Being and Blogging: An Existential Psychotherapy Blog

The climate crisis is a multifaceted issue, encompassing science, politics, and economics, but beneath the statistics and headlines, something more profound is unfolding. Something profoundly human. The destruction of the planet is not just an ecological catastrophe. It is an existential one that we, as individuals, are intimately connected to. To fully confront the climate crisis, we must engage with ourselves, our freedom, our fears, our responsibilities, and our place in the world. Responsibility Without Guarantees Existentialism, a philosophical movement that emphasises individual existence, freedom, and choice, teaches that there are no pre-written scripts for how to live. We are thrown into a world not of our choosing, yet we are responsible for how we respond. This is as true of our relationship with nature as it is of our relationships with others. No one is coming to save us. And there is no guarantee our efforts will "work." But we are still responsible.  Protecting...

Why Do We Watch Horror Movies? It’s a question that baffles and intrigues in equal measure. Horror films with their blood-soaked scenes, jump scares, and monstrous figures should logically repel us. And yet, they draw us in. Beneath the gore and the ghosts lies something deeper, something existential. At the core of many horror films is death anxiety: our awareness of mortality and the psychological defences we construct to manage it. Existential thinkers like Ernest Becker, Irvin Yalom, and Viktor Frankl have written extensively about this tension. As conscious beings, we know we’re going to die. This knowledge can provoke dread and avoidance or inspire deep reflection on how we live. Reflections in the Dark From an existential perspective, horror doesn’t just entertain us; it holds up a mirror to our fears. The vampire’s eternal life, the ghost’s unfinished business, the masked killer’s inhumanity: these tropes externalise our inner conflicts. The monster often represents what we den...

Many students internalise the idea that their Leaving Cert results define them. The logic goes something like this: High points = success = future happiness. Low points = failure = a diminished future. This belief system is so widespread that it becomes invisible, but it is not only psychologically harmful, it’s also existentially false. Existential psychotherapy  is based on the understanding that human beings are  in a state of constant process . Who you are at 17 or 18 is not set in stone. You are not your grades. You are not your CAO form. You are not even the career you think you want. You are someone becoming, someone unfolding. The entire Leaving Cert system rests on the false promise of certainty: that there is a straight path, that it’s possible to choose “correctly,” and that success is a matter of performance. But life isn’t a multiple-choice question. Existential Anxiety vs. Exam Anxiety Let’s be clear:  anxiety around exams is normal . But, existential therap...

The ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine is often approached through the lens of politics, history, and international law, and rightly so. These frameworks offer vital context and strategies for addressing state violence, human rights violations, and the geopolitical interests at play. But as an existential psychotherapist, I find myself drawn toward a different, more human-centred question:  How are we to respond to this?