EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

An existential crisis can result from:

* A sense of being alone and isolated,
* The realization of one's own mortality, or the realization that there is no afterlife; or
* A realization that one's life has no destined, supernatural, or in some cases external purpose or meaning.

Cognitive dissonance results when a person is faced with the paradox of believing that their life is important on the one hand while at the same time perceiving that human existence itself is without meaning or purpose. It is the resolution of this paradox which dissolves the crisis.