Wegweiser Crisis of meaning · Orientation & support Deutsch

🔄 Crisis of meaning after an upheaval in life

Job loss, separation, children leaving home, retirement or a serious diagnosis can trigger questions of meaning – with no fixed timetable for processing them.

Upheaval in life Retirement Empty nest Critical life events

In brief

Drastic changes – losing a job, a separation, children leaving home, the transition into retirement, a serious diagnosis or a move – often raise fundamental questions about your way of life. This is a normal human adjustment reaction and not a weakness. There is no "right" time frame for it: some people work through an upheaval in weeks, others need considerably longer.

Step by step

  1. Name the specific triggerUnderstanding which upheaval triggered the question of meaning helps you find suitable support.
  2. Use topic-specific helpFor job loss, the topic area "Unemployed people" (Arbeitslose) of this portal helps; for grief after a death, a separate grief topic area; for questions of separation, a marriage/family counselling centre.
  3. Respect your own paceComparisons with the supposed pace at which others process things are rarely helpful.
  4. Seek professional assessment if the strain persistsIf hopelessness or withdrawal last for weeks, check the warning signs on the page "When professional help is needed".

Deadlines

Watch out – common mistakes
  • There is no statutory or medically binding deadline by which an upheaval in life must be "processed".
  • Important decisions (e.g. selling the house right after the children leave, a hasty new relationship after a separation) should as far as possible not be made solely out of the acute upheaval.
  • Classic instruments for measuring "life stress" (e.g. the US Holmes-Rahe scale of 1967) are historically influential but old, culturally tied to the USA and not to be understood as an individual diagnosis.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals

ICD-10-GM Z codes as a documentation aid

For medical documentation there are descriptive codes such as Z60.0 ("Problems of adjustment to life-cycle transitions") or the Z63 group ("Other problems related to primary support group, including family circumstances"). These codes describe a life situation but are not themselves an illness diagnosis and do not in themselves create an entitlement to treatment.

Critical life events in stress research

The "Social Readjustment Rating Scale" developed by Holmes and Rahe in 1967 is among the historically most influential instruments of stress research on drastic life events. It was, however, developed and standardised in the USA of the 1960s; whether it can be applied unchanged to present-day conditions in Germany is disputed in research. It is mentioned here solely as historical context, not as a current diagnostic instrument.

Who is responsible
  • Varies depending on the trigger – see the linked topic areas
Further reading
Recognising a crisis of meaning: an overviewSelf-help groups and discussion circles

Quick questions

Worum geht es bei „Crisis of meaning after an upheaval in life“?
Job loss, separation, children leaving home, retirement or a serious diagnosis can trigger questions of meaning – with no fixed timetable for processing them.
What should I do first?
  • Name the specific trigger: Understanding which upheaval triggered the question of meaning helps you find suitable support.
  • Use topic-specific help: For job loss, the topic area "Unemployed people" (Arbeitslose) of this portal helps; for grief after a death, a separate grief topic area; for questions of separation, a marriage/family counselling centre.
  • Respect your own pace: Comparisons with the supposed pace at which others process things are rarely helpful.
What do I need to watch out for?
  • There is no statutory or medically binding deadline by which an upheaval in life must be "processed".
  • Important decisions (e.g. selling the house right after the children leave, a hasty new relationship after a separation) should as far as possible not be made solely out of the acute upheaval.
  • Classic instruments for measuring "life stress" (e.g. the US Holmes-Rahe scale of 1967) are historically influential but old, culturally tied to the USA and not to be understood as an individual diagnosis.
Evidence
  • ICD-10-GM Z60.0, Z63.– (BfArM, icd-code.de)
  • Holmes, T. H. & Rahe, R. H. (1967): The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research – expressly marked as a historical, US source, not as a current German standard.
As of

As of September 2026 · Sources and method

A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.