Death anxiety (psychology)

Death anxiety is the morbid, abnormal, or persistent fear of one's own death. One source defines death anxiety as a "feeling of dread, apprehension or solicitude (anxiety) when one thinks of the process of dying, or ceasing to ‘be’". It is also referred to as thanatophobia (fear of death), and is distinguished from necrophobia, which is a specific fear of dead or dying persons and/or things (i.e. others who are dead or dying, not one's own death or dying). Lower ego integrity, increased numbers of physical problems, and more psychological problems are predictive of higher levels of death anxiety in elderly people.

The thought of [our] destruction is like a light in the middle of the night that spreads its flames on the objects it will soon consume. We must get used to contemplating this light, since it announces nothing that has not been prepared by all that comes before; and since death is as natural as life, why should be so afraid of it?

Robert Langs distinguishes three types of death anxiety:

Predatory death anxiety arises from the fear of being harmed. It is the most basic and oldest form of death anxiety, with its origins stemming from the first unicellular organisms’ set of adaptive resources. Unicellular organisms have receptors that have evolved to react to external dangers and they also have self-protective, responsive mechanisms made to guarantee survival in the face of chemical and physical forms of attack or danger. In humans, this form of death anxiety is evoked by a variety of danger situations that put the recipient at risk or threatens their survival. These traumas may be psychological and/or physical. Predatory death anxieties mobilize an individual’s adaptive resources and lead to fight or flight, active efforts to combat the danger or attempts to escape the threatening situation.

Predation or predator death anxiety is a form of death anxiety that arises from an individual physically and/or mentally harming another. This form of death anxiety is often accompanied by unconscious guilt. This guilt, in turn, motivates and encourages a variety of self made decisions and actions by the perpetrator of harm to others.

Existential death anxiety is the basic knowledge and awareness that life must end. It is said that existential death anxiety directly correlates to language; that is, language has created the basis for this type of death anxiety through communicative and behavioral changes. Existential death anxiety is known to be the most powerful form. There is an awareness of the distinction between self and others, a full sense of personal identity, and the ability to anticipate the future. Humans defend against this type of death anxiety through denial, which is effected through a wide range of mental mechanisms and physical actions many of which also go unrecognized. While limited use of denial tends to be adaptive, its use is usually excessive and proves to be costly emotionally.

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