One study suggests that elderly people are more likely to fear the dying process, while young adults are more likely to fear death itself. Another study found that the children of elderly parents actually had a higher level of death anxiety than their parents, peaking at around middle age.
Age and gender
The studies claim that death anxiety peaks in men and women when in their 20s, but after this group, gender plays a role in the path that one takes. Either gender can experience a decline in death concerns with age, but the studies show an unexpected second spike in women during their early 50s.
As kids get older, usually between ages 5 and 10, they start to understand the fact that death is final. They realize that the person who has died is not coming back. They also may start to associate certain images with death like skeletons or coffins, and may even have nightmares about these things.
We get better at this as we age. A 2000 meta-analysis found that fear of death grows in the first half of life, but by the time we hit the 61-to-87 age group, it recedes to a stable, manageable level.
A study in 2007 revealed that death anxiety peaks for both men and women during their 20's and declines as they age. Women in their 50's.
How common is thanatophobia? Research suggests that death anxiety is common, though people tend not to report their feelings. One study shows that between 3% and 10% of people feel they're more nervous than others about the thought of dying.
Most often, thanatophobia occurs after losing a loved one because loss reminds us of our own mortality. You can also develop death anxiety after having a near-death experience, such as being involved in an accident, or when seeing death on a regular basis (A&E workers are especially vulnerable).
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.
This could be because older people have experienced more of life, so they have less fear of missing out. Or it might be because they have more experience with witnessing and handling the death of others. 2. Religious belief increases our fear (but it's complicated).
Death is a natural part of life, and it's normal to think about it from time to time. But it's very common for people experiencing mental illness to think about death more than usual.
Research shows that overreacting, constantly worrying, and living in a state of perpetual anxiety can reduce life expectancy. 1 If this describes your typical response to everyday setbacks and snafus, it may pay in the very, very long run to learn ways to lighten up and lower stress.
Death anxiety is a common phenomenon in all societies, although older adults may be more prone to anxiety and fear when encountering death-related events compared to their younger counterparts [6].
In the United States in 2019, the death rate was highest among those aged 85 and over, with about 14,230 men and 12,666 women per 100,000 of the population passing away.
Children of primary school age
Between the ages of 5 and 7 years, children gradually begin to develop an understanding that death is permanent and irreversible and that the person who has died will not return.
This stage is also one of reflection. The dying person often thinks back over their life and revisits old memories.4 They might also be going over the things they regret.
We know death is coming, so why does it make us so sad? There are, of course, many reasons. Our loved ones play important roles in our daily lives, and their deaths leave gaping holes. Often, we want more time with them — more joy, more laughter, more healing — and death makes those hopes impossible to fulfill.
Experts in palliative care believe mortality is something that's wrongly feared because the act of dying is not actually frightening. Although we all have our own beliefs, no one truly knows what happens when you enter the “afterlife” - if there is one.
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.
3) Death is not the end (for a small part of you)
There is life after death. No, science hasn't discovered proof of an afterlife or how much the soul weighs. But our genes keep going after our demise.
Anxiety can both cause and contribute to a variety of fears. An overwhelmingly common concern is the fear of death. Some anxiety problems actually create the fear of death on their own. Sometimes the fear of death is a symptom of other anxiety disorders, and sometimes it is its own standalone issue.
While a fear of death sign can be a symptom of OCD, it's also a fear that affects many people from time to time, without necessarily indicating any greater mental health concern. It may also indicate other conditions, most commonly a specific phobia called thanatophobia.
According to a new CBS News poll, most Americans -- 54 percent -- say they don't spend much, or any, time thinking about their own death. Fourteen percent say they spend a lot of time thinking about it, while another 31 percent say they spend some time thinking about it. There are also differences according to gender.