ABSTRACT

Objective

The purpose of this study is to offer a systematic phenomenological approach to explore existential anxiety, typically defined as the experience of becoming aware of the universal concerns including death, meaninglessness, freedom and loneliness. It focuses on in-depth exploration of Transformative Life Experiences (TLE), events which often induce radical and profound reorganization of one’s life.

Method

Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 150 adults who self-identified and accounted for a TLE in their lives. Data analysis was guided by a hermeneutic phenomenology paradigm that postulates that people account for their experience within the four lifeworld existentials of temporality, spatiality, corporality (embodiment), and relationality.

Results

A heuristic model was developed as an attempt to bridge the gap between the theoretical notion of existential anxiety and how it is subjectively experienced by interviewees.

Conclusions

Implications of the model for further research and practice are discussed, particularly the ability to identify a dominant universal concern, even when implicit, based on an exploration of one’s subjective account of TLE.

中文翻译：

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通过变革性的生活经历探索存在焦虑的现象学结构

摘要

客观的

本研究的目的是提供一种系统的现象学方法来探索存在焦虑，这种焦虑通常被定义为意识到包括死亡、无意义、自由和孤独在内的普遍关注的体验。它专注于深入探索变革性生活体验 (TLE)，这些事件往往会导致一个人的生活发生彻底而深刻的重组。

方法

数据是通过对 150 名自我认同并在其生活中存在 TLE 的成年人进行深入访谈而收集的。数据分析以解释学现象学范式为指导，该范式假定人们在时间性、空间性、肉体性（体现）和关系性这四个生活世界存在主义中解释他们的经验。

结果

一个启发式模型被开发为试图弥合存在焦虑的理论概念与受访者主观体验之间的差距。

结论

讨论了该模型对进一步研究和实践的影响，特别是基于对个人对 TLE 的主观描述的探索，识别主要普遍关注点的能力，即使是隐含的。