Clinical support
6 existential therapy techniques to help clients find meaning
These approaches are especially well-suited for clients who struggle with questions of identity, meaning, and purpose.
November 14, 2025
7 min read
What is the meaning of life, and how can one find purpose and fulfillment in theirs? These big, weighty questions are bound to come up in many forms of therapy. But they’re integral to a style known as existential therapy.
Existential therapy helps clients probe life’s most profound topics, including belonging, isolation, free will, personal responsibility, meaning, life, and death. Dealing with these messy subjects may sound daunting. But engaging in this form of therapy can be a powerful way for clients to face fears and anxieties head-on, and in the process learn to build a more authentic life.
If you’ve never tried existential therapy before, here’s a primer to get you started.
Key takeaways
- Existential therapy helps clients explore complex questions about the human condition so they can craft more meaningful and authentic lives.
- Clients who struggle with questions of identity, meaning, and purpose may benefit from this approach — but it may not be the right fit for those seeking quick and tangible solutions to problems.
- By thinking about philosophical questions, embracing change, and exploring different domains of the human experience, clients gain deeper self-insight and craft lives that feel fulfilling.
Understanding existential therapy
Existential therapy is rooted in existentialism, a school of philosophy that grapples with topics like free will, personal responsibility, life, and death. It holds that life does not have inherent meaning, and meaning is instead created through a series of choices and actions.
Many practitioners and philosophers have contributed to existential therapy’s development, but the American psychiatrist Irvin Yalom is considered a pioneer of the form. Yalom argues that existential therapy is organized around four key themes: death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness.
This approach “fundamentally addresses the human need for meaning and belonging by directly confronting the ultimate concerns of existence,” says Igor Light, LMHC, NCC, an existential therapist in New York.
The key principles of existential therapy
There is no single way to practice existential therapy. Many practitioners see it as a mindset through which to offer therapy, rather than a modality with set techniques. That said, therapists who use this approach are likely to touch on similar core themes, including:
- The experiences and challenges that all humans face, such as death and isolation
- The search for purpose in life
- The ability and responsibility to craft a meaningful life
- The certainty of death and how to embrace life in spite of — or because of — it
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Who benefits from existential therapy?
Existential therapy can be beneficial for a wide range of people who struggle with identity and purpose, whether they have a formally diagnosed mental health condition or not. This form of therapy can help people build self-awareness, cope with weighty issues, and create authentic, meaningful lives.
It may be powerful for people with anxiety, since it casts anxiety as a natural reaction to life’s major challenges, like death and loss. It can also be transformative for people working through trauma or grief, as well as those with depression and substance use issues.
“Existential therapy is most helpful for clients ready to explore the root causes of their psychological symptoms,” Light says. “I use this approach because it reframes challenges like anxiety and depression not as disorders, but as messengers or signals of unlived possibilities.”
Powerful existential therapy techniques to help clients find meaning
Again, there is no set way to practice existential therapy. Even the same therapist might practice it very differently with one client versus another. If you’ve never used it in your work, however, consider starting with these techniques.
1. Philosophical questioning
Existential therapy embraces complex questions about life and meaning. To help clients create lives of purpose and fulfillment, you might prompt them to consider questions like:
- “What does a truly meaningful life look like?”
- “What do you value in life?”
- “Why do you think we are all here?”
- “What do you want to do/achieve before you die?”
2. Creating a shared reality
Developing an “I-Thou” relationship — a deep connection between therapist and client, in which both parties can show up as full, accepted individuals — is a crucial part of existential therapy, Light says. The therapist may share their own views on certain philosophical questions while non-judgmentally validating the client’s. Doing so can help clients learn to foster genuine connections based on shared vulnerability and disclosure.
Any therapist interested in trying existential work should “focus on becoming a genuine companion who risks revealing oneself,” Light says.
3. Embracing change
Existential therapy acknowledges that our views about life’s meaning — and our goals for life — can change, even though we remain the same people. Learning to embrace change in therapy can help enforce the message that we are all constantly growing and have the power to make new choices and live life differently.
4. Explaining the four worlds
The four worlds approach encourages clients to explore different aspects of human existence. A therapist using this approach guides their client to ponder:
- The physical world (how we relate to our surroundings and the realities of the external world)
- The social world (how we relate to others and our place in the wider culture)
- The personal world (how we relate to interior selves)
- The spiritual world (how we relate to the unknown and develop a value system)
By actively listening as clients explore these topics, you’ll hopefully begin to notice worlds that are worthy of more discussion — either because they are neglected or seem important to the client.
5. Mapping worldviews
Whether we’re conscious of it or not, we all have a distinct worldview: a set of beliefs, attitudes, and expectations about the world and our place within it. In existential therapy, the clinician and client often work together to map the client’s worldview. This can help the client define a meaningful life and better understand how to get there.
6. Focusing on the present
While existential therapy may explore the past — including the client’s past values and goals, as well as how past experiences or beliefs affect current life — it is largely a modality grounded in the present. Existential therapists often encourage their clients to practice a form of mindfulness that stresses the importance of living in the “here and now,” rather than ruminating about the past or projecting about the future.
Explore other therapy approach techniques
Headway offers many clinical support resources to help you provide the best care for your clients. Curious about other approaches? Here are more ideas from Headway:
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This content is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, financial, or professional advice. All decisions should be made at the discretion of the individual or organization, in consultation with qualified clinical, legal, or other appropriate professionals.
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