ANXIETY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFENCES IN AN EXISTENTIAL-HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Makarova Maria V.

The article provides an overview of fundamental works in existential philosophy and psychology on the nature and significance of human existence anxiety – Paul Tillich, Rollo May, Irwin Yalom, James Bugental, Tom Greening, Kirk Schneider. The development of ideas for working with existential anxiety and its significance in the formation of personality is shown in the frame of the American Existential-Humanistic Approach. An analysis of psychological defenses associated with avoiding existential questions of being is presented. The originality and novelty of the article lies in the systematization of ideas related to existential concerns and the psychological defences corresponding to them in Existential-Humanistic Approach.

Keywords:anxiety, existential anxiety, existential problems, existential concerns, psychological defense mechanisms, existential challenges, Existential-Humanistic Approach