It’s called the “Dark Night of the Soul” and one can have several on one’s spiritual path.
In everyday language, many call it “hitting rock bottom”.
The ego has such a stranglehold on most people that they don’t start or fully surrender to their “Higher Self” even for a little bit, until they’ve reached a point where they have nowhere else to go because the Ego has run out of “answers.”
Btw - it’s totally avoidable and not “needed” at all, but for many, it’s absolutely needed and unavoidable…lol if that makes sense.