Ideas about purpose, identity, freedom, responsibility, mortality, and the direction of one’s life can create significant uncertainty. According to the American Psychological Association, existential anxiety is anxiety that relates to freedom of choice, responsibility for that choice, lack of meaning or purpose, and awareness of mortality. These concerns may arise during significant life changes, such as a career change, changes in relationships, retirement, the loss of loved ones, or when a set goal is no longer attainable.
In Advanced Coaching, clients can discuss these concerns about direction, values, decisions, or personal fulfilment. The coach’s job is not to diagnose and/or treat anxiety, but to create a non-clinical setting where relevant underlying concerns can be reflected on, questioned, and goals set. Sometimes existential questions don’t have easy or immediate answers. It is important not to move through uncertainty too quickly, as this can cause clients to overlook what matters most to them.
Creating Space to Explore Meaning Without Forcing Answers
People experiencing existential uncertainty may feel pressure to know what they need to do, and they may feel pushed to know exactly what they have to do or which direction they have to go. Advanced Coaching offers an alternative approach, where the client discovers meaning without the coach telling them what it is. Questions may be about what is currently important, what was important in the past to the client, and what the client wants their decisions to symbolise. Rather than asking what the client wants to get, the coach can ask why certain goals matter and what values they express. This approach will acknowledge that meaning can emerge in a variety of relationships, contributions, learning, creativity, work, personal responsibility, and more.
Areas of concern that are often discussed in psychological literature are issues of “meaning,” “freedom,” “identity,” “isolation,” and “mortality. Coaches should be careful not to impose their own philosophy or belief system on the client’s uncertainty. The main goal of asking questions is to have the client express their own point of view. Advanced Coaching can also normalise the process of not knowing everything straight away. It can help clients see uncertainty as something they can investigate rather than something they need to escape. Space for thoughtful inquiry allows coaches to assist clients in understanding what provides direction for their choices, while preserving the meaning as a personal, evolving, and open one that invites even more reflection.
Reconnecting Decisions With Personal Values
When existential anxiety is experienced, it may be more obvious when clients do not feel connected to the trajectory of their life. They might have accomplished something significant in their career or life but feel unsure that what they’ve done is what they really want. In Advanced Coaching, values exploration can help the client identify the values they want to apply when making future decisions. Questions could include what they want their answers to be, what they would regret not having considered, what they think they should pay more attention to, or where they feel their actions don’t align with their values. Values don’t always translate into big changes. If a client values relationships, creativity, learning, or contribution more highly, they might make smaller adjustments to bring their daily behaviours closer to those priorities.
Coaches should also help clients identify values and expectations they have taken on themselves, and those passed down from family, workplaces, social circles, and/or previous eras of their lives. What was once a significant goal might no longer be significant. Advanced Coaching can then relate reflection to choice – which is very practical. The client can name one action that demonstrates a specific value and see what happens when they take it. The goal here is not to ensure that the future is certain. Instead, values serve as a reference for making decisions when uncertainty exists. This can help clients move forward purposefully, even when they still have major questions about purpose to answer.
Working Constructively With Choice and Uncertainty
One of the main issues in existential approaches is the concept of freedom and responsibility, as the choices themselves may give rise to anxiety. The APA definition of existential anxiety clearly links this type of anxiety to freedom, responsibility and lack of absolute certainty. Advanced Coaching: Sometimes clients can become “stuck” if they think that they must be 100% confident before making an important decision. Life changes in career, relationships, leadership, moving, and lifestyle may lead to outcomes that are not entirely predictable. A coach can help the client distinguish between uncertainty and lack of preparation. Some information may be collected, risks may be assessed, and alternatives may be compared. But some things will be outside the client’s control, even with careful planning.
Questions may then evolve from “How can I be certain this is the right decision?” to “What information is reasonable for me to need?” or “Which is the most likely to be a correct approach in relation to what matters to me?” Take small tests to defuse the pressure on big decisions. If you’re considering a new job, you may start by visiting the field, building different skills, or talking to people currently working in that field. Advanced Coaching isn’t a way to take responsibility away from the client. Instead, it encourages you to think through your choices so clients can realise that even when you don’t know what will happen, you can still make a thoughtful decision.
Knowing When Coaching Should Give Way to Professional Mental Health Support
When conversations include anxiety, the boundaries of the professional become very significant. While Advanced Coaching may facilitate reflection on values, purpose, decision-making, identity, and future direction, it is not a replacement for psychotherapy or other mental health care. The International Coaching Federation suggests that coaches realise clients have needs beyond what they can offer and may need to refer clients to another professional who can help. Its current ethical guidance also supports working within the scope of a coach’s training and identifies situations where a coach may not be the best fit. When distress becomes too disruptive to daily living or when the client is having trouble coping, a coach should pay attention. General clinical advice also involves getting professional mental health help if anxiety becomes harder to cope with or interferes with daily life.
It is not a coaching relationship that has broken down. It demonstrates good professional practice and an understanding that different types of support serve different functions. In some cases, coaching can be provided alongside mental health treatment; however, roles must be distinguished, and it must be appropriate for the client. Advanced Coaching works best when coaches know what they can contribute and where their limits are. Keeping those boundaries intact fosters client well-being, ethical coaching and trust in the coaching relationship.
Conclusion
When beginning to ask what is the meaning, what is my identity, what am I responsible for, what is the meaning of death, or what is the direction in life, existential anxiety can arise. These concerns can arise alongside career/choice decisions, major transitions, changing relationships, and when old goals no longer serve a meaningful purpose. When these questions fall within the scope of coaching, Advanced Coaching can address them in a structured environment. Coaches do not seek to deliver answers, but can elicit reflection on values, assumptions, priorities, and decisions about how to deal with uncertainty.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How can Advanced Coaching support clients experiencing existential anxiety?
Advanced Coaching can explore values, purpose, identity, choices, and uncertainty through structured reflection. The coach empowers self-awareness and self-decision-making, not diagnosing or treating mental health issues.
What types of concerns may contribute to existential anxiety?
Clients may have feelings of uncertainty related to meaning, mortality, responsibility, identity, relationships, career direction or major life transitions. When previous objectives or priorities no longer seem relevant, these concerns may become more pronounced.
How can values help clients manage uncertainty?
Values serve as a reference when outcomes are not guaranteed. Clearly stating the top priorities and values can lead clients to actions that align with their values and priorities.
How does Advanced Coaching help clients make difficult decisions?
Advanced Coaching can provide clients with an opportunity to explore options, uncover assumptions, understand risk, discuss priorities and determine what they value in the choices they make, but not their level of certainty about the outcomes of those choices.
Why should coaches avoid giving clients definitive answers about purpose?
Purpose and meaning are very subjective. Coaches should be aware of and explore their own philosophies, values, and interpretations when leading a coaching conversation, rather than imposing them on the conversation.
When should a client be referred to a mental health professional?
Referral may be warranted if anxiety is causing significant distress, interfering with functioning or when clinical expertise is needed. Acknowledging these limits supports good, safe coaching and client care.