Become the author of your life.
Existential Therapy
The questions that bring people into existential work tend to arrive uninvited. A diagnosis, a loss, a chapter ending, or a quieter sense that the way you have been living no longer fits. The questions are old — meaning, mortality, freedom, isolation, authenticity — but they become personal under pressure. They are not problems with solutions. They are conditions of being human that ask different things of us at different points in life. In therapy, we make room for them rather than rushing them toward answers. What emerges is usually not a new philosophy but a different relationship to your own life.
Norman Klaunig, MA, LPC, NCC | Texas LPC #89856 | English and German
At a glance
Specialization: Meaning crises, mortality concerns, identity and authenticity, freedom and responsibility, major life transitions, midlife and later-life depth work, end-of-life questions, the search for purpose
Theoretical orientation: Depth-oriented, existential, trauma-informed, transpersonal, spiritually integrative, integral, meaning-centered
Therapist: Norman Klaunig, MA, LPC, NCC
License: Texas LPC #89856
Office: 1528 W Contour Dr, Suite 102, San Antonio, TX 78212
Service area: Online statewide in Texas; in person in San Antonio
Languages: English, German
Insurance accepted: Aetna, BCBS, Curative, United Healthcare, and Medicare (traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans from Aetna, BCBS, and United Healthcare)
What existential therapy is
Existential therapy is a depth-oriented approach that takes the so-called "given" conditions of human life seriously — that we will die, that we are ultimately alone in our experience, that we are free and therefore responsible, and that we are meaning-making creatures. Rather than treating these as problems to solve, existential therapy works with how a person is already in relationship to them, and how that relationship is shaping the life they are living. It is appropriate for people facing major transitions, losses, illness, identity shifts, and the recognition that an outwardly successful life feels hollow.
This is not the same as philosophy, and it is not the same as motivational coaching. It is psychotherapy with a particular focus: not just on what is happening in your life, but on the underlying conditions that all human lives operate within, and how you are meeting them.
The four conditions existential therapy works with
The existential tradition, particularly as developed by Irvin Yalom and others, organizes the work around four conditions every human life eventually has to reckon with. Most of the difficulties that bring people into existential therapy involve at least one of these.
Mortality
The fact that we and the people we love will die. This is not a problem to be solved but a condition to be lived in relation to. Awareness of mortality is often pushed to the margins of awareness until something — a diagnosis, a loss, an aging body, a near miss — moves it to the center. When it moves to the center, the rest of life gets reorganized around it, often in ways that are confusing or painful before they become clarifying. Existential therapy makes room for the work of being mortal without rushing it toward false acceptance.
Freedom and responsibility
The recognition that you are responsible for the life you are making — even within constraints you did not choose, even within structures that limit your options, even when you cannot fully see what you are responsible for. Existential freedom is often experienced as a burden before it is experienced as a possibility. The clinical work is not to talk you into one stance or the other. It is to help you take an honest look at the choices you are actually making, including the ones you have been treating as not-choices.
Isolation
The recognition that no one can fully be inside your experience, and you cannot fully be inside theirs. This is not the same as loneliness, though it can produce loneliness. Existential isolation is a structural feature of being a separate consciousness — and it sits underneath even the closest relationships. Therapy does not abolish it. What therapy can do is help you live in relationship to it without collapsing into either despair (no one understands me) or false fusion (we are completely one).
Meaning
The recognition that meaning is not delivered to us by the universe; it is something we participate in making. This is one of the most disorienting recognitions for many people, and one of the most freeing. Meaning crises arrive when the framework that was providing meaning — a job, a faith, a relationship, a life plan — stops being able to. Existential therapy is not about handing you a new meaning to replace the old. It is about working with the actual process of meaning-making, in your own life, with your own materials.
Existential and meaning-of-life questions rarely arrive on their own. They are usually triggered by a transition, a loss, a diagnosis, a relationship rupture, or a quieter sense that the way you have been living no longer fits. The work I do most often includes:
The transitions and questions I work with
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Career changes and collapses, divorce, becoming a parent, leaving a faith or community, immigration and cultural adjustment, the end of a long chapter, or the beginning of one you didn't plan for. Transitions are the most common entry point into existential work; the structural disruption surfaces the underlying questions. See life transitions therapy for a fuller treatment.
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The empty nest, retirement, late divorce, a serious diagnosis, the discovery that an outwardly successful life feels hollow inside, and the work of making sense of a life as it is being lived more deeply. Midlife in particular tends to be a moment when the life one constructed in early adulthood comes up for review.
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The sense that what you have been working toward doesn't matter, or that you have reached the goal and found it empty. Meaning crises are not signs of failure or pathology. They are often signs that a framework has outlived its usefulness, and that what comes next has to be built rather than inherited.
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Fear of death, awareness of finitude, life review, and the questions that arrive with serious illness in yourself or a loved one. For a dedicated page, see existential anxiety therapy.
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The work of becoming the author of your own life rather than living a life shaped by other people's expectations. This is some of the longest work, because authenticity is not a destination — it is an ongoing relationship to your own choices.
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Trauma, grief, and serious illness tend to surface existential questions, whether or not the person came in looking for that. Existential therapy can be woven into trauma therapy, grief counseling, or work around IVF and assisted reproduction when the underlying questions are doing as much of the work as the surface symptoms.
How existential therapy works
The work is less about technique than about presence and attention. We make room for what you are actually facing, including the parts that are difficult to bring elsewhere. We follow the questions where they go, rather than redirecting them toward easier ground.
This does not mean the work is unstructured. We use psychoeducation about the existential framework, we draw on specific tools when they fit — parts work, mindfulness-based approaches, somatic regulation, narrative exploration, journaling, structured life review — and we connect what is happening in the room to the questions you came in with. The broader frame is integral and meaning-centered: Wilber's Integral Theory for how human experience develops across levels and perspectives, and Wong's Meaning-Centered Therapy for the work of finding meaning in the face of suffering. Where trauma, grief, or anxiety are layered into the existential material, we address them with the modalities that fit, including EMDR and Written Exposure where indicated.
What tends to emerge over time is not a new philosophy but a different relationship to your own life. You begin to notice the choices you are actually making, the freedoms and constraints you are operating within, what is asking for your attention, and what you are willing to put your weight behind. The work does not end with answers. It ends — when it ends — with you living in a way that has more of you in it.
Approaches and frames I draw from in existential work
Existential and existential-humanistic therapy (Yalom, May, Bugental, Schneider)
Logotherapy and Meaning-Centered Therapy (Frankl tradition, extended in Paul T. P. Wong's contemporary Meaning-Centered Therapy)
Integral framework (Ken Wilber's Integral Theory)
Depth-oriented psychotherapy
Transpersonal counseling
IFS-inspired parts work
Mindfulness-based approaches and somatic regulation
Narrative and life-review work
Spiritually integrative methods, where the client wants to bring spirituality in
What existential therapy can change
Existential therapy does not promise to resolve the conditions of being human. It can change how you live in relationship to them:
A more honest relationship to your own mortality, which often paradoxically frees the present
The capacity to make choices from a settled place rather than from inherited reflex
A meaning that is yours rather than borrowed
A different relationship to the isolation that sits underneath even close relationships
The capacity to face difficult transitions without collapsing into them
An authenticity that is not performed but lived
This is slow work. It is also work that tends to keep paying off long after the formal therapy ends.
Get in touch
You can find your way.
Let me be your guide.
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FAQs
Frequently asked questions
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No. Existential therapy draws on philosophy — particularly the existential tradition associated with Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Buber, Frankl, and others — but it is psychotherapy, not philosophical instruction. The clinical task is to work with how you are actually living in relation to the conditions of being human, not to teach you a school of thought. Philosophical concepts come up only when they help illuminate something specific to your situation.
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No. Crisis is often what brings people in, but existential work is also useful for people who are functioning well on the surface and feel that something underneath has gone quiet, hollow, or off. For some clients, existential therapy is the work of going deeper after years of more surface-level therapy has helped with the obvious problems and left the underlying ones untouched. The threshold for beginning is not "is this bad enough"; it is "do I want to look at what is actually here."
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CBT and similar approaches focus on identifying and changing specific patterns of thought and behavior. They are evidence-based, often effective, and well-suited for many concerns. Existential therapy works at a different layer — not on individual patterns but on the underlying relationship to meaning, mortality, freedom, and authenticity. The two are not opposed. Many clients have done CBT-style work first and come to existential therapy because they want to address what was underneath the patterns. I integrate cognitive and behavioral tools where they fit, but the work is shaped by the existential frame.
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In our sessions, we'll explore your values, passions, and beliefs to help you rediscover what gives your life meaning. Together, we'll work on creating a roadmap towards a more purposeful and connected existence.
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Major life transitions include career changes, job loss, retirement, divorce, the death of a partner or parent, becoming a parent, the empty nest, immigration and cultural adjustment, leaving a faith or community, a serious diagnosis, and the end of a long chapter or the beginning of one you didn't plan for. Spiritually transformative experiences can also be life transitions. You determine which event feels like a major transition to you.
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Absolutely. Life transitions can be stressful and disorienting. Through counseling, you'll gain coping strategies, build resilience, and learn to embrace change as an opportunity for growth and self-discovery.
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Yes, existential concerns and feelings of isolation are common themes in therapy. Together, we'll explore these feelings, build self-awareness, and work on fostering a deeper sense of connection to yourself and others.
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In our sessions, we'll work on identifying your core values and beliefs. By gaining clarity about who you are and what you want, you'll feel empowered to make decisions that truly reflect your authentic self.
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Definitely. Through therapy, you'll learn techniques to manage anxiety and build emotional resilience. We'll work on developing a toolkit of coping strategies to help you navigate life's uncertainties with greater ease and confidence.
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In counseling, we'll start by exploring your vision of a fulfilling life. From there, we'll set achievable goals and develop an action plan to help you move toward the life you desire. I'll be there to support and guide you every step of the way.
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Yes, therapy can help you navigate existential concerns in a way that enhances your relationships. By gaining a deeper understanding of yourself and your place in the world, you'll be better equipped to communicate your needs, set healthy boundaries, and build more meaningful connections with others.
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Yes. This is a common reason people find me. The realization that an outwardly successful life feels hollow is itself a kind of transition, and it deserves serious depth work, not reassurance.
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No. The existential framework works equally well with religious, agnostic, secular, and spiritual clients. The conditions it works with — mortality, freedom, isolation, meaning-making — are conditions of being human, not propositions you have to accept. Your particular framework for understanding those conditions is what we work with, not what we replace.
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It depends on what brought you in and how deep the work wants to go. Some existential issues can be substantially addressed in months. Others — particularly those involving major life reorganization, midlife identity work, or long-running questions about authenticity — are longer arcs measured in years. I do not promise a number. What I can say is that existential work tends to compound; the recognitions and capacities that develop in it usually keep working in your life well after the formal therapy ends.
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Yes, often in combination with other approaches. Existential anxiety in particular has a dedicated page: existential anxiety therapy. Depression with an underlying meaning crisis frequently responds to existential work in ways that symptom-focused approaches alone do not. Trauma work and existential work can be integrated, especially when the trauma has surfaced existential questions about safety, meaning, or who you are after what happened. The right mix depends on what you are carrying.
For fees, insurance, telehealth setup, and in-person availability, see the FAQs.
Further reading
The existential tradition has fewer client-targeted resource organizations than other clinical areas — much of the most useful reading is found in books. The sources below are credible places to start, weighted toward those a non-specialist can actually engage with.
Viktor Frankl Institute. https://www.viktorfrankl.org/ — For general readers: Frankl's writing on meaning-making, logotherapy, and life's purpose; accessible to non-specialists.
Greater Good Science Center (UC Berkeley). https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/ — For general readers: science-based articles on meaning, purpose, well-being, and the conditions for a meaningful life, from a major university research center.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Existentialism. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/ — For readers wanting depth: scholarly but plainly written overview of the existential tradition.
APA Division 32 — Society for Humanistic Psychology. https://www.apadivisions.org/division-32 — For curious readers and clinicians: APA's home for humanistic and existential approaches to therapy.
Existential-Humanistic Institute. https://ehinstitute.org/ — For clinicians and serious learners: long-standing professional organization in the existential-humanistic tradition.
Society for Existential Analysis (UK). https://existentialanalysis.org.uk/ — For clinicians and serious learners: UK professional society publishing the Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis.
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