When a high achieving, over-extended, academically successful student crashes overnight, you might wonder: why? Their work ethic falters, depression rises, and they begin to be angry with everything around them. These are large signs of an existential crisis. An existential crisis can be described as a moment when you question your meaning, purpose, and value in your life. To many, this can feel like hitting a brick wall and not wanting to come back from it.
This crisis can lead to severe negative emotions and thoughts, and students/teens who suffer through this period of time may be at a high risk of inflicting self-harm upon themselves, or even in worse case scenarios, suicide. Though adolescents have a hard time by nature, it can be even more tough when going through an existential crisis. Many teens go through making early decisions about their careers, college, and life. This can make it very hard to fully decide on what you want to do when you’re just trying to get through highschool. Many teens get pushed over the edge when miniscule decisions feel like the utmost important ones.
A teen who might be experiencing an existential crisis may begin to think about their life as absurd, meaningless, or ineffective. The extreme feelings of loneliness and stoicism are what makes a terrified teenager not want to be the best they could be.
While everyone questions their purpose or life at some point, teens are unable to find answers or solutions due to the little time they have experienced life. While a midlife crisis explores what a middle aged person hasn’t done, the existential teenager doesn’t have much of a choice on looking back on it. Most of a teenager’s life is built on what they are doing currently and what their parents did for them. A teenager tries to find their identity for the future and what that entails. This thought process of finding something that isn’t yet there leads them into a pit of despair. A teen deep into this part of depression will then see their life holding no particular meaning.
Although many signs are not entirely clear for an existential crisis, there are many signs and symptoms that often lead up to it. These include disinterest in school, school sports, or activities, falling behind on class work or test grades, extreme emotions on life and the community, low level motivation, a belief that change is a waste of time and energy, and purposeful separation from friends and family.
There is hope though for teens experiencing an existential crisis. Through diagnosis, care, and treatment, teens can learn how to manage their symptoms of depression and maneuver through this crisis. There are many ways that students can help themselves through this crisis. Some things that would be helpful might be taking things slowly and remembering to take days one at a time, understanding that you aren’t alone in this (Family members and friends want to help you!), accepting yourself for who you are and who you are becoming, and knowing your life has purpose and meaning and to keep pushing forward.
