When the World Demands That You Become Someone Else: a tripartite model of existential regulation

This article presents the Theory of Existential Regulation, proposed by the author as a tripartite analytical model aimed at understanding how subjects exposed to contexts of social suffering preserve their existential integrity in situations of social delegitimization. Starting from a gap in social theory regarding the subjective mechanisms through which individuals respond to social suffering, the article proposes three mechanisms of existential regulation — anticipatory boundary, internal translation, and self-authorization of existence— which describe different ways through which individuals anticipate, reinterpret, and reorganize adverse experiences. Grounded in the epistemology of lived experience and drawing on elements of Stoic philosophy, the model articulates critical social theory and the interpretation of embodied experience, offering an analytical tool applicable to different social contexts, including clinical, educational and sociopolitical fields. Keywords: Existential regulation; social suffering; social theory.