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Losing the meaning of life


Existential Depression: When Life Loses its Meaning

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People with high intellectual capacities can suffer from a very particular type of depression. It appears when they feel that life has no meaning, that injustices abound and that we’re finite, lonely beings without true freedom.

Written and verified by psychologist Valeria Sabater.

Last update: 11 June, 2022

Existential depression is a little-known, but recurrent, psychological condition. Some of its characteristics include feeling that you don’t meet expectations, that life is meaningless, or that the world is unfair, full of injustices, and infinite inequalities.

This term may sound strange to you, and even reckless from a clinical standpoint. It’s true that it doesn’t appear in the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and, also, that you probably don’t know anyone who’s been diagnosed with it. However, we need to note that it’s a common psychological condition and that some people do suffer from it.

The history of existential depression

In 2012, Dr. Robert Seubert published a research article in the Journal of the European Psychiatric Association to highlight an important fact. A part of our society doesn’t respond to normal depression treatments, and this could be related to personality types and even to high intellectual abilities.

Some people navigate in other psychic universes, where they ask themselves deeper questions and feel a kind of unusual suffering. Feeling anxious about the future of the world or sadness for not finding the real meaning of life could make up a very particular type of depression.

Existential depression manifests in people with high intellectual abilities.

Existential depression: definition, symptoms, and causes

It’s possible that this type of depression takes us back to authors such as Søren Kierkegaard or Friedrich Nietzsche. They spoke about the principles of freedom and individual or personal responsibility, human loneliness, and that very classic concept of existential anguish.

This last term refers to a fear of the future, the importance of our decisions, and the fear of not becoming what one expects. What does all this have to do with existential depression itself?

Quite a lot, actually. One of the figures who has studied this psychological condition the most has been Irvin David Yalom, psychotherapist and emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University. One of his most notable works is the book Existential Psychotherapy.

In it, he talks about the main characteristics a patient with this type of depression shows. As you’ll see, it’s quite similar to the ideas that most representative figures of existentialism in philosophy conveyed back in the day.

Read on to learn more: Everything You Need to Know About Stress, Depression and Anxiety

What are the symptoms of existential depression?

All types of depressions are multidimensional and complex phenomenons. Each person experiences depression in a different way and, in general, it’s usually linked with other disorders, such as anxiety. This type of reality has very particular characteristics. They’re the following:

  • Lack of meaning. The person doesn’t find meaning in their existence. It feels as if they’re moving into a void in which nothing is transcendent, authentic, or enriching to the mind.
  • Feeling that people don’t understand them. It’s when they feel like a stranger in the world, in addition to loneliness.
  • Not reaching personal fulfillment. Society is limited, as there are no mechanisms to promote creative, professional, human, and civic growth.
  • Suffering due to social injustice. Due to injustice and lack of freedom.
  • Rambling frequently about death. Thoughts about the fleetingness of human beings.
  • Suicidal ideation is also common in this type of psychological disorder.
  • Physical manifestations. Such as exhaustion, insomnia, hypersomnia, and eating disorders.

A common type of depression in people with high intellectual abilities

Existential depression is integrated into a theory that psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902-1980) developed. This approach is called positive disintegration. It’s based on the following explanation:

  • People can go through five stages of personal development.
  • However, about 70% of the population doesn’t go beyond the first three stages. It’s a development that makes people get used to the guidelines set by society, until little by little, they find their place in it and adapt.
  • On the contrary, 30% reach the peak of personal development. But far from it provoking more wisdom or well-being, it leads them to existential crises. They don’t feel a part of what society expects from them.
    This is what Dr. Dabrowski called “positive disintegration”. In other words, whoever reaches that level is obliged to reformulate themselves, disintegrate, and build themselves up again.
  • However, it’s common for them to doubt themselves, feel anguished, and not find meaning in anything that surrounds them for some time.
  • This type of suffering is common in people with a high IQ, as these men and women most frequently suffer from existential depression.

This article may also interest you: What to Do and Say if Your Partner Has Depression

Feeling that life has no meaning is one of the most recurrent ideas in people with existential depression.

Therapeutic strategies

Can we treat existential depression? Like any other type of mood disorder, this condition is also treatable.

In general, it’s important to individualize the therapeutic strategy and take each patient’s needs into account. In fact, in addition to psychological therapy, some patients may also benefit from pharmacological treatment (antidepressants). But how can a person with high intellectual abilities who suffers from depression be helped?

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy is a very good strategy. It helps them direct those thoughts towards more positive approaches so that they can find a new meaning in life. Also, it helps them establish goals they can achieve, meaning they’ll get excited about the future again.
  • Emotional management must be worked on in order to reduce the impact of the most negative or complicated emotions. The goal is to ensure that the patient continues to develop without the burden of anguish and negativity.
  • Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). This type of approach allows patients to understand that the world isn’t always what they want it to be. Thus, we must all accept uncertainty, contradiction, and injustice, without allowing suffering to nullify us. Instead, we must commit ourselves to setting a series of values and goals.

We should address existential depression, even if it isn’t in the manuals

In short, even though we don’t find existential depression in diagnostic manuals, there are effective treatments and strategies to mediate the well-being of those who suffer from it. Although it might be difficult for a patient to go see a doctor due to this, their feelings about the world around them will drive them to seek help.

When Life Loses Its Meaning: The Heavy Price of High Achievement

"If you have ever seen a building that has been burned out, you know it's a devastating sight. What had once been a throbbing, vital structure is now deserted. Where there had once been activity, there are now only crumbling reminders of energy and life. Some bricks or concrete may be left; some outline of windows. Indeed, the outer shell may seem almost intact. Only if you venture inside will you be struck by the full force of the desolation."

This is the opening of the 1980 book, Burn-Out: The High Cost of Achievement, written by Dr. Herbert Freudenberger, the first person to describe the syndrome known as burnout. Dr. Freudenberger explained his use of the metaphor by noting that people who burn out under the stress of living in a demanding world are very much like burned-out buildings. Although on the outside they may look the same, "their inner resources are consumed as if by fire, leaving a great emptiness inside ...."

The discovery of burnout in the 1970s came during an era of great social and personal stress. It was a time of government corruption (Watergate), war protests (Vietnam), stagflation, soaring divorce rates, oil shortages, and an unstable job market where long hours and stressful work environments were the norm. The chronic stress of this era caused many people, especially those who were "accomplishers and doers," to lose their enthusiasm.

Dr. Freudenberger noticed that while most of his high-achieving clients had once pursued life with vigor, excitement, and optimism, over time their passion had been dulled, in some cases killed by what he called "a demon born of the society and times we live in;" times exemplified by swift changes and the "depersonalization" of neighborhoods, school, and work environments. They began to feel disengaged, disenchanted, and uninvolved, even when surrounded by family and friends. They began to view their jobs as draining and unrewarding. For many, life seemed to have lost its meaning.

Sound familiar? It should. Today's world is remarkably similar. War, economic woes, distrust of the government, soaring unemployment, seemingly endless workdays, and stressful jobs-all of these things are taking a heavy toll on the minds and bodies of our best and our brightest, leading to chronic fatigue, disillusionment, discontentment, and disengagement. In short ... burnout.

So I thought I'd share with you some pearls of wisdom from the man who discovered the condition known as burnout. Although the insights and advice Dr. Freudenberger offered to victims of burnout were published over 30 years ago, they bear repeating because they are no less true today than they were 30 years ago.

Dr. Herbert Freudenberger on ...

How burnout begins

"In a word, slowly. No matter how suddenly it seems to erupt, Burn-Out is a chronic condition, something a person has been working toward over a period of weeks, months, even years." (p. 13)

The type of person most likely to burn out

"The people who fall prey to [burnout] are, for the most part, decent individuals who have striven hard to reach a goal. Their schedules are busy, and whatever the project or job, they can be counted on to do more than their share. They're usually the leaders among us who have never been able to admit limitations. They're burning out because they've pushed themselves too hard for too long." (pp. 11-12)

The symptoms common to burnout

  • Exhaustion: Usually this is the first distress signal of distress in burnout victims.
  • Detachment: Dr. Freudenberger explains that when burned-out people feel let down by people and situations (which inevitably happens), there's a strong temptation to think, ‘I don't care, it wasn't important anyway,'" which leads to detachment.
  • Boredom and cynicism: What was once exciting now feels draining, and "You begin to question the value of activities and friendships, even of life itself. You become skeptical of people's motives and blasé about causes."
  • Impatience and heightened irritability: As burnout worsens and it becomes harder and harder to accomplish tasks, impatience grows and spills over into irritability with everyone around.
  • A sense of omnipotence: Dr. Freudenberger notes that sentiments such as "No one else can do it. Only I can" are expressions of an unhealthy ego. He says, "Be assured — somebody else can do it. Maybe not the same way you'd have done it or with the same degree of excellence, but it may be a situation that doesn't require excellence."
  • Suspicion of being unappreciated: Burned-out individuals often become upset over what they see as a lack of appreciation of all they do, and they become increasingly bitter and angry.
  • Paranoia: When people feel put-upon and mistreated, as burned-out people often do, they become increasingly suspicious of their environment and the people around them.
  • Disorientation: feeling a growing separation from one's environment
  • Psychosomatic complaints: Dr. Freudenberger says that "Headaches, colds that linger, backaches — all these are signs that something is wrong, and it's usually something the person doesn't want to look at."
  • Depression: In contrast to depression unrelated to burnout, Dr. Freudenberger notes that burnout depression is "usually temporary, specific, and localized, pertaining more or less to one area of life."
  • Denial of feelings: "Since we know that people who are subject to Burn-Out are the carers among us, it doesn't make sense to assume that one day, for no particular reason, the caring simply stopped .... Far more logical is the assumption that the caring has been shut off for a very good reason--and shut off by the person himself. " (pp. 67-68)

What burnout looks like to others

"A person who is burning out is not, on the surface, a very sympathetic figure. He or she may be cranky, critical, angry, rigid, resistant to suggestions, and given to behavior patterns that turn people off. Unless we're able to probe beneath the surface and see that the person is really suffering, our tendency will be to turn away." (p. 11)

The excessive demands high-achievers place on themselves

"As we pile layer on layer, the weight bows us under. We begin to make excessive demands on ourselves, all the time draining ourselves of energy. To compensate for the weakness, the burning out we feel, we develop a rigidity. Things must be just so ... to maintain our position, we must constantly excel. Unfortunately, the harder we try, the more we impair our efficiency. About the only thing we succeed in doing is burning ourselves out more." (pp. 5-6)

Taking a good, hard look inside

"Since being out of touch with, or shutting off, large parts of yourself is a primary contributor to Burn-Out, your greatest protection against it is self-awareness. " (p. 27)

Keeping perspective

"... never lose sight of the fact that you, as a human being, are more important than the task, no matter how crucial the task may be." (p. 158)

Keeping a sense of humor

"Remember, if you want to avoid Burn-Out, heavy is out; light is in. Any time you can laugh at something, you reduce its importance, even if that something is yourself." (p. 179)

The paradoxes of society

"At the same time our society dangles the impossible dream in front of us, it sets the stage for Burn-Out by eroding tradition, banishing our support systems, barricading minority groups, and dissolving relationships. It sends out mixed messages to all our emerging groups. Women, gays, Hispanics, blacks-we tell them all they are entitled to the same rights and privileges as the rest of the population; then we take our children and move to the suburbs. We advertise ourselves as "equal-opportunity employers;" then we offer unequal pay for equal jobs. To someone buying the promise and setting up expectations based on it, the contradiction between the myth and the reality is devastating. Not the least reason why Burn-Out is on the rise today is that our society abounds in paradoxes like these." (p. 198)

Overcoming Burnout

Dr. Freudenberger offers three basic ingredients for overcoming burnout:

Self-Awareness: He says to ask yourself, "Are you in charge of your life? Or has it taken charge of you? By fostering this kind of awareness, you will eventually get in touch with the real you that you have become so estranged from, and some of your detachment will vanish." (p. 205)

Kindness: Dr. Freudenberger recommends getting out an old family photo album. He explains, "Old photographs teach us a lot, especially about kindness ... when you sit down with your album, look at that child you were from the vantage point of who you are now .... And remember, that little kid hasn't vanished from the earth. " He reminds us that the child in us is alive and well somewhere inside and that we can help that child emerge by being kind to ourselves, accepting who we are, and exploring where we want to go.

Changing: The more well-rounded our lives are, the more protected we are from burnout. He recommends, "If you've stopped trying new activities, make a conscious effort to start again. Dig up your old adventurous spirit and get it going. Try jogging or skating or swimming or tennis or dancing, but try something."

Finally, Dr. Freudenberger offers encouragement: "In every fire," he says, "there are glowing embers. You can use them to rekindle the spark."

And that's true. Burnout is not a terminal condition. But it's also not a condition that gets better by being ignored. So take an honest look at your life. Reassess your goals in terms of their intrinsic worth and update them as needed. A choice you made early on in life may not be the best choice for you right now.

Also, look at your relationships as objectively as possible. What are you bringing to your relationships, good and bad? And explore what your relationships are giving to and taking from you.

Look at your work. Does it consume you? Do you have a life apart from your job, or is your life your job? And is that what you really want?

Finally, what's the state of your social life? Do you have one? Is there something you've always wanted to do, but never took the time to do it? Why not?

When I was writing my book, High Octane Women: How Superachievers Can Avoid Burnout, a friend sent me what I considered a very powerful quote, so powerful that I ended my book with it. Written anonymously, I believe it should serve as an important reminder that life is more than just a job or a marriage or the zealous pursuit of any singular goal.

First, I was dying to finish high school and start college.

And then I was dying to finish college and start working.

Then I was dying to marry and have children.

And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so I could go back to work.

And then I was dying to retire.

And now I'm dying ...

And suddenly I realized I forgot to live.

Achievement and success are important, but are they worth sacrificing everything for?

© 2011 Sherrie Bourg Carter, All Rights Reserved

Quotes are taken from Burn-Out: The High Cost of Achievement by Dr. Herbert Freudenberger with Geraldine Richelson (1980, New York: Anchor Press).

90,000 midlife crisis - myth or reality?

Every person experiences a state of deep loss several times in his life. First - in adolescence, when we begin to fully realize ourselves as a person and worry about our future, then - during the period of the beginning of professional activity. But the most striking crisis on everyone’s lips is, of course, the midlife crisis, which affects all people, regardless of gender (contrary to the common stereotype).

We understand the myths and reality around this phenomenon and determine how to deal with it.

What scientists say about the midlife crisis

According to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the last and highest human desire is self-actualization. This is what we strive for when we set goals, learn new skills and constantly try to get out of our comfort zone in order to become better. It is very difficult to satisfy the need for self-actualization, since for this it is necessary to go through all the other stages: provide yourself with a roof over your head and food, surround yourself with loved ones, achieve a certain status in society - and only after that, when all other needs are more or less satisfied, we can start self-actualization.

The scientist himself in his book “Towards the Psychology of Being” wrote that less than 1% of the adult population manage to reach this stage. However, many by the age of 35 - the lower threshold of the midlife crisis - feel as if they have already achieved everything in life, and no longer know what to do now, although there are still many years of life and many unrealized opportunities ahead.

However, the achievement of the last step of the pyramid of needs, in fact, has no direct connection with a certain age. In the domestic and foreign scientific communities there are no unambiguous studies regarding the existence of a midlife crisis as a social and psychological phenomenon. The first to talk about this phenomenon was Carl Jung, who was engaged in psychotherapeutic practice. Observing his patients, he noticed that closer to the middle of life, people often experience a state that can be called a crisis. It is characterized by the loss of the meaning of life and conscious goals, but the understanding that nothing is over is still present.

Usually such a crisis is preceded by a rethinking of values ​​and beliefs, choosing a new path and, in a sense, rebirth with a certain experience behind

Following Jung, the midlife crisis was investigated by the American psychologist E. Erickson. The scientist associated this period with the loss of productivity that people feel due to the absence of a family or work (or all together), as well as due to dissatisfaction in these areas. By the age of 35, this feeling is especially aggravated, and a person faces a choice: either continue to do what does not bring pleasure, or rethink everything that was before. Following Erickson, his colleague D. Levinson added that another cause of the midlife crisis is the loss of youth, physiological changes and their external manifestations, which lead to a rethinking of values ​​and outlook on life.

However, no matter how scientists agree that at a certain age people undergo approximately the same crisis state, this does not mean that the midlife crisis can be considered a confirmed psychological phenomenon that is characteristic of every person without exception. The concept of the cyclical nature of life, in which there is room for productivity to rise and fall, applies to many people, but there is no reasonable age-specific reference or clear set of reasons why we find ourselves in a crisis.

Nevertheless, we all feel it

Despite the fact that domestic and foreign psychologists still do not agree on an unambiguous opinion about what a midlife crisis is and whether it exists at all, we all experience this state, sometimes without even noticing - as, for example, in the case of prolonged depression, which begins to be perceived more as a norm than a deviation from the usual state.

How can you tell if you have a so-called midlife crisis?

  • Lost motivation in personal or work life, or all at once.

  • The future looks sad, if not tragic.

  • You began to devalue the results of your activities, to blame yourself for mistakes that you didn’t really think about before.

  • Your mood changes for no apparent reason.

  • The idea of ​​a change of interests appeared, since the previous ones ceased to bring joy.

  • You have increased health concerns.

It is important to remember that individual symptoms may indicate a completely different period in your life. For example, lack of motivation is about emotional burnout or depression caused by general overwork and high workload, and not the need to revise one's values.

What you can do yourself: 4 tips

Do not be nervous

It is normal to experience an identity crisis, regardless of age and personal achievements. Sooner or later, you may come to the realization that you have already achieved everything, or you would like to try something new. The main thing is to figure out where this feeling came from. Try to describe what exactly does not suit you in your current life and how it can be corrected. It is not necessary to immediately start changing your life and run away to buy a motorcycle: it is enough to set a vector for positive thinking, showing yourself that you can go through any difficulties.

All life ahead

If you understand that half of your life is behind you, and some dreams have remained dreams, do not despair - you still have time to realize them. The only obstacle that may appear in your way is self-doubt and internal barriers, which are usually associated with certain fears and stereotypes. Consider: what is stopping you from doing what you love right now? Make a list of limiting reasons for yourself and assess how they depend on your decision.

Form habits and rituals

You may have noticed that if you don't brush your teeth in the morning, you are likely to feel bad all day long. And the point is far from hygiene, but the fact that the usual ritual was violated. The brain, repeating the same actions, gets used to a certain behavior, and if you go out of rhythm somewhere, you break the stability, and the brain starts to get nervous. Therefore, if you feel in a state of uncertainty and unpredictability, deliberately “drive” yourself into the system by forming new [useful habits ).

Accept your new values ​​

The basis of any work on yourself is acceptance. It is not worth denying that certain things have ceased to mean anything to you, as well as the fact that you are now in a crisis state. We, fortunately, live in the 21st century, which offers a unique number of opportunities - you are sure to find new life guidelines in which you will be as confident as in what was valuable to you before. But if you feel that you cannot cope on your own, you can contact a specialist.

Valeria Shapovalova

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§ 1.

Loss of the meaning of life and individual death. The riddle of death. Essays in psychological thanatology

§ 1. Loss of the meaning of life and individual death

Among the higher mental needs of a person, a special place is occupied by the need for the meaning of life . Satisfaction of this need is absolutely necessary for the preservation of normal mental activity of a person, the development of his personality, to achieve mental maturity and mastery in leading professional activities. Great thinkers have known for a long time that the loss of the meaning of life is one of the most severe losses (deprivations) in a person's life. No wonder L. N. Tolstoy wrote in his “Confession” that the loss of the meaning of life is equal to death[17].

We are talking here, no doubt, about psychological death, which makes the existence of the body, as it were, meaningless, in which, by the way, painful changes occur in the process of psychological death.

Having lost the meaning of his existence, a person finds himself in a deep psychological crisis. But where there is a psychological crisis, there are also external and internal conflicts, often closely interrelated. Crisis - a state of extreme aggravation of the conflict . When it comes not to a social, but to a psychological conflict, it should be taken into account that it turns into a crisis when a person, having a vital need (or a group of such needs-motives of behavior), due to the presence of obstacles, could not satisfy it, but now the conflict cannot be saved. The further persistence of the conflict, which has reached the level of a crisis state, is fraught with dangerous, in particular, pathological consequences. For example, a person who is deprived of the opportunity to satisfy his need to comprehend life may have a constant anxiety , suffer from serious nervous, mental and somatic diseases. To stop such development, he must find a way out of the crisis, he is forced to make a choice among the existing possibilities. He can, for example, abandon the goal, the pursuit of which has reached a dead end and has not led to the meaningfulness of life, as he hoped. To get out of the impasse, he can choose a new goal and in this way communicate the meaning of his existence. The choice of a new goal, a new goal setting is one of the mechanisms for a healthy adaptation of the individual. Moreover, it is psychologically important for a person to be able to attribute meaning to his new goal and activities to achieve it, i.e. successfully use meaning attribution mechanism . The value of the subjective attribution of meaning in such cases is great: after all, the same goal for other people may not have value and personal meaning at all.

If, for example, a person's chosen area of ​​professional activity does not correspond to his abilities and needs, and he finds himself in a crisis situation, a better new choice can lead him out of the crisis. There are a lot of such cases, although for the elderly, and even more so for the elderly, the choice of a new career is a very difficult, almost impossible task.

Another possible way out of existential crisis (namely, this is the crisis of the loss of the meaning of life) is the weakening of an unsatisfied need or its complete attenuation, if possible, elimination. The fact is that a number of human needs are included in that internal formation, which is called the essence of a person . Killing this need in him, we thereby kill the person himself to some extent, he already ceases to be full-fledged, especially in the psychological sense. Therefore, you can go a slightly different way. One can, for example, consider that it is not at all necessary that the life of each of us has its own, and even specific and significant meaning. The meaning of life is a relative phenomenon: what makes sense to me and gives meaning to my existence may seem meaningless to another. For me, for example, the life of a person who accumulates money or collects a collection of some objects is meaningless, but I can understand that it is these activities that give meaning to his existence.

Arguing in this way, we communicate explicit relativity to the problem of the meaning of life. At the same time, life to a large extent loses its significance for us, but some relief is achieved. With this view of things, it is easier for us to live. The most important thing is never to make sense of life only by means of a single goal: it is dangerous to think that only the achievement of this goal will make our life meaningful and significant. Making sense of one's own existence with the help of only one goal is a sign of unrealistic and narrow views of a person. A very common example of such narrowness of views is a person in love who believes that without a loved one - the only and irreplaceable one - life is meaningless, not worth living.

Such a belief is not harmful or even helpful when there are no barriers to connecting with a loved one and achieving happiness. But what to do in the case when a loved one refuses reciprocity, leaves or dies? A person who limits the understanding of his life to only one goal, in such cases immediately finds himself in a crisis situation, contemplates suicide, and often makes a real attempt on his life.

One of the signs of mental maturity man, I think, is that he has a wide field of choice of goals, a wide range of values, and when the difficulties of life force him to abandon one goal, he chooses another, which can be just as significant and attractive. Target substitution is a powerful psychological defense-adaptive mechanism.

However, if these possibilities are exhausted, if a person no longer sees such prospects for his earthly life, then the crisis turns out to be extremely deep, and the desire for death is strong and sincere. Interesting reflections on these issues are also found in the works of other authors [18].

The loss of the meaning of life and the peculiarities of the process of psychological death become more vivid in the experiences and behavior of those people who are aware of their hopelessly ill state and realize that they will soon die. Of course, each of us, from the moment when we first understand that our individual life on this earth has an end, finds ourselves in the state of a suicide bomber . In the psyche of a person who once realized the inevitability of his imminent death, there is always, consciously or unconsciously, the idea of ​​​​death and a feeling of accelerated approach to the “moment” of the onset of death, anxiety and even fear before this end, it would seem, senseless and absurd. However, a physically healthy person does not know the “moment” of his death, he cannot even approximately predict it, as a result of which his condition differs significantly from the condition of those sick people who were told by doctors that they were terminally ill and would die soon.

A well-known American psychopathologist and thanatologist did a lot of clinical research on the course of mental death of terminally ill people Elisabeth Kübler-Ross . Other researchers and physicians are also working in this difficult area. Their works describe the stages or phases of the psychological dying of a person. The descriptions of the phases of dying in the works of E. Kübler-Ross are realistic and instructive, although, as we shall see, they leave room not only for additions, but also for new interpretations. We believe, for example, that it was necessary to give the fullest possible description of the mental defense mechanisms of dying people, individual differences in their adaptive processes, and the dependence of the latter on the personality type of the dying person.

Let us proceed, however, to the description of the phases of a person's psychological death.

This text is an introductory fragment.

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