Sources and method – Crisis of meaning

This topic area deliberately deals with the non-clinical, existential side of life crises – not depression as an illness, for which this portal has its own topic area. The 15 topic pages are based on statutes (gesetze-im-internet.de), guidelines of the Federal Joint Committee (Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss), publications of professional associations and providers and – where expressly stated – on individual examples from providers' websites. The "Evidence" field of each topic page names the specific sources.

Why "crisis of meaning" is not a medical term here

"Crisis of meaning" (Sinnkrise) is not a diagnostic term in ICD-10-GM or ICD-11. Where a crisis of meaning comes with signs of a mental illness requiring treatment – in particular depression – the pages explicitly refer to this portal's own topic area "Depression" instead of duplicating medical content or downplaying an illness. Conversely, a crisis of meaning without such signs is not presented here as an illness just because it is distressing.

Sources

1. Gesetze im Internet (gesetze-im-internet.de), Federal Ministry of Justice and Federal Office of Justice, retrieved September 2026: consolidated versions of, among others, § 629 BGB, §§ 7b–7e SGB IV, §§ 27, 92, 13 Abs. 3 SGB V, §§ 29 ff., 81 ff., 82a SGB III, Pflegezeitgesetz (Caregiver Leave Act), Familienpflegezeitgesetz (Family Caregiver Leave Act), Schwangerschaftskonfliktgesetz (Pregnancy Conflict Act). Basis for all sections cited in the text.
2. Psychotherapie-Richtlinie of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), current version (g-ba.de), retrieved September 2026. Basis for the process and scope of the psychotherapy consultation hour, trial sessions and acute treatment.
3. S3-Leitlinie/Nationale VersorgungsLeitlinie Unipolare Depression (S3 guideline/National Disease Management Guideline on unipolar depression), AWMF register (awmf.org), current version. Basis for distinguishing between a crisis of meaning and depression requiring treatment.
4. ICD-10-GM, Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), in particular the codes Z60.0, Z63.– and F32/F33/F43.2. Basis for classifying it as a descriptive life circumstance rather than a diagnosis.
5. TelefonSeelsorge Deutschland (telefonseelsorge.de), retrieved September 2026. Basis for phone numbers, availability, sponsorship and chat/e-mail times.
6. NAKOS – Nationale Kontakt- und Informationsstelle zur Anregung und Unterstützung von Selbsthilfegruppen (National Contact and Information Centre for the Encouragement and Support of Self-Help Groups) (nakos.de), retrieved September 2026. Basis for the description of self-help structures.
7. Gesellschaft für Philosophische Praxis / Achenbach-PP (achenbach-pp.de) as well as Wikipedia articles "Philosophische Praxis" and "Gerd B. Achenbach" with the primary sources referenced there, retrieved September 2026. Basis for the origins and self-understanding of philosophical life counselling.
8. Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands (Humanist Association of Germany) (humanismus.de), retrieved September 2026. Basis for the description of secular life counselling and Lebenskunde (life skills education).
9. State-specific educational leave laws (Bildungsurlaub, Bildungszeit, Bildungsfreistellung) of the 14 federal states excluding Bavaria and Saxony, and in addition private overview portals (including bildungsurlaub.de) for orientation on deadlines and federal states, retrieved September 2026.
10. Websites of individual monastery guesthouses (including Kloster Wennigsen, Benedictine monastery Disentis, Abtei Münsterschwarzach) and the private directory kloster-auf-zeit.de, retrieved September 2026, as illustrative examples of prices and conditions – no guarantee of completeness or up-to-dateness.
11. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Beratung (DGfB) (German Counselling Society) (dachverband-beratung.de), retrieved September 2026. Basis for the note on voluntary quality standards in the unregulated counselling market.
12. Holmes, T. H. & Rahe, R. H. (1967), The Social Readjustment Rating Scale, Journal of Psychosomatic Research – expressly marked as a historical, US source, not used as a current German standard.

Where information is expressly marked as uncertain

For some statements, no reliable, current German primary source could be found during research. This applies in particular to:

• any statement on how common a "crisis of meaning" or "midlife crisis" is in the German population – no reliable, current German study with concrete figures was found; the pages "Recognising a crisis of meaning" and "Crisis of meaning in midlife" state this explicitly and deliberately avoid invented statistics;
• the exact waiting time for a place in psychotherapy paid for by health insurance – it varies greatly by region and is not recorded uniformly by the authorities, which is why no specific number of weeks is given;
• the exact costs of a stay in a monastery – the amounts given on the relevant page are individual examples taken from monastery websites at the time of research, not a universally valid price list;
• the implementation status of Saxon educational leave law as of the date of these pages (September 2026): the Sächsisches Qualifizierungszeitgesetz (SächsQZG) was passed by the Saxon state parliament on 4 February 2026 and promulgated in the Sächsisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt on 27 February 2026, but does not enter into force until 1 January 2027; the page "Educational leave for orientation" describes this as law that has been passed but is not yet in effect. Unlike the usual 5 days elsewhere, the law provides for only 3 paid days per year, requires at least six months of employment and requires an application 12 weeks in advance;
• the exact number of trial sessions approved in an individual case – the Psychotherapie-Richtlinie sets a fixed range for this (adults: at least two, up to four; children, adolescents and people with intellectual disabilities: up to six), but which number within this range is actually needed in an individual case is decided in practice.

In all these cases, the relevant topic page states the uncertainty explicitly instead of presenting a number or assessment as established fact.

What this platform does – and what it does not

• Legal statements (e.g. on § 629 BGB, sabbaticals, educational leave or having psychotherapy paid for) come from the statutes and guidelines named. In particular, it is made explicitly clear that there is no general statutory right to a sabbatical and that § 629 BGB has nothing to do with it – this distinction is deliberately not blurred.
• Where there is no statutory deadline, the relevant page expressly says "No statutory deadline" instead of an invented deadline.
• This platform does not make diagnoses and does not replace medical, psychotherapeutic or legal advice in an individual case. In case of signs of possible depression or suicidal thoughts, it expressly refers to professional help and emergency services, not to self-help alone.
• Services such as life counselling, philosophical practice or coaching are described as what they legally are: non-medical services that are not state-regulated in Germany and are not reimbursed by health insurance – not an equivalent substitute for psychotherapy.
• In case of uncertainty or urgency, a specialist service, a doctor or, in an emergency, the emergency services (112) are always the more reliable point of contact than these information pages – see Advice and contact points for a crisis of meaning.