Pninit Russo-Netzer, PhD

Presenting: Positive Anxiety and Existential Authenticity: Toward Meaning and Radical Hope

In this presentation, Pninit Russo-Netzer introduces positive anxiety as a vital force in existential therapy—anxiety not as pathology, but as a signal of freedom and possibility. Rather than being suppressed, existential anxiety can serve as a gateway to existential authenticity and open pathways toward meaning and radical hope. Drawing on the three-dimensional model of existential authenticity (Russo-Netzer & Davidov, 2020; Russo-Netzer, 2025; Davidov & Russo-Netzer, 2022a, 2022b), this framework highlights three dimensions through which existential authenticity can emerge: (1) the taken-for-granted space, where habitual narratives and limiting assumptions are encountered; (2) the space of situational freedom, where anxiety is reframed as the very experience of choice and possibility; and (3) the space of intentionality and meaning, where situational freedom becomes oriented toward values, purpose, and responsibility. Transformative life experiences often catalyze this movement, dismantling old frameworks and inviting new orientations. This model underscores how existential therapy can help individuals embrace anxiety as freedom, live more authentically, and cultivate radical hope, even amidst uncertainty and adversity.

Pninit Russo-Netzer, PhD, is an Associate Professor, author, speaker, and researcher. Her research focuses on meaning in life, existential psychology, well-being, resilience, spirituality, and post-traumatic growth across the lifespan.

She heads the Community, Meaning, and Recovery (C.M.R.) Research and Development Center and the Resilience and Optimal Development Lab at Achva Academic College. She is also the founder and director of the Compass Institute for the Study and Application of Meaning in Life and leads the Academic Training Program in Logotherapy (meaning-oriented psychotherapy) at Tel Aviv University.

Prof. Russo-Netzer serves as an academic advisor and consultant to institutions and organizations worldwide, including the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR). She serves on the Council of Advisors for the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), is an Associate Editor at Current Psychology, and has co-authored or co-edited several books, including Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology (Springer), Clinical Perspectives on Meaning: Positive and Existential Psychotherapy (Springer), Existential Authenticity (Springer), and Finding Meaning: An Existential Quest in Post-Modern Israel (Oxford University Press).

She is the recipient of the Spirituality and Meaning Researcher Award from the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and the Early Career Award from the International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology (ISSEP).

To read more about Pninit Russo-Netzer’s research and publications visit her Research Gate profile here.