Existential anxiety and sense of guilt for mental health

Living without meaning, purpose, values, or ideals causes significant anxiety. Because it is impossible to design life in advance, individuals have to create their own meanings. “Feeling guilt for being” suggested by existential theorists contradicts the sense of incompleteness or the fact that we are not who we should be. It is about noticing the fact that our actions and choices mean far less than our full being as individuals. This sense of guilt is neither considered neurotic nor a symptom that needs to be treated. Existential guilt is something more than a distressing affective state, a symptom that needs to be studied and eradicated.