For the individual involved, a psychological crisis appears to be a “standing at the threshold” experience, which is often expressed in the form of a borderline or boundary situation, with metaphors such as “I was on the edge of the abyss,” “I had reached the wall,” “I had come to a crossroads,” “I felt it was impossible to turn back,” “I had pushed myself to the limit.” Phrases such as these are often heard in psychotherapy practices. The transition between the phases is emotionally very demanding, and psychologically it can be linked to Rank’s idea of life as a series of birth and separation traumas, while in myths and religions it is related to initiation and rites. These processes involve the symbolic death of the “old” self and the birth of a “new” personality open to self-transcendence.

Zoltán Kőváry, Applications of Existential Psychology, Vol. 2