In This Moment, We Are All Dr. Rieux: COVID-19, Existential Anxiety, and the Absurd Hero

Abstract

With the COVID-19 pandemic, clients and therapists alike are apt to experience an increase in existential anxiety. Irvin Yalom formulates existential anxiety as the result of a confrontation with the givens of death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness. As a formulation for COVID-19 pandemic anxiety, Yalom’s formulation provides a means to grasp the existential crisis facing the individual wherein the ability to cope with anxiety and despair is overwhelmed. As a prophylactic for the paralyzing existential terror and despair faced through the existential threat of COVID-19, Albert Camus’ concepts of the absurd and the absurd hero are developed as a means to embrace the absurd and tragic character of the COVID-19 pandemic. The absurd and tragic heroes Sisyphus and Dr. Bernard Rieux become role models for the pandemic therapist.