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An Existential crisis is when you seriously question the value of life to the point it affects you're life in a negative way.

You may know that you, or perhaps a friend, is having one because of the way one going through this will treat things. You may feel as if it's not worth going to work so you'll stay in bed, maybe you will make a fried breakfast without regard for your health.

But remember, everyone experiences thing differently, but the main idea is that you feel there is no meaning to life.

These can come about at any time in you're life, possibly when you least expect it, but the causes seem to include;
* Feeling that there is no afterlife of any description (Aristotle may have had this.)
* Feeling one's life does not mean anything for the long term. (This often comes as a feeling that one won't be remembered.)
* Near death experiences that force someone to question the value of life.
* Feeling alone, physically or metaphorically.

In his famous book 'The Brothers Karamazov', Dostoevsky questions the meaning of life and responsibility through the character Dmitri;
"...without God and immortal life? All things are lawful then, they can do what they like?"

This is common type of though which is best not treated with drugs, but logical thought. All living things are born with an a priori, or natural, instinct to be alive.

Why? Because life is all about preservation of life, life itself has intrinsic value, that is to say, it has value simply by existing. This is the prolife' point of view, that everything has a purpose, and nothing lives or dies in vain.

People handle this problem in their own way, as only they know the way in which the crisis is affecting them.

Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, you can still believe that life and death are both useful to the preservation of life.

For example, a friend of mine could not stop thinking about the waste of life due to disease, but I asked him to remember that, for everyone who dies of a disease, the chance of future generations being infected grow smaller.

Many decide that life is about the pursuit of happiness, and enjoy things in that light, others may decide that the most important thing is how you feel now, and that life is worth living for the moment.

I hope you found this interesting and useful.

Learn more about this author, Simon De La Vega.
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