Thanatophobia: what is it and how to deal with it?

Traveling through life, more often business-like, and sometimes carefree, we suddenly find that the “ice” under our feet is becoming thinner and thinner. For some, this “suddenly” becomes fatal and painful, turning into a fear of death - thanatophobia. Others, strong in the spirit of personality, overcome this painful test, showing courage and true knowledge of themselves.

It is unlikely that anyone will argue that the most acute experience of the vast majority of people is fear of death. He motivates some to fight, forming an active life position. For others, it becomes a fatal and serious illness.

Fear of death (thanatophobia) is activated, as a rule, in an environment that poses a threat to life or social status. The theme of death often pops up when a person seriously thinks about the meaning of his activity in a situation of professional or creative crisis.

In this context, Z. Freud paradoxically thought, explaining that "the desire for life is psychologically equal to the desire for non-existence." In other words, in the human psyche, two instinctive forces are constantly opposed - Eros (creative love) and destructive, destroying Thanatos. According to Freud, human behavior and activity are determined by the irreconcilable struggle of these two forces.Hence the disease is called "thanatophobia" - a pathological fear of death.

Awareness of one's mortality is a heavy and often unbearable burden. A person understands that he will die over time, but at the same time drives these thoughts from himself. "Deadly" knowledge is supplanted by psychological protection in the peripheral areas of consciousness, and often deeply into the realm of the unconscious. Nightmares come to the patient even in a dream.

In its pathological form, the fear of death is an intractable mental illness. The patient is afraid to die constantly, and often in the absence of an object that poses a danger to life. Moreover, such an expectation of death is not passive, it appears in the form of an irrational, painful, and obsessive anticipation of a fatal outcome.

In the scientific literature one can find various descriptions of thanatophobia, among which 4 levels of fear of death are conditionally distinguished.

• At the somatic level, the disease is a fear of bodily suffering, pain and the appearance of physical defects. The fatal question: "What will happen to my body when I die?"
• At the personal level, the individual fears the loss of control over himself, total loneliness, inferiority and his failure. “What will happen to my mind and personal achievements?”
• At the social level, there is a painful fear of the sudden loss of loved ones and the impossibility of previous relationships. “What happens in relationships with those who stay and who leave?”
• At the spiritual level, the fear of a traceless disappearance dominates. The hopelessness and inevitability of a higher court as retribution for their sins. "What is the meaning of dying, death, immortality?"

The personal level is characterized by a positive relationship with depression, high anxiety and self-doubt. An abnormal, obsessive anticipation of premature death takes possession of the whole being of the patient, all his thoughts, depriving them of the joys and opportunities of a full life.

This anticipation does not contribute to the healthy motivation of the individual to perform productive and reasonable safety functions in critical situations. The patient’s consciousness, will and thinking are in a paralyzed state, which does not weaken, but progresses and strengthens its power over the personality.

In a sense, phobophobia is ambivalent. Some of the thanatophobes experience a panic over the uncertainty that awaits them after their death. The other part in the blackest colors, paints the last days of his life.

Studies of the fear of death show that this phenomenon is more often characteristic of people who feel the emptiness and meaninglessness of their own lives. People for whom life is full of a certain meaning, are characterized by the perception of life as a meaningful event, so their anxiety is less pronounced.

What exactly is the cause of thanatophobia has not been established. Those who are ill do not clearly realize when, at what moment they had fear. The fear of death inherent in every person turns into a mental disorder after a certain event that has made a strong and deep impression on him.

Psychiatrists formulated the 7 most common causes of the development of thanatophobia.

• The source of fear is localized in religions that describe various options for "life after death", providing for punishment for "sins" - deviations from religious institutions committed in life.Here the fear of death is actually replaced by the fear of punishment.
• The disease can develop as a result of fear of the unknown and uncertainty. More often prone to such a development of the disease are educated, inquisitive people with a developed intellect. The cause of thanatophobia can be a feeling of helplessness of the mind when trying to learn the secret of death.
• Depreciation of one’s life experience and significance during a personal crisis, leading to the thought of the worthlessness of one’s being and to the fear of unexpected death, which does not allow one to fully realize oneself. Thoughts that a significant part of life has already been lived, exacerbate the situation.
• Constant introspection and fruitless thoughts about the meanings of life give rise to existential anxiety. In the process of personal degradation or the absence of any progress, the sick person is worried about the non-existence that awaits everyone.
• The pathological desire to control everything in his life inherent in overly disciplined, pedantic people faces a lack of control over the process of dying. The phobia formed for this reason is extremely difficult to treat, since a person is afraid of both his sudden death, uncontrolled aging and the inability to influence what follows death.
• Often the cause of the disease is hidden in personal experience. This implies: the death of a relative or the experience of observing the severe fading of a loved one. Such events may well cause a change in the person’s priority system: he begins to feel life more acutely, feels the joy of his existence and at the same time fears of the thought that he will also experience a painful or sudden death. The situation can be aggravated by children, whose life depends on the patient. Such thanatophobes are desperate to live longer, showing increased concern for their health and fear of illness. Over-care of oneself and fears of possible disasters take extremely pathological forms.
• A phobic disorder can occur in an overly emotional person, impressed by information gathered from the Internet, newspapers, or television. The fear of death does not arise in its pure form, it leads to an emotional, individual associative chain, including possible episodes from wars, terrorist acts, natural disasters, etc.

This psychological process is accompanied by an intensive and aggressive media flow of information about disasters, military clashes, criminal events and forms an anxious and suspicious people opinion of themselves as a “risk” group. Obsessive thoughts of death are a direct consequence of this “social hypnosis”.

Often the fear of death arises as a product of a midlife crisisas a result of ridding a person of illusions during a critical review of his value system and restructuring his worldview. The stress state accompanying any moral crisis, with an unstable psycho-emotional status, forms the basis for the development of obsessive fear.

From the standpoint of some psychological concepts, existential anxiety about dangerous subsequent non-existence is a natural phenomenon in the process of personality development. Its essence ultimately lies in the fact that at one of the stages of development a person faces a choice - to degrade or progress. A sensible choice of a development option naturally leads to philosophical thinking - “what is the meaning of life”.

A specific foundation for the disease is specific character traits and personality traits, for example, emphasis, pedantry, excessive discipline, responsibility, perfectionism. The obsessive desire for ideal activity contributes to the emergence of pathological fear.

Fear of death is a category of moral and ethical order, suggesting the presence of a certain degree of maturity and depth of feelings.

The results of scientific research suggest that uncontrollable fear appears on the basis of an unstable psycho-emotional status of a person, under the influence of various kinds of traumatic situations, and is associated with the presence of certain physiological and characterological prerequisites.

Typical signs of thanatophobia are conventionally divided into three groups:

• physical - tremor, pressing headaches, cardiac arrhythmias and rapid breathing, nausea, excessive sweating, a feeling of chills or heat, malfunctions of the digestive tract, problems in the genital area;
• mental - uncontrolled panic attacks, a mixture of the real and the unreal, a painful reaction in the case of mentioning the source of fear, depression, sleep disorder, a decrease in libidinal level;
• emotional - evasion, avoiding discussion of the topic of death, anxiety, tension, a feeling of guilt, strong and unmotivated anger.

People of a creative warehouse feel the fear of not having any heritage after themselves, demonstrating obsession with the realization of their super-idea. Such patients are characterized by: accentuation, selfishness, stubbornness, immunity to criticism and the opinions of others. All their experiences and fears are directly related only to their personal demise.

This principle of selective correlation with the trigger mechanism of the disease works constantly and productively.

In severe forms, thanatophobia is accompanied by:

• refusal to communicate with loved ones and a gradual reduction in the circle of communication;
• loss of real life guidelines and inability to work;
• the formation of a number of other psychosomatic manifestations, a violation of the functions of internal organs;
• the desire to muffle creepy thoughts with alcohol or drugs.

The atypical and strange behavior of the thanatophobe begins to be noticed by those around him, and the self-drawn person comes to loneliness, often showing alienation, irritation and aggressiveness.

Research by scientists indicates that it is impossible to overcome, overcome the fear of death in full measure, since a substantial part of it is present unconsciously. Man is doomed to live with this sensation. The question is only in the intensity and level of “deadly” manifestations, often overcoming the standard bar. In such cases, phobophobia is indicated. qualified treatment.

It all depends on how flexibly and effectively individual psychological defenses of a person work against the background of his personal and characterological characteristics.

Medicines used in psychiatry are used to provide palliative support in severe cases. Medicines cannot replace the psychotherapeutic treatment program drawn up for the patient, aimed at correcting the ideological attitudes of the person.

It includes:

• identification of real factors provoking the disease;
• definition of destructive chains of thinking;
• fixing useful and constructive installations;
• implementation of a new model of behavior.

For this reason, psychotherapists combine psychological treatment with medication. Using antidepressants, beta-blockers, antipsychotics and other drugs allows you to reduce the severity of physical symptoms, dramatically lower the level of panic attacks and depressive manifestations.

Psychology has as its goal the identification and analysis of the causes of phobophobia, the elimination of these causes and the development of the patient's skills of independent, effective resistance to the disease. To do this, apply methods from various psychological areas: cognitive-behavioral, expositional, rational, etc. In psychotherapeutic practice, they are known and positively proven:

• confrontational technique;
• management of internal "energy";
• stimulation of adrenaline synthesis;
• hypnosis;
• desensitization;
• methods of neurolinguistic programming.

The listed methods are intended to correct the way of thinking of the thanatophobe, to instill the skills of resisting fear in a situation of stress and getting used to fear. The patient is trained in ways of relaxation and self-control, methods of maintaining reason and rational thinking in a crisis situation for him. Individual programs for working with the patient are also being developed.

Most patients with thanatophobia going to the doctor realize the abnormality of their condition, since it is simply impossible to continue life with such a “burden”. However, they are not aware of ways to overcome obsessive anxiety and free themselves from oppressive thoughts. Some thanatophobes recklessly rely solely on “miraculous” pills.

One of the effective treatments for thanatophobia is hypnosis. This choice is appropriate for a number of advantages that its modern techniques possess:

• security;
• comfort;
• painlessness;
• atraumatic.

Overcoming of thanatophobia and associated phobias on its own is only realistic at the initial stage of the formation of the disease. A person with the skills for introspection, able to catch the moment when the natural forms of fear become obsessive, can fight and defeat the disease. In other cases, an appeal to a therapist is indicated.

It is useful to carefully look at the profile of a person who has a low level of fear of death. This is exactly the image that you should strive for:

• purposefulness and life goals (must be feasible), giving life meaningfulness and a specific perspective;
• the ability to perceive your life "here and now" as an interesting, emotionally rich and meaningful story;
• satisfaction with the degree of self-realization at this stage of life;
• a strong personality with a certain freedom of choice, self-control, able to build fate in accordance with its tasks and ideas about its meaning.

Patients with a high degree of fear of death have opposite characteristics.

That is how Lomonosov, Repin, Suvorov, Lermontov, Tolstoy accepted thoughts of their departure, calmly and judiciously, accepting death as a phenomenon caused by nature. They left without panic, without the slightest feeling of confusion.