Above Eliezer writes:

I suspect that most existential angst is not really existential. I think that most of what is labeled "existential angst" comes from trying to solve the wrong problem.

I would agree that much 'existential angst' might be depression (an unhappy chemical mental state) or dissatisfaction (an unhappy life state). However, there's also still actual real existential angst, unaddressed in the post.

As I would define it: existential angst is the feeling that the world isn't good enough; that there's too much that's bad and a refusal to just go along and accept it because the person didn't ask to be born or sign a contract, did they? Basically, it's the unresolved observation that life isn't fair. I will speculate that people who suffer from existential angst are either very empathetic (after all, how can you be happy when people are suffering?) or very idealistic, so that they cannot compromise on their expectation that life ought to be good.

However, my main problem is nihilistic angst, not existential angst, and I'm composing a post now about nihilistic angst.