Death as deliverance. Fear of death - causes, symptoms, what to do. How to get rid of the fear of death

Instructions

The first step towards getting rid of the fear of death is recognizing the problem. Awareness of the fear of death should lead a person to perceive death as the natural end of life, as something obligatory and irreparable. Such a perception of death is necessary for a person to exist intelligently. After all, if people were not afraid of death, there would be many more victims of car accidents, extreme sports, reckless acts and deaths in various everyday situations.

Another important aspect- open expression of one's thoughts. You need to discuss the fear inside you with a friend, relative or psychological specialist - with any person around whom you can be yourself. This way you can identify the main reasons for this fear and choose rational ways to overcome the current situation. If the cause of a strong fear of death is an illness, you can talk to people who were able to overcome the same illness, find out how they coped with fear, etc.

Then you can think about your life principles and beliefs. One thinks about the meaning of life and values ​​precisely when thinking about death, the finitude of one’s existence. What is important here is that a person begins to understand that all material wealth or external characteristics are nothing compared to kindness, honesty, love, and patience. The fear of death becomes less when a person realizes that after his death, his loved ones will for a long time keep in their memory memories of his most beautiful deeds, good deeds, character strengths and achievements.

Many people, identifying themselves as having a fear of death, do not understand that in fact they are not afraid of death itself, but of possible pain. However, here the equal sign between pain and death is inappropriate. The dead do not feel pain. Pain is a property of life. It is specially given to a person in order to preserve his life, warning about various kinds of dangers. In addition, if a person suffers for a long time before death, then for him death is deliverance from suffering, which, in some way, is its positive aspect. Although it is quite difficult for the relatives and friends of the deceased to understand this at first.

Optimism and a sense of humor allow you to cope with many fears and difficult situations. The fear of death in this regard is no exception. It has been proven that positive, cheerful people are less likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases, which are often the cause of death. Treat with humor not only life, but also death. Moreover, you don’t have to become a fan of black comedies, you can simply remember jokes about death (and there are quite a few of them, the authors of which also once overcame this fear) or mentally add glamorous pink slippers to its stereotypical image in a cape and a scythe.

The main thing to remember when working with the problem of death is that it should not interfere with life. You need to live as brightly, fully and wisely as possible. Meet people you like more often, relax in nature, sing songs by the fire, remember stories from your school childhood or stormy college youth, walk in the evenings, dance in the rain, go away on weekends in an unknown direction - this is the only way you can understand and feel life in everyone its manifestations.

Hello, dear reader! We are glad to see you on the Helping Hand portal; in this article we will try to answer your question: how to get rid of the fear of death. As part of the article, we have collected the most detailed information, which will help you cope with all the experiences on this basis, abstract yourself from thoughts of death and start living!

Fear of death - theoretically, this feeling is absolutely normal, since it is what protects us from rash extreme actions and danger in general. But what to do if thoughts of death haunt you and frankly interfere with your normal existence, work and daily activities?

We suggest you understand all the nuances in detail: learn about the reasons for the appearance of this feeling, understand yourself and try to get rid of the depressed and depressed state caused by the fear of death.

Main causes

Obsessive fear, as a rule, does not come out of nowhere. It definitely has reasons that can be not only obvious, but also hidden, arising from distant childhood or resulting from some situation that is firmly ingrained in the depths of your subconscious and does not want to leave it.

The most common causes of fear of death are the following factors:

• Age crises
• Dissatisfaction with life
• Personal experience with loss
• Religious Beliefs
• Depression and hypochondria
• Unknown

During age-related crises, which, as a rule, act as a certain milestone and are caused, rather, by social norms, a phase of some reassessment of one’s values ​​begins. At this time, a person may begin to fear death due to the fact that he will not have time to do something, to carry out his plans.

Dissatisfaction with the state of your life is another cause of thanatophobia. As in the case of the age crisis, the cause of development may be the fear of not having time to change everything, to achieve something.

In a situation with personal experience, everything is, in principle, obvious. The loss of a loved one can leave a serious imprint on the psyche. Especially if this person died prematurely due to an accident, illness or some other factor.

Religious beliefs - here feelings of fear can clearly manifest themselves due to the fear of doing something wrong in life, not according to the canons and rules dictated by religion.

As for hypochondria, everything is obvious here. A person invents a “fatal” disease for himself, manages to screw himself up and prepares for the worst.

The unknown is one of the most common reasons for the fear of dying. This is obvious, because no one knows what will happen next or whether it will happen. Does reincarnation exist, are there any feelings left, what is felt and whether anything is felt at all - so many questions remain unanswered!

An interesting fact is that the fear of death can arise even in a child of 3-4 years old, when the mother, wanting to pacify and calm him down, says that if he does not stop playing around, she will die. The baby, of course, does not understand that his mother cannot just do this, but the fear of loss may accompany him throughout his life.

Signs of thanatophobia

A person may not be fully aware of his problem. That is, there is a constantly oppressive feeling, but where it comes from is unclear. We invite you to get acquainted with the main symptoms.

Conventionally, the fear of death can be divided into two large groups:

• Fear for yourself
• Concern for loved ones and relatives

Both groups have a number of similar symptoms - nervousness, bad mood,... Moreover, their level can vary depending on the severity of the problem - from panic fear to a banal experience, which can even be logically supported and justified.

In both cases, a person is accompanied by anxiety, which, mainly, prevents him from living peacefully. For example, when you get into a taxi, during the journey you scroll through a scenario in your head where the driver turns out to be a terrible serial killer and takes you into the forest, or you visualize a terrible accident that is about to happen with your participation.

In worries about loved ones, the symptoms are similar. Example: You send your child to school, but as soon as he leaves the gate, you imagine the most terrible and nightmarish scenes. This is a very serious wake-up call, after which you should think about your life and its quality component.

Understand that with your fears you are not making anyone better – only worse. Worried about your child, parents or husband, you can annoy them with your calls, distract them from work and important matters just to make sure that everything is okay with them. You think this is caring and attentive, but in reality it is not.

Below in the article we will reveal for you the most effective methods that will help you overcome your fears and start living without stress and constant worries!

Each person is unique in their own way, so it is impossible to single out one method that is guaranteed to help nip all fears in the bud. The advantages of the described methods are that they definitely will not make things worse, and also do not require a targeted visit to a psychotherapist.

1. Accept. Death is inevitable in any case - just try to accept it as a fact. You won't be able to do anything about it, unless, of course, in the very near future scientists make a breakthrough and invent an elixir of eternal youth. Try to seriously think about the fact that before your birth you did not exist and you did not suffer from it in any way. With a 99.9% probability, the same thing will happen after death.
2. Take a break. This may sound very cliché, but try to get rid of thoughts about death through distraction. Find a hobby that you like and that will definitely bring you joy and happiness. You can get a pet that will take away all the time you spend on negative thoughts.
3. Observe. Instead of trying to actively overcome your fear, try looking at it from a slightly different angle. Try to analyze the events that make you constantly feel anxious. For greater convenience and efficiency, you can write down all your thoughts in a diary. By re-reading it from time to time, you can understand where the problem lies, mentally return to the past and fix everything.
4. To help. Psychologists have proven that such an aspect as caring for someone helps to cope with the fear of death. Do charity work and take an active part in the volunteer movement. The greater your positive contribution to this world, the less you will be bothered by thoughts about leaving and what will remain after.
5. Be in love. First of all, we are talking about healthy love for your body and organism. Strive to surround yourself with the best – not necessarily expensive, but of high quality. With an improvement in the quality of life, even if expressed in minor details, thinking changes - an absolute fact.

Fear of death is a normal state, but only if thoughts about this phenomenon do not arise in you too often and do not interfere with your life. In other cases, this can and should be dealt with. If the methods described above do not bear visible fruit, then it makes sense to think about a visit to a psychologist.

One of the most common phobias that many people suffer from is the fear of death. Research shows that most of us are afraid of dying, which, strictly speaking, is not surprising. But fear comes in different forms.

It can manifest itself in the form of the very fact of becoming a corpse, and in the form of fear of the very act of death, those feelings and sensations that a person experiences when passing away. But usually a person, without any reason, very rarely thinks about death and everything connected with it. Although there are exceptions.

There is a category of people who are always overcome by such thoughts, they become their phobia and do not allow them to live normally. Research shows that quite often this happens due to work disruptions. nervous system. Let's look at how to get rid of the fear of death.

Types of fear of death

Of course, it is easy to simply say that this or that person is afraid of dying and does not know how to get rid of thoughts about death. But this will not be entirely correct. After all, everyone has a different fear of death, which takes its own individual forms. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

There are the following forms of fear of death:

• Fear of suffering, pain and loss of self-respect

This form is the most common, because as research shows, a person is afraid not so much of the fear of death as of what precedes it. First of all, it is pain, long, debilitating illnesses, a feeling of helplessness, suffering. This occurs quite often in people with various cancers. Although such a phobia is not uncommon in completely healthy people. It may also be accompanied by a fear of contracting some serious illness.

• Fear of the unknown

It is connected with the fact that none of the people can say exactly what awaits us after death. Despite the fact that many religions convince their parishioners that after death they will receive what they deserve through their earthly deeds, that is, Heaven or Hell, but these are just words that cannot be verified or proven. After all, any person wants to believe that after he dies, he will have the opportunity to exist in some other form, albeit incorporeal.

Many people believe in rebirth, that they will be born again after some time. But as you might guess, no one can be sure of what awaits us after death, even minimally. Only someone who has been there and returned can give an accurate answer, and there are simply no such people.

• Fear of punishment or oblivion

Many people fear that after they go to another world, they will disappear into oblivion. They will not be able to think, do anything, they will not know how their family and friends live. This fear of death is very strong and haunts many people.

But even more widespread and powerful is the fear of eternal punishment. It is especially characteristic of those who have sinned a lot in their earthly life. They are afraid to be punished for this, because they understand that the court will be fair and unyielding, and the punishment is inevitable. Of course, such people can try to atone and atone for their sins. But they cannot be sure that they will succeed. Therefore, they are often accompanied by the fear of death, which terrifies them.

• Fear of losing control

Quite a lot of people always try to keep this or that situation under control in order to know what the right thing to do is. This feature is typical for many, but death changes everything.

This process cannot be controlled. A person simply has no idea what the right thing to do is. To delay death, people try to adhere to, monitor their health, because they are terrified of getting sick, etc.

• Fear for relatives

This fear of death is also quite common. A person often thinks about what will happen to his family after he dies. Especially if they depend on him financially and after his death they may face poverty. Similar thoughts most often occur to parents of minor children. After all, they understand that without them no one can take care of the child.

• Fear for the mental suffering of relatives

Any person who buried someone close to him felt pain, emptiness from the loss, powerlessness to change anything. He understands perfectly well what it’s like and doesn’t want his loved ones to feel that way. This is especially true for young children who are burying their parents or grandparents. The children’s loved ones understand this very well and do everything possible to delay their death.

• Fear of loneliness

It is typical primarily for older people who have no loved ones. They are afraid that after their death, there will be no one to close their eyes, that they will not immediately find out that they have died, no one will bury them as is customary, no one will take care of their grave. They will simply be forgotten.

• Fear of a long demise

Many people, especially those who are elderly or seriously ill, are afraid not so much of death itself, because sometimes it is a joy for them and they look forward to it, but rather the suffering that they will endure. Most often this is typical for patients with incurable diseases who are bedridden. In addition, it is painful for them to feel helpless and be a burden to loved ones.

Diagnosis of such a phobia

As stated above, fear of death is quite common. But to be sure that a person is actually susceptible to them, he needs to be identified, and this is not so easy.

This mental disorder can only be diagnosed by a truly experienced and competent psychologist or psychiatrist who knows how to get rid of the fear of death.

First of all, the difficulty of diagnosis is due to the fact that any person is afraid of dying. But again, this fear is reasonable, and it manifests itself only in some extreme or dangerous situations. That is, the fear is completely justified and understandable, there are reasons for it. But when people think about it constantly, and fears haunt them, this is a completely different matter, and you should fight the phobia and know how to overcome the fear of death.

The symptoms of this mental disorder are as follows:

1. When a person whose professional activity is not dangerous constantly thinks that he may die. This thought comes to him at any moment, and he does not know how to overcome the fear of death. He begins to talk mentally to himself, think about this fear and what needs to be done to protect himself.
2. A person suffering from this phobia is capable of experiencing strong emotions even after seeing a sign for a funeral service store or a murder scene in feature film. The emotions that begin to overcome him are so strong that he does not know how to overcome the fear of death, he feels that he is becoming ill. This kind of thing really interferes with life. After all, how can you concentrate on study or work if you only think about death and everything connected with it?
3. A person suffering from this disorder gradually begins to believe more and more that he will definitely die in the coming days. His brain paints him colorful pictures of this. He constantly thinks about how this will happen and what he will experience. He begins to think about how to overcome the fear of death.
4. To detect such a problem in a patient, the specialist will need to carefully question him, offer him to undergo special tests, and observe his manner of communication and behavior during the consultation. This is the only way to understand how to overcome the fear of death. Since the symptoms of this mental disorder can vary significantly, the course of treatment is different.

Treatment

To understand how to overcome the fear of death, the first step is to determine its causes. This is the only way to overcome this fear. If a person realizes that nothing threatens him now, then he will stop fearing that he will die.

The patient must realize that he is able to control his phobia, that he can overcome it and cope with it. This is not so easy to do, but it is possible. Just try to stop thinking about it, and gradually this phobia will weaken.

Try to find someone you see as a mentor. Usually this role can be played by a good, experienced doctor who understands you perfectly, can support you and knows how to get rid of the fear of death. Such a mentor is necessary, because you won’t be able to overcome the fear of death on your own, alone.

We must not forget about medications. These can be both medications and products used in traditional medicine. But of course, they should be consumed only after you consult a doctor.

Every person is capable of coping with the fear of death. You just need to want it and make some effort. Of course, you will also need the help of an experienced specialist.

Various fears are a fairly common problem faced by a huge number of people of different genders and ages. Such disorders are obsessive in nature, they are difficult to explain, much less analyze and eliminate. However, such disorders can be corrected with competent cooperation between the patient and the doctor. Just such problems include the fear of death, the causes of which let's discuss on the website and the main symptoms, and also answer the question of what to do when it appears and how to get rid of it.

By fear of death, psychiatrists usually mean a disease such as thanatophobia. It is believed that such inexplicable and obsessive fear is one of the most common among modern people.

Fear of death, afraid of death - reasons

To date, experts do not know exactly what factors provoke the appearance of thanatophobia. Among the reasons for its development are genetic predisposition, heredity and social influence.

Quite often the trigger for the emergence of such fear is personal experience, in which a person is faced with the death of someone close. There is also a common point of view that thanatophobia can be provoked by the so-called hypnotization of death. After all, exposure to negative information through television, the Internet and newspapers can cause continuous thoughts about the inevitability of death.

In some cases, the irrational fear of death is caused by attempts to understand oneself, in which the individual wants to understand the meaning of life and the purpose of death.

Sometimes unexpected thanatophobia occurs between the ages of thirty-five and fifty, during a crisis of adulthood. At this time, people tend to critically reassess life priorities, principles and goals, and part with unfulfilled dreams and plans. Such an artificially created stressful environment is an ideal breeding ground for the emergence of pathological anxiety.

Sometimes the fear of death arises from certain religious beliefs. It can also be explained by a panicky fear of the unknown or a desire to control everything.

How does the fear of death manifest itself? What symptoms do they indicate?

With thanatophobia, a person in most cases has a specific object of fear; he is afraid not just of abstract death, but of a certain concrete fictitious act of his own death. For example, if you are fixated on death due to a plane crash, a person will constantly avoid flying. And if he is sure of death from cancer, the patient will constantly visit medical institutions. With such obsessive behavior, patients with thanatophobia constantly complain of problems with sleep, their body weight decreases, their appetite disappears, sexual function deteriorates, and painful sensations of a neurotic nature appear.

People with thanatophobia are often characterized by increased impressionability, suspiciousness, excitability, self-doubt, and a tendency to become fixated. Most of these patients can be classified as creative people and thinkers. With this phobia, patients are also stubborn and selfish; they do not accept criticism and are highly motivated.

In the absence of timely correction, thanatophobia eventually causes a reduction in the number of social contacts. Patients with this problem have difficulty performing their daily activities and have difficulty performing professional activities. Constant stress leads to disruptions in the functioning of functional systems, and the predominance negative emotions becomes the cause of the development of irreversible changes in the cerebral cortex, which in turn causes psychosomatic diseases. Thanatophobia is often accompanied by alcoholism and drug addiction.

How to pacify your fear of death, how to get rid of unpleasant thoughts?

Adequate correction of the fear of death is possible only with the help of a qualified psychotherapist. The main method of treatment is cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. The psychotherapist helps the patient understand the reasons for his fears, analyze his psychological state, and also understand and accept the inevitability of future death and not perceive it as something terrible.

Many patients with thanatophobia benefit from hypnosis. If such a disorder is not very advanced, then in just a few sessions you can find out the causes of fears and eliminate them. To consolidate hypnotherapy, several psychotherapeutic sessions are carried out. But the advisability of hypnosis is determined only by the doctor.

If the fear of death is accompanied by the appearance of panic attacks with corresponding somatic manifestations, the doctor can select medications for drug treatment. These primarily include antidepressants, sedatives, and in some cases tranquilizers, etc. Of course, medications are selected on an individual basis, and the course of therapy should be short-term to prevent addiction.

To quickly get rid of an obsessive phobia, the patient needs to communicate more with different positive people, try to find some kind of cheerful hobby. Traveling, self-realization in professional activity.

We talked about such a psychological state of a person as the fear of death, what to do with yourself... Finally, let me remind you that if you have a fear of death, you need to avoid communicating with other thanatophobes, who can worsen the condition and aggravate irrational fear.

Ekaterina, www.site

P.S. The text uses some forms characteristic of oral speech.

Death cannot be avoided... Even those who are terribly afraid of it understand this perfectly well. He also understands that in order to get joy even from this, short life, we need to understand how to overcome the fear of death...

How to get rid of the fear of death? How many people ask this question? How many people feel this suffocating fear that weighs heavily on the chest... the fear of what cannot be avoided.

How can people live, create, love, rejoice, enjoy life, knowing that it will come to an end? That one day the grieving faces of relatives and friends will bow over them, and after many hours of lamentation, they will be covered with a coffin lid, immersed in a pre-dug hole with neat edges and covered with cold, heavy earth.

But some people very often imagine this. They themselves tell how they sometimes hear the echoing clap of the coffin lid. They see the departing rays of the sun, endless darkness.

Death cannot be avoided... Even those who are terribly afraid of it understand this perfectly well. He also understands that in order to get joy even from this short life, he must understand how to overcome the fear of death.

Looking for a way out

Have you ever received advice from a psychotherapist about the fear of death? From the reviews of people who tried to find out how to treat the fear of death with the help of professionals, one thing is known - fear can weaken, it can be drowned out for a while, but sooner or later it returns again. And with renewed vigor he begins to torment his victim.

A huge number of people, in search of ways to overcome the fear of death, do crazy things. Today, a very popular way to deal with this fear is to bury yourself alive. This service is already offered officially. No, of course, people are dug up after that. This service is positioned as an effective way to eliminate fears, such as creative work with the fear of death. And people who have used this service note that after the burial procedure they feel better. Although before the burial itself and during their stay underground, they experience enormous fear. And the fear comes back... it always comes back.

How to overcome the fear of death, how to overcome it forever? How to win a final and irrevocable victory over him? Is it possible? Or are people who experience it destined to live their entire lives in painful anticipation of death? With chilling thoughts, a cold inside...

Getting rid of the fear of death is possible!

Treatment of fear of death is popular today, because there is a demand for it. There are more and more people gripped by this panic fear.

Why? Why does nature, which gave life, so mercilessly deprive us of the opportunity to enjoy it, occupying our entire consciousness with fear?

Understanding the reasons for the fear of death, we easily get the answer to this question. And these reasons, in fact, are quite rational, and they are revealed by the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan.

There are not many people who spend their entire lives searching for an answer to the question: how to overcome the fear of death. And nature did not at all intend to make them participants in its cruel game. At trainings on system-vector psychology, we learn that among us there are owners of the so-called. They are the ones who ask the question: how to get rid of the panicky fear of death? Because they are the only ones he occupies. Only their nature endowed them with the ability to experience this fear with enormous force. This was the species role of these people - to protect others by observing the landscape. And, having seen the danger, he becomes so afraid for his life that this fear is immediately transmitted to all the people who surround him. And they, feeling this fear, immediately realized that the time had come to save themselves.

But today there is no need to protect yourself from the dangers of the wild savannah, and the fear of death is transformed into other feelings. From fear for your own life to fear for the life of another person. What is called compassion, empathy, empathy, and ultimately, love.

But not everyone manages to transfer their inner fears outward, into compassion. Remaining inside, they torment their owners, acquiring the most bizarre forms. From the fear of death, your own and your loved ones, to... allergic reactions. One of these stories is told in her interview by Evgenia, a participant in Yuri Burlan’s training:

Fear of death: how to fight?

System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan today is the only knowledge that has succeeded in finding an answer to the question: how to cope with the fear of death.

This is psychoanalysis, which not only reveals the roots of this fear, but also allows it to be destroyed. And this is not just another technique that temporarily removes fear and then returns it again. This knowledge allows you to forever get rid of any, the most severe phobias and fears of death. Participants in the training, who suffered from a variety of fears, declare... Their fears never return. Listen to what Yana, who came to the training with the question of how to deal with the fear of death for loved ones, says:

To understand how to fight the fear of death and win this fight, how to get rid of the fear of death for loved ones and stop frantically dialing their phone number when they are delayed for several minutes, or listening to whether a child is breathing, disturbing his already sensitive sleep ? Come to the free introductory lectures, where you will learn a lot about yourself. This will allow you to relax and feel relieved.

Information that has no analogues will help you find answers to your questions. Lectures are held online and already attract more than three thousand people from different parts of the world. Join us too. .