End-of-Life and Existential Issues

Existential psychologists consider universal concerns, including death, alienation, freedom, and meaninglessness. Such concerns often emerge alongside illness, loss, and end-of-life issues, particularly surrounding the management of life’s final stages, often serving as catalysts toward a confrontation with one’s mortality and meaning in the world. Variables such as gender shape how individuals navigate aging, illness, and issues of mortality. This entry examines variables and experiences related to existential concerns and end of life, the meaning-making process, diversity factors, and the role of psychologists.

Importance of Gender

Gender figures prominently in the experience of existential encounters and aging, as sex-specific health concerns, such as breast, gynecological, or penile cancers, and social mores for coping with physiological changes, grief, and meaning making are situated within a gendered cultural context. ...

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