There are several psychological theories that place fear of dying as our greatest fear and a huge motivating force. For example, Ernest Becker suggests that fear of death is what motivates us to try leave a lasting legacy behind. According to Becker, much of mental illness involves issues related to dying.
Death is the most commonly feared item and remains the most commonly feared item throughout adolescence. A study of 90 children, aged 4–8, done by Virginia Slaughter and Maya Griffiths showed that a more mature understanding of the biological concept of death was correlated to a decreased fear of death.
Other scholars suggest that our fear of death is what underpins the majority of human action – we are so anxious to face its inevitability that we fill our lives completely as a means to ignore or evade it. Death is one of the only things we know is for certain, and yet the uncertainty of it is what truly terrifies us.
The good news is fear of death fades as a person ages. Men who experienced thanatophobia in their 20's usually overcome their fear and are less likely to feel dread towards the subject later on. Women on the other hand, have a higher chance of experiencing a re-emergence of the problem in their 50's.
The reasons why death is scary are often related to the fears of the unknown, of non-existence, of eternal punishment, of the loss of control, and fear of what will happen to the people we love.
They find that atheists are among those least afraid of dying...and, perhaps not surprisingly, the very religious. Religion has long been thought to be a solution to the problem of death. Notions of an afterlife are nearly universal, though there is great diversity in the details.
There are only five basic fears, out of which almost all of our other so-called fears are manufactured. These fears include extinction, mutilation, loss of autonomy, separation, and ego death.
(Note: There are five core fears, or “universal themes of loss,” that capture the basic interpretations of danger that we all make. They are 1) fear of abandonment, 2) loss of identity, 3) loss of meaning, 4) loss of purpose and 5) fear of death, including the fear of sickness and pain.)
Fear of the unknown is universal, but it seems to take form most commonly in three basic human fundamental fears: Fear of Death, Fear of Abandonment or Fear of Failure.
There are several psychological theories that place fear of dying as our greatest fear and a huge motivating force. For example, Ernest Becker suggests that fear of death is what motivates us to try leave a lasting legacy behind. According to Becker, much of mental illness involves issues related to dying.
“A lot of our fear of death is about losing the things we've built up,” says Steve Taylor, a lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University in Leeds, England, and the author of Out of Darkness. “But elderly people let go of their attachment to these things, and in the process they let go of some of their fear.”
The act of dying, then — and being dead — is nothing to reasonably worry about, because, just like before we were born, there is no part of our consciousness that exists to experience it.
The fear of rejection (the need to be accepted) The fear of failure (the need to succeed) The fear of emotional discomfort (the need to feel emotionally comfortable) The fear of being wrong (the need to be right)
After surveying over 4,000 adults, Soukup and a team of researchers and psychologists found that the type of fear that holds us back in life manifests itself in 7 different ways. It's what she refers to as the "fear archetypes".
Thanatophobia is an intense fear of death or the dying process. While it's natural to feel anxious about death from time to time, thanatophobia is an anxiety disorder that can disrupt every aspect of your life. Don't be afraid to talk to a healthcare provider about your fears.
In fact, our most common fears—fear of heights, enclosed spaces, blood or injury, and animals like snakes and spiders—generally involve stimuli that are threatening.
The bottom line is that most humans and animals are afflicted with various forms of anxiety. Our six basic fears include poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of someone's love, old age and death. Most of these fears are not real but imaginary.
Matthew 10:28. "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
You could call it existential angst and behind it is a fear of death. However, to be anxious about one's demise, ultimately, is to fear life in itself as one cannot separate one from the other. Existential theorists would argue that at the root of all anxiety is ultimately a fear of death.