If an earlier existential crisis was properly resolved, it makes it usually easier for the individual to resolve or avoid later crises. Some people may only experience some of these types or none at all. The individual's age does generally correspond to the type of crisis they experience, but not always since there is a lot of variation on the level of personal development. They can be triggered by the impression that one is past one's peak point in life and are often characterized by guilt, regrets, and a fear of death. Crises later in life are more backward-looking. The earlier crises tend to be more forward-looking: the individual is anxious and confused about which path in life to follow, especially concerning education and career as well as one's identity and independence in social relationships.

They all have in common a conflict about the meaning and purpose of one's life. Types commonly found in the academic literature include the teenage crisis, the quarter-life crisis, the mid-life crisis, and the later-life crisis. Categorizations are usually based on the idea that the issues at the core of existential crises differ with the individual's stage in life and personal development. Theorists try to address this by distinguishing between different types of existential crises. The specific symptoms can vary a lot from case to case. Outwardly, existential crises often express themselves in addictions, anti-social and compulsive behavior. Cognitive components encompass the problem of meaninglessness, the loss of personal values, and reflections about one's own mortality. Emotional components refer to the feelings they provoke, such as emotional pain, despair, helplessness, guilt, anxiety, and loneliness. The various aspects associated with existential crises are sometimes divided into emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. Synonyms and closely related terms include existential dread, existential vacuum, existential neurosis, and alienation. Their negative attitude towards life and meaning reflects various positions characteristic of the philosophical movement known as existentialism. Existential crises are accompanied by anxiety and stress, often to such a degree that they disturb one's normal functioning in everyday life and lead to depression. In psychology and psychotherapy, existential crises are inner conflicts characterized by the impression that life lacks meaning or by confusion about one's personal identity. Feelings of loneliness and insignificance in the face of nature are common in existential crises.

For threats to the existence of humanity, see Global catastrophic risk.

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