Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 4, 2020, pp. 229–237 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORIAL FOREWORD APPLYING EXISTENTIAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TO MENTAL HEALTH KENNETH E. VAIL III Cleveland State University DANIEL SULLIVAN University of Arizona MARK J. LANDAU University of Kansas JEFF GREENBERG University of Arizona Human existence is characterized by some rather unique psy- chological challenges. Because people can reflect on their lives and place in the world, they are regularly confronted with a variety of existential concerns: death and mortality; the bur- dens of freedom; uncertainty regarding one’s identity; isola- tion from others; and indeterminate meaning in life. Existential social psychology (Greenberg, Koole, & Pyszczynski, 2004; Vail & Routledge, 2020) investigates whether and how such exis- tential concerns shape everyday life and, as highlighted in the present special issue, how such processes impact mental health and social functioning. EXISTENTIAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SHARED ROOTS AND JOINT EFFORTS Existential psychology builds on the philosophical contribu- tions of thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Address correspondence to Kenneth E Vail III, Department of Psychology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, 44107. Email:
[email protected] G4834.indd 229 5/21/2020 3:37:29 PM 230 VAIL ET AL. Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, Beauvoir, and Tillich, as well as nota- ble insights from psychodynamic and humanistic psychologists such as William James, Sigmund Freud, Otto Rank, Karen Hor- ney, Viktor Frankl, Erich Fromm, Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Ernest Becker, and Irvin Yalom. These early views inspired a rich tradition in clinical psychology of applying existential phi- losophy to understand clinical issues of psychopathology, well- being, and flourishing.