Based on previous research, the team also checked for curvilinear patterns in the data. Rather than assuming that the religiosity is either positively or negatively related to death anxiety, some researchers have posited that the relationship is like an upside-down U shape, with religious believers and disbelievers showing less death anxiety than people in between. Out of the studies, the team only found 11 studies that were robust enough to test this idea; however, of these, almost all 10 formed this pattern.
Dr Jong commented: 'It may be that other researchers would have found this inverse-U pattern too if they had looked for it. This definitely complicates the old view, that religious people are less afraid of death than nonreligious people.
Skip to main content. Skulls and bones in Paris Catacombs. Share This Tweet. Share on Facebook. Share on LinkedIn. Share on Reddit. Home News Study into who is least afraid of death. Research Society. It may well be that atheism also provides comfort from death Dr Jonathan Jong, Research Associate of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology The team found relevant articles, published between and , containing information about 26, people worldwide.
Death anxiety is associated with a range of specific phobias. The most common objects of phobias are things that can cause harm or death, including snakes, spiders, planes, and heights.
A fear of dying plays a role in many anxiety disorders, such as panic disorders. During a panic attack, people may feel a loss of control and an intense fear of dying or impending doom. Death anxiety may be linked to illness anxiety disorders, previously known as hypochondriasis.
Here, a person has intense fear associated with becoming ill and excessively worries about their health. Social support networks may help to protect a person against death anxiety. Some people may come to terms with death through religious beliefs, though these may perpetuate a fear of death in others. Those with high self-esteem, good health, and a belief that they have led a fulfilling life are less likely to have a fear of death than some others. A doctor may recommend that a person with thanatophobia receive treatment for an anxiety disorder, phobia, or for a specific underlying cause of their fear.
Treatment involves a form of behavioral or talking therapy. This therapy tries to teach the individual to refocus their fears and to work through them by talking about their concerns. A doctor will help a person to come up with practical solutions to overcome their feelings of anxiety.
They may work to develop strategies that allow them to be calm and unafraid when talking or thinking about death. Psychotherapies, or talking therapies, involve talking through anxieties and fears with a psychologist or psychotherapist.
These professionals will help someone find out the cause of their fear, and come up with strategies to cope with anxieties that occur during the day.
Sometimes, even just talking about the anxiety can help a person to feel more in control of their fear. Exposure therapy works by helping a person face their fears. Instead of burying how they feel about death or not acknowledging their concerns, they are encouraged to be exposed to their fears. A therapist will carry out exposure therapy by very gradually exposing a person to their fear, in a safe environment, until the anxiety response reduces, and a person can confront their thoughts, objects, or feelings without fear.
If doctors diagnose a person with a specific mental health condition, such as generalized anxiety disorder GAD or PTSD, they may prescribe anti-anxiety medication. This may include beta-blockers or antidepressant medication. While medication can be beneficial by relieving feelings of panic and stress in the short term, long-term use of such medication may not be the ideal solution.
Instead, working through fears in therapy is more likely to provide long-term relief. Practicing self-care can be powerful for boosting overall mental health, including helping a person feel more able to cope with their anxieties. When a person is experiencing anxiety, specific relaxation techniques can help clear their mind and de-escalate their fears.
Using blogs and poetry may reveal only the outward-facing emotions people are willing to share, or even simply created to fashion how they want to be remembered.
Do people really tell the truth in their blogs? It is impossible to tell, but blogs are clearly not the most intimate mode of communication. It may have better to use diaries, recorded conversations with loved ones, or even personal letters. Nathan Heflick, researcher and lecturer at the University of Lincoln, also warns against interpreting the results to mean that dying people view death as a wholly positive experience.
These people dying feared death. While avoiding talking about death can reduce a little discomfort in the short term, it probably makes most of us much more anxious to die in the long term. We fear death, but what if dying isn't as bad as we think? Death terrifies many of us, but is, of course, central to the human condition.
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