medicines can always help depression especially serious depression. the doctor was wrong.
of course meds are not a short cut or a means of avoiding the central problem but they are a good paliative for dangerous symptoms that should not be ignored.

existential depression. also known as mid-life crisis??? joy, i’ve been having a mid-life crisis since i was 19. so far it’s lasted 14 years. but then the crux of my situation has been my (as well as every pastor, counselor, psychiatrist, psychologist i’ve ever encountered) being unaware that i’m a high-functioning asperger with remarkably highly-developed social skills. life has been starting to make sense.

I’m wondering, how established is the term ‘existential depression’?

My therapist suggested I fit under it, whatever it’s meant to be, but then she didn’t talk much more about it. Other than that and now this article, I haven’t run across the term before. Is it a used psychological category, or are they just figuring it out or something?

Also commonly known as a midlife crisis. Turning 40 often brings this kind of introspective shakeup.

Funny, I remember going through my first bout of something similar to this at age 15.

My view is that we’re all an “experiment of one” – what applies to people in general may not apply to an individual. Each of us has the capacity to create a fulfilling, happy and peaceful life, no matter what age we are.

It takes practice. What I’ve found to be more effective than psychotherapy in dealing with existential issues is spiritual practice, like meditation. It bypasses the automatic thinking that creates suffering and connects us with something beyond our identity.

Check out happiness-after-midlife.com for some views on the relationship between happiness and aging.

Existential depression can also come into fruition when an individual conceptualizes Evolution, astronomy and philosophy and discoveres there is no objective in life. When an individual is smart enough not to be dissuaded by organized religion (the opiate to heal this depression) and realizes that 99% of humans who have lived, died not knowing the truth. The most horrific revelation one discovers in Science is that Humanity WILL become extinct, our story will end. E pur se muove

Twenty-four years ago I was a client in a therapy group and had shared my story. One of the therapists asked me, “What is the meaning of life?”. “I don’t know”, I replied. “Is that OK, not to know?”, he asked. “No”, I replied. That pretty much describes my dilemma, and twenty-four years later, I feel like I’m no closer to knowing than I did at that time. And the possibility that when I am on my deathbed, I will still not know, is the most depressing thought I have.

“Existential depression” is something we all SHOULD endure, although many take the easy way out as “Name” put it, they turn to “organized religion (the opiate to heal this depression).” What religion aspires to do is take exactly this kind of burden off of people’s shoulders by giving them “faith,” magic, and miracles instead of answers. The world is changing, the fact that more and more people feel this is a good thing. Fight through it! Follow the question “Who am I?” not to the ends of the Earth, but within yourself. Again, if you take the time to study existentialism as “Name” certainly has, you’ll realize one major keystone is acceptance. Accept that you WILL die, accept your past as choices that you WILLED for yourself, and accept that you are in control of YOUR life (although you also have to accept that the only person you control is you. Accept that good and bad may also come to you through others’ doing). Even making the choice not to take control is still a choice on your part.

Carol, to admit you don’t know is a good thing, but don’t dwell on the forlorn, or else that’s all you’ll ever see. You assign your own meaning to your life through choices you’ve made and choices you will make in the future. Hence, the journey is the treatment.

Please don’t turn to drugs (prescription included) unless you really need it. Understand that all they do is give you a forced momentary relief, and are NOT the answers you are looking for. Prescription drugs may help, but cannot “cure” existential depression.

PS. Accepting isn’t the whole battle. It’s only the start. From there, you make your own choices by questioning and closing the disconnect between who you see yourself as and who you want to be. Though of course, we all can’t have everything. Strive to have one virtue, thus does it go down easier. And when i say “virtue,” I don’t mean any of those institutionalized ideologies for codes of conduct. I mean finding a passion-real and true-that will make your life meaningful to yourself.

I’m glad someone else is talking about this. Existential depression is often associated with introspective people, and the best treatment is to share the experience with like-minded individuals. I’m in the 3rd month of a pretty awful episode and I’m relieved to hear I’m not the only “failed nietzscheist” experiencing breakdown.

im writing a paper about existential depression and cant find a proper definition of it over the net, or i found but they are confusing and contradictory sometimes. some call depression as existential vs the spychological depression, and say it is without a reason while the second has a reason.so existintual is uncaused vs psychological depression that is caused. some defferintiate between two types, clinical depression and existential attributing the first to lack of hormons and as such and so it is not related to any even outside the body. im so confused, and lost, and dont know where this name came from, did it come from the philosophical movement called existentialism? but those spoke of despair and enxiety and believed that life had no meaning to start with, as such, despair is the normal condition of a healthy individual, and those who dont have depression are the ones who are sick! please help

I have struggled with existential depression since I was nine. Now I’m fifteen and still struggling. I don’t think I’m having my midlife crisis.

Oh yeah. Psychotherapy. Gee, I was just thinking to myself, I’m horridly disheartened by the knowledge that my life will end in a meaningless and unremembered death, that all my achievements will be crushed by time, that eventually even time will stop when the universe achieves it’s maximum entropy state. Clearly what I need to is to spend a lot of time and money jawwing with the fanatic offspring of a discredited, disingenuous charlatan. Screw that, I’ll be over here, meditating under the Bodhi tree.

To say that existential depression is the same as a ‘midlife crisis’ is complete bullshit. Existential depression affects people who are not middle aged. I should know.
I’ve been struggling with depression and existentialistic thoughts for years now.
I’m 17.