2026 invited Speaker: Evgenia T. Georganda, PsyD, ECP

Presenting: Antigone, Kierkegarrd and Satre: Authenticity in Defiance

Sophocles’ play Antigone dramatizes the clash between divine law and human authority, yet its enduring power lies in how it anticipates existentialist themes of authenticity, freedom, and moral courage. This paper examines Antigone’s defiance of Creon through the lenses of Kierkegaard and Sartre, highlighting how her choice to bury her brother reveals two dimensions of existential authenticity: the Kierkegaardian “single individual” acting in faith before God, and the Sartrean subject embracing radical freedom and responsibility. Antigone’s refusal to compromise illustrates the paradox of moral courage: integrity, inspiration, and legacy come at the price of isolation, loss, and personal destruction. Her stance also foregrounds the tragic interplay of fate and free will — bound by her cursed lineage yet defined by her conscious choices. By reading Antigone as an existential archetype, this presentation argues that her tragedy illuminates the universal struggle to live authentically in the face of external authority, uncertainty, and mortality.

Evgenia T. Georganda, PsyD, ECP, is an Existential-Humanistic therapist, member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and of Division 32 of Humanistic Psychology. Evgenia is a certified psychotherapist and member of the European Association of Psychotherapists (EAP), of the Federation for Existential Therapy in Europe (FETE), a member of the Hellenic Psychological Society (HPS) and of the Association of Greek Psychologists (SEPS). Evgenia has a private practice in Athens, Greece since 1987, when she returned from the United States, working with individuals and groups. She has worked extensively with individuals with chronic and life-threatening illnesses and has served for several years in the Board of Directors of Thalassemia International Federation (TIF). Evgenia has taught psychology at both graduate and undergraduate programs in private colleges and the Greek University of Thessaly, as well as lectured and run seminars both in local and international congresses and workshops.

She is the author of four books and two albums from her solo photo exhibitions and has written articles for journals and collective works both in Greece and abroad. In her effort to make existential psychotherapy known to the Greek community she co-founded “gignesthai”, the Hellenic Association for Existential Psychology, where she is trainer and supervisor. For her and her association’s “outstanding and lasting contribution to Humanistic psychology” she was awarded in 2023 the Charlotte and Karl Buhler Award by Div.32 of APA. Evgenia has served as secretary in the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Psychotherapists of Greece (NOPG) and membership secretary and member of the Board of Trustees of the Federation for Existential Therapy in Europe (FETE).