Existential emptiness and search for meaning: what can psychology do?

Have you ever had to choose between two or more situations and you don't know if the choice you made was the correct one? Have you ever wondered what is the point of living if we are going to die sooner or later? Have you ever experienced: deep anguish, guilt or suffering? If you have answered yes to at least one of these questions, keep reading because this article was created for you.

The title of the article outlines more than just theoretical concepts, as it exemplifies an anthropological and existential definition: "Man as an indeterminate being and in constant search for meaning"; however, ** is it possible to find this meaning from psychotherapy? **

• Related article: "Humanistic Psychology: history, theory and basic principles"

The search for meaning as a human act

Women and men are always oriented towards something that we ourselves are not, for example, being intentional towards something or someone; For this reason, meaning is spoken of as an anthropological characteristic, since the very fact of being considered human is to go beyond ourselves

, and this possibility of transcendence is what constitutes its existence.

Now, from a historical and social point of view, it is considered that the human being has the ultimate goal of being happy, is it not? However, it has been found that what the human being really wants is not happiness itself, but a reason to be happy, since, as soon as he finds this motive, happiness and pleasure arise by themselves; happiness is a consequence.

Thus, what motivates women and men is neither the will for pleasure nor the will to power, but the will to meaning, and it is this that drives humanity to pursue and attempt to unveil its meaning; that is, leaving oneself to meet an “other”, as acts of fulfillment and encounter that are the basis for happiness in the human being.

However, usually this aspiration dissolves in the direct search for pleasure, instead of it occurring, as a consequence of a significant act, pleasure then becomes the goal itself, leading people to fall into a compulsive and worrying cycle. We know that the more you care about pleasure, the further you walk away.

Existential frustration

Thus, at present, it is more evident that the population lives immersed in existential frustration, not because there is a greater amount of "emptiness", but because the abrupt changes of the time force us to adapt to the "novelty", for which many times we are not prepared or do not even know that we should adapt.

Viktor frankl, founder of logotherapy, states that in these post-modern times we live in an existential frustration on the rise, which can manifest itself through boredom, apathy or despair, these being the first symptoms of the expression of emptiness and lack of meaning. Thus, some causes of existential emptiness are usually the loss of instincts (what to do) and traditions (how to do it).

This aspect is essential to allow us your reflection, then, Unlike animals, humans are not limited to our instincts, but also, nowadays we lack traditions and customs that tell us how to do things. Thus, in the absence of what tells us how we should be and what tells us how to do things, it seems that deep down no longer we know what we really want, which is why we end up doing what others do or doing what others tell us we should make.

In addition, a third point must be considered about existential emptiness or frustration, and this is anguish. If we are in a time of emptiness, Does our life have meaning? Here an interesting dichotomy arises: life has meaning, but this meaning cannot be given, but must be discovered, because if the sense were given or invented, a subjective sense would be produced, a absurd.

The human being, when he does not show the ability to reveal or create meaning in his life, runs away from the sensation of nonsense: he believes that it is something absurd or that it is something subjective. However, meaning must not only be found, but fortunately it is possible to discover it. But how?

Well, consciousness is a key piece, as it will be the one that gives direction to the search for meaning. But let's be careful, because it can deceive the human being about what his own meaning is, since we will not know with absolute certainty if we have really found it or not: we are condemned to uncertainty.

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What can psychotherapy do to help make sense?

As I have pointed out throughout this article, meaning cannot be provided by anyone and this includes, of course, the psychologist, psychiatrist, doctor or psychotherapistas it is a personal task. However, the consultant can be made to notice that life has meaning under any circumstance, since the fact of not having certainties is what allows us to act with genuine freedom.

Regarding psychology, the issues of meaning are based on phenomenology, because there cannot be an issue of judgments or false morality in any situation; on the contrary, it focuses much more on the experience and the value that each person designates to the circumstances in which they live, since the human being has the ability to find meaning in his experiences, "a meaning".

Psychology, like medicine, knows that it is necessary to "take hold" of philosophy, since in the absence of meaning and radical changes in our day, lack of goals, boredom, lack of meaning and purpose require more than interpretation and technical instructions, and the purpose is to cultivate a “personal philosophizing” as the ability to look at oneself and enable a reflective thinking that invites the consultant from their own point of view to know themselves capable and free to answer the questions that the life makes you.

Now, why does life have meaning in spite of everything? From this perspective, life has meaning under any circumstance and even with limitations of any kind, because human beings are supported by two anthropological and existential pillars, freedom and responsibility, which make it possible to face every obstacle in life. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's right, we are free beings because we are limited beings, we are finite, We are wandering beings, and it is before such a possibility that we must know ourselves in permanent capacity to choice.

Finally, it is not about giving answers to each client, but about enabling his ability to respond to himself, to shape his destiny.

Thus, the psychologist who specializes in these areas of care will accompany you not only as a witness of your ability to respond, but also as a support and solid support in which you can support yourself while experiencing the anguish before the choice, the resignation, and of course, before the freedom to which, as a person, you are sentenced to; and it is thanks to this accompaniment, to this staying in the how of the experience, which can be known and understood from where the person "is chosen and transformed" allowing to identify that perspective that could limit the horizon of meaning of him, for example, from what you have learned, your beliefs, your judgments, your deepest fears or those habits that have conformed.

The human being can overcome these limitations and thus, from that freedom and ability to respond, it is that he can shape his destiny. Psychotherapy, therefore, can be considered as a possibility of meaning, since it shows the client how to transform hopelessness into a triumph (V. Frankl, 2003).

If after what you have just read, more or new questions and questions have arisen, how wonderful: the task has been achieved, because this is a thoughtful and philosophical invitation, being the questions the first step of the journey. If you consider that the current situations in your life pose more questions to which you do not know what and how to answer and want face this challenge, you can contact me so that we can try to unveil this experience together for the sake of a Sense.