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Existential Anxiety

Description

This is an anxiety or stress [1] that is present in an individual when they are trying to make meaning in their lives due to their experiences of an existence. A small amount of anxiety is healthy in individuals and existential anxiety can be a natural and healthy phenomenon felt by all individuals. Experiencing panic, stress and worry in challenging situations is a regular feeling, but with existential anxiety, this feeling is constant .. This anxiety can create hindrances or a damper on everyday life and makes it increasingly difficult for an individual to cope with daily tasks and experiences. Feelings of anxiety, stress, agitation and fret induce an anxiety attack and angst [2] is the word to describe the feeling that existential anxiety produces.

Existential anxiety comes from a dilemma an individual has within himself. Humans, unlike other animals, instinctively seek to self-preserve whilst also having the cognitive ability and capacity to enable a realisation that death is a natural phenomenon that happens to everything that lives. This cognitive realisation creates a potentially paralyzing terror called existential anxiety. It could be argued that a cultural buffer; where cultural practises such as and primitive tribes . . Transaction Publishers.carrying out rituals to the Gods to increase life and fertility, and emotional buffer has developed for those who do not struggle with existential anxiety; this can include individual perceptions of self-esteem. In accordance, experimental evidence has suggested that a high self-esteem higher self-esteem is found in individuals who don’t suffer from existential anxiety and also helps individuals recover from existential anxiety .

Existential anxiety can be felt when a person asks themselves the life’s big questions, or when they tray and make meaning of one’s life. This can be due to a lack of understanding of what is important in life. Questions .. Life, death, and meaning: Key philosophical readings on the big questions. Rowman & Littlefield. such as: Who am I? Where do I fit? What is my purpose? Trying to figure out these questions can leave a person with feelings of existential anxiety but also gives a person the opportunity to create meaning in their lives.

Example: In a famous cartoon, Charlie Brown [3] is an example of a ‘person’ with existential anxiety. The character Ol’ Chuck is calm and collected when interacting with different characters and situations, with his angst and thoughts kept to himself. In one of the episodes, one of the characters, a friend called Lucy, makes a Psychiatric Help Stand where Charlie Brown visits. Lucy is listing phobias that could cause the anxiety and depression that Charlie is experiencing and the term pantophobia is brought into the conversation, this is the fear of everything which Charlie Brown agrees that he has. This example is useful to consider as existential anxiety can be vague, that it is not a specific fear when you try to make meaning in your life.

Existential anxiety can lead to an existential crisis when an individual questions different aspects of their lives. These questions involve searching for answers for the value and the meaning and the purpose of individual lives .. This lack of purpose in life leads to feelings which are closely associated with depression.

Jean-Paul Sartre [4] believed individuals should fully accept and embrace their existential anxiety. He believed that people that did not have a faith and refused to follow religion were living out a life without a purpose which was unfulfilling and inauthentic and that this can cause existential anxiety. When an individual faces up to non-being, they can feel insecure and lonely, but these feelings can bring a sense of responsibility which can address feelings of existential anxiety. He further believed that an acceptance of faith and religion in one’s life would bring a sense of calm, nobility and freedom and was even a sign of health, bravery and strength. The theologian Paul Tillitch argues this also, with the additional belief that refusing to face up to non-being leads to a neurotic anxiety .. In his book The Courage to Be, Tillich asserts: He who does not succeed in taking his anxiety courageously upon himself can succeed in avoiding the extreme situation of despair by escaping into neurosis. He still affirms himself but on a limited scale. Neurosis is the way of avoiding nonbeing by avoiding being.

Symptomology

The inability to articulate what exactly is wrong when you are feeling unsettled and uncomfortable is an example of existential anxiety. The effect of tiredness and experiences that are new and bizarre to the senses can become overpowering and racing thoughts are associated with this disorder. Furthermore, anxiousness of things that you can’t pinpoint and can’t address are found with this disorder. A person who does contemplate the bigger picture may fear that life is meaningless and to die is inevitable. An individual will feel unsettled and particularly disturbed; which is why many people construct a false reality out of goals, habits, ambitions, religion and many others which enables a sense of meaningfulness and depth in one’s life.

Associated problems

Existential anxiety is not registered as a mental health problem, with many mental health professionals arguing that this anxiety only occurs when a person ponders on life’s big questions and is lost when the thought is stopped. Some also argue that if the anxiety of these big questions and the feelings become too much then it turns into a simple anxiety disorder from which would be treated accordingly. Existential anxiety is more of a philosophical theory than a psychological belief, so the degree to which existentialism plays causes this anxiety or there are other mental health issues are involved are currently unknown. What is known is that exceptionalism is present in many currently anxiety treatments as realisation of your responsibility of running your own future is part of the recovery process.

Background

Existentialism .. is a theory which was created in the 1800s by Danish philosopher Sren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) [5]. This is the idea that the behaviour of a human individual is governed by beliefs in the answers to life’s biggest questions and the freedom to choose what joys in their lives that an individual enjoys daily. In the past, existential anxiety was very like existential angst, this is the theory that anxiety and other negative emotions in life stems from these freedoms and the unknown .

Originally, existential anxiety was defined within an individual’s relationship with God, and how he/she could live a fulfilling life which is closely related to the current understanding of the context of life’s big questions. Therefore, philosophers believe that the fear of the unknown and wondering how to answer these big questions is the reason that this type of anxiety exists.

The feeling of angst an individual feels when they have existential anxiety originated from the Dutch word angst and the German word Angst. In The Concept of Dread ., Kierkegaard used the word Angest to describe the condition which is known as existential anxiety, a deep-seated condition. This is partly an evolutionary theory guided by animalistic instinct and is the enjoyment and fear of freedom. This concept of angst has reappeared in many philosopher’s works such as Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Satre and Friedrich Nietzsche [6] their views have been incorporated into the theory of existential anxiety through the conflicts of personal principle, existential despair and cultural norms.

Existential anxiety can be expressed in many ways through art and music especially classical composition. In music, this feeling of existential anxiety has been depicted as an emotion, feelings and reflection. This relationship between musical forms and philosophical ideas were first developed in the twentieth century when philosophical theories were being written about and events such as wars made individuals reflect on life’s big questions.

There have been three waves to the development of theories on existentialism which causes anxiety: the first wave relates causes an individual to feel existential anxiety is the inability of religion which provides a foundation to how one should . The second wave is personified philosophically by Sartre Camus and de Beauvoir, believed is a person’s inability to be overly optimistic about reason and common good which is the foundation of life. The third wave is the new existentialism which involves the development of neuroscience which with its explanatory and therapeutic.

Biology

Brain areas involved

Recent neuroimaging studies have suggested that there are two main brain regions involved in existential anxiety which are related to death-related information. Recent fMri studies reported that death related words induced less activation in the bilateral insula than non-death related words. Furthermore, the anterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala are shown to be involved when an individual experiences distress, anxiety, threat and feelings associated with exestental anxiety which are indiced by death anxiety statements.

Neurology has linked existential anxiety to the fear of terror management, this is much to do with self-esteem as high self-esteem is associated with low existential anxiety. The neural underpinnings of this disorder are poorly misunderstood. Most research tests the brains neural circuit activation to when a person is dealing with death related stimuli related to their self . The main brain areas associated with this is the bilateral insula; this responded less to death-related situations which reflects a decrease in the sense of oneself when facing existential threat. This region also related to interceptive awareness. Craig AD. How do you feel?

Anterior parts of the insula seem to be more deactivated in individuals with high self-esteem, this is linked to the insula being core in understanding the anxiety buffering effect of self-esteem. Ventrolateral and prefrontal and medial orbitofrontal cortex respond with high activation when participates have low self-esteem . This enhanced activation was increased when death related stimuli was presented which suggests that regulating death-related thoughts may be more effortful to these individuals. Brain imaging studies suggest that the anxiety buffering effect of self-esteem which cause awareness and existential anxiety may be implemented in the brain with different neuropsychological mechanisms and regulations . To understand the neuropsychological functions of existential anxiety, what first needs to be understood is where fear and anxiety originates from in a neurological framework. Many human and animal studies have found comparable patterns of brain-behaviour relationships which are advantageous for understanding fear and anxiety studies such as existential anxiety. Responses elected by the threats and the fear from this anxiety cause conceptual change in two circuits 1) Behavioural responses occur which cause physiological changes which in the brain and the body when a person perceives threat or feels fear which is predominant in existential anxiety 2) The different states an individual feels which is reflected in self reports of anxiety and fear. This is a two-system approach which helps develop the psychological treatments to help anxiety.

Treatment techniques

There is not one formal treatment to help an individual with this disorder. Existential anxiety can be leading to a person creating meaning making into their lives. Worrying about these questions can give an individual the inspiration and power to change their thought process and lifestyle to create a healthier one. A person with Existential anxiety will seem to be stuck in the past of what they should and should not have done but also in the future, with what ifs. Keeping a diary can be a good technique to overcome existential anxiety for overcoming the difficulties that come with having the disorder. Jotting down positives in life and what you are grateful and looking for patterns among these help a person to realise exactly what in life makes you feel joy and happiness. Taking part in new hobbies and finding interests on a weekly basis to create engaging activates where you lose yourself. Relaxation and behavioural tactics can be helpful in the treatment of existential anxiety. Different psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy and Talk Therapy can help an individual come to terms with the feelings associated with the disorder. Some employ specific treatments to the disorder which focuses more of accepting the future, planning your life to live in a way that embraces all of existence. Most of the therapists are only interested with the present and the future, which is are important factors of enabling an individual to move on. Existential anxiety is measured with the Existential Anxiety questionnaire. This has been designed by taking into consideration philosophical importance of studding human thinking, decision making, emotion and psychopathology . As existential anxiety is known as the focus on death, many instruments have been developed and evaluated for this against other instruments and consensus based standards for the selection of measurement instruments (COSMIN). Interventions for depressed and anxious patients have been developed using short term existential therapy, this has been developed through criticism of the psychological medical model . This intervention provides creative engagement with the individuals to help form coping mechanisms for their personal difficulties and to boost the recovery process to enhance the individuals sense of empowered resilience. Work by Rollo May laid a foundation for existential psychotherapy through cultural, psychological and philosophical developments and which themes need to be addressed in medical practises . Psychotherapy to help an individual with existential anxiety doesn’t focus on just managing symptoms, but touches the root causes of the dilemmas an individual finds themselves in. The underlying problem with the search for being is what is focused on and a small amount of anxiety is considered normal in contemporary times.