Many people fear death and/or dying. These fears can be summarized as fearing the pain and loneliness of dying, the fear of non-existence, and the fear of the unknown after death. The most common fear, in Western society, is that the process of dying will be painful, prolonged, and will reduce the quality of life.
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).
It's natural to feel some sense of worry about death or dying. After all, it's normal to fear the unknown. You might think dying will be scary, painful or lonely. But if you have thanatophobia, your fear of death affects your daily life.
Fearing death also makes it harder for us to process grief. A recent study found that those who were afraid of death were more likely to have prolonged symptoms of grief after losing a loved one compared to those who had accepted death.
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.
“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.”
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.
Existential death anxiety is the belief that everything ceases after death; nothing continues on in any sense. Seeing how people deeply fear such an absolute elimination of the self, they begin to gravitate toward religion which offers an escape from such a fate.
The fear of dying alone is not uncommon. The urban dictionary recently included “monatophobia,” meaning “fear of dying alone.” This new word combines thanatophobia (fear of death) and monophobia (fear of being alone). For many of us, the idea of no one being there for us as we die is indeed terrifying.
Sharing your fears and sadness with people you love and trust might be a great relief for you. Many people say that talking about their feelings helps them to cope. It also helps your friends and family to understand more about your situation. In turn, this can make it easier for them to help and support you.
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.
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.
Our minds have a negativity bias for survival reasons. As discussed above, we're more motivated to pay attention to negative things to be better prepared for worst-case scenarios. This is why people experiencing depression, anxiety, pain, and illness are likely to think that death is near.
Your body stiffens, first, at your face and neck. The stiffening progresses to the trunk of your body and gradually radiates outward to your arms and legs and then your fingers and toes. Your body loosens again. A few days after death, your body's tissue breaks down, causing the stiff parts to relax again.
While the scariest phobia is subjective, one phobia that can cause significant distress is phasmophobia, or fear of the supernatural or ghosts. Research from 2018 indicates that fear of the supernatural is associated with several distinct symptoms such as: nighttime panic attacks.
The fear of losing a parent is common, and death can be a traumatic experience at any age. Enjoy the life you have with your parents by focusing on the positive and the present.
The presence of death anxiety is reported to peak in middle age and disappear in the elderly (20, 24, 25).
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.
The fear of death is particularly common in younger children around the ages of six and seven. 3 Children view death without all the trappings, religious beliefs, or defense mechanisms that adults have. Instead, children see death as a terrifying state of nothingness and don't necessarily understand what causes it.
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.