structures like the amygdala and hippocampus, play a crucial role in how we process existential concerns. Existential therapy activates these areas when clients confront anxieties about mortality, isolation, freedom, or meaninglessness. By providing a safe context for exploring these emotionally charged themes, the therapy helps recalibrate limbic responses, reducing overwhelming anxiety and allowing for new emotional associations with existential givens.

Prefrontal Cortex:

The prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive functions like decision-making and meaning-making, is highly engaged in existential therapy. By helping clients reflect on their values, choices, and how they want to live in the face of existential limitations, the therapy strengthens prefrontal networks associated with self-awareness and intentional living. This enhanced frontal lobe functioning supports clients in making more conscious, values-aligned choices rather than reacting automatically to existential anxiety. Through engaging these different brain regions, existential therapy promotes integration between emotional experience and cognitive understanding, between automatic reactions and conscious choices, and between isolated aspects of self and a more coherent whole. This comprehensive neurobiological approach addresses the interconnectedness of mental, physical, and existential dimensions of human experience.

Existential Therapy FAQs

What is existential therapy and how does it work?

How is existential therapy different from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)?  

  

• Focus: CBT primarily addresses specific symptoms and problematic thought patterns, while existential therapy explores deeper questions about meaning, freedom, and how you relate to the fundamental conditions of existence.

 

 

  

• Approach: CBT is structured and technique-oriented, often following protocols for specific disorders. Existential therapy is more flexible and dialogical, adapting to your unique existential concerns rather than following predetermined interventions.

 

 

  

• View of anxiety: CBT often treats anxiety as a symptom to be reduced through cognitive restructuring and behavioral techniques. Existential therapy views certain forms of anxiety as natural responses to existential givens that can be embraced as opportunities for growth and authentic living.

 

 

  

• Timeframe: CBT typically focuses on present issues with shorter-term goals. Existential therapy addresses your relationship with past, present, and future within the context of finite existence.

  Some therapists integrate elements of both approaches, using CBT techniques within an existential framework that acknowledges deeper questions of meaning and authenticity.

Can existential therapy help with depression and anxiety?  

  

• Exploring how a perceived lack of meaning or purpose contributes to depressive symptoms

 

 

  

• Addressing feelings of alienation by examining authentic versus inauthentic ways of relating to others

 

 

  

• Helping you discover values and commitments that provide a sense of meaning even amid suffering

 

 

  

• Reframing depression as potentially containing important messages about how you're living in relation to your values

  For anxiety, existential therapy addresses:

 

  

• The existential roots of anxiety, distinguishing between neurotic anxiety and the natural anxiety that comes with awareness of life's uncertainty

 

 

  

• How avoidance of freedom and responsibility can generate anxiety

 

 

  

• The relationship between anxiety and authentic living

 

 

  

• Ways to develop courage in facing existential concerns rather than being paralyzed by them

  Research indicates that existential approaches can significantly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety while enhancing meaning in life, which serves as a protective factor against both conditions.

How long does existential therapy typically take?  

  

• Addressing specific existential crises or life transitions

 

 

  

• Exploring particular existential themes relevant to current challenges

 

 

  

• Clarifying values and choices in specific areas of life

  Longer-term existential therapy may be appropriate for:

 

  

• Deep exploration of persistent existential concerns

 

 

  

• Working through complex issues related to meaning, freedom, and authenticity

 

 

  

• Ongoing support for living with existential awareness

  Throughout the process, your therapist will collaborate with you to assess progress and determine the most beneficial duration of therapy for your unique situation. Many clients find that even brief existential therapy provides insights and perspectives that continue to evolve long after therapy concludes.

What happens in the first session of existential therapy?  

  

• Introduction and orientation: Your therapist will explain the existential approach and answer any questions you have about the process.

 

 

  

• Exploring your concerns: Rather than focusing exclusively on symptoms, the therapist will invite you to share what brings you to therapy and how these concerns relate to deeper questions about your existence.

 

 

  

• Understanding your world: The therapist will begin to explore how you experience yourself and your world across different dimensions (physical, social, personal, and spiritual/philosophical).

 

 

  

• Identifying existential themes: Together, you'll start to identify how themes like freedom, responsibility, meaning, or mortality might be relevant to your current struggles.

 

 

  

• Setting a direction: While existential therapy doesn't typically involve rigid treatment plans, you'll discuss what you hope to gain from therapy and how you might work together.

  Throughout this initial session, the emphasis is on creating a space where you feel understood and where genuine dialogue can take place. The therapist will model the phenomenological approach—seeking to understand your experience without imposing preconceived interpretations—that characterizes existential therapy.

Trauma and PTSD:

Existential therapy is particularly effective for treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It helps individuals process and integrate traumatic memories in a safe and controlled manner. By revisiting traumatic events through guided exploration, clients can reframe and diminish the impact of these memories on their current life, reducing PTSD symptoms and finding meaning even in difficult experiences.

Anxiety and Depression:

This therapy can be beneficial for those suffering from anxiety and depression by exploring the existential roots of these conditions. By addressing deeper questions of meaning, freedom, and responsibility, clients can achieve greater emotional stability and develop a more authentic relationship with their anxieties rather than being controlled by them.

Addiction and Substance Abuse:

For addiction, existential therapy addresses underlying existential concerns that often contribute to addictive behaviors, such as emptiness, lack of meaning, or avoidance of freedom and responsibility. By resolving these deeper issues, clients can develop healthier coping mechanisms and a more meaningful life direction that reduces reliance on substances.