THANATOPHOBIA: SYMPTOMS, CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, TREATMENTS - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The thanatophobia is a mental disorder characterized by excessive fear of death, especially their own. People who suffer from it have constant thoughts about death, which produce very high levels of anxiety.

This condition is not officially recognized in diagnostic manuals, but it is a very real pathology. When it occurs, it interferes with the normal development of a person's life, and can cause all kinds of very negative symptoms and consequences.

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Sometimes, when talking about thanatophobia, necrophobia is also mentioned, which is another closely related mental disorder. However, these are different conditions: while death itself and the fact of ceasing to exist are feared in thanatophobia, people with necrophobia are also afraid of things related to the death of others.

Thanatophobia is a serious psychological problem, and therefore it is necessary to understand it and find out how we can deal with it when it occurs. In this article we tell you everything you need to know about this pathology.

Symptoms

Anxiety symptoms

People with thanatophobia, when facing something that reminds them of death or thinking about it, experience symptoms very similar to those that someone with an anxiety disorder would have.

Among other things, they may have unpleasant physical sensations, such as pressure in the chest, warmth in the extremities, difficulty breathing, dizziness, or blurred vision.

Obsessive thoughts about death, the belief that you are going to lose control, and even panic attacks themselves can also appear.

Intrusive thoughts about death

As in other anxiety disorders, people with thanatophobia have recurring thoughts about their own death and all that it implies.

These thoughts can appear at any time, even without any external stimulus related to this topic.

Intrusive thoughts are usually very unpleasant, and interfere with the normal development of the person's life. Sometimes those affected will try to take actions that alleviate their fear, which can lead to the appearance of compulsions.

Related fears

Death itself is not the only thing that people with this pathology fear. On the contrary, there are several concerns that appear on a recurring basis among individuals with thanatophobia.

One of the most common themes is fear of the unknown. The truth is that no one knows what happens after death, and people with thanatophobia can worry excessively due to this fact.

Another of the most common fears is that of losing control, something closely related to old age and the most serious diseases.

Also the anxiety before the physical deterioration that appears over the years, the pain of a terminal problem or the loss of dignity that occurs before death appear recurrently in this disease.

Changes in lifestyle

As in the case of other anxiety disorders, people with thanatophobia usually do their best to avoid having to think about what scares them.

Thus, they may seek to be distracted at all times, to avoid contact with other people, or to avoid all kinds of situations that remind them of death.

Depending on the severity of this symptom, thanatophobia can be a simple annoyance or turn into a very serious condition that interferes with all areas of a person's life.

Causes

The fear of death is normal in human beings. However, what leads some individuals to develop it in an extreme way? Although we do not know exactly what causes this pathology, there are some theories about it.

Freud's theory

Sigmund Freud believed that when people express a great fear of death, there is actually a deeper problem that is causing the symptoms.

For this Viennese psychiatrist, it is impossible to be scared of something that has never been experienced, such as death.

On the contrary, for Freud people with thanatophobia would be trying to resolve some type of trauma or unconscious conflict that they cannot bring to light in any other way.

Erikson's theory

The developmental psychologist Erik Erikson had the theory that people mature through a series of vital crises that appear at different stages of life.

For him, when someone reaches old age properly, they reach a state known as "ego integrity."

In the ego integrity state, the person accepts his life and is satisfied with what he has achieved. However, if this state is not reached, the individual begins to feel that his existence has been wasted and suffers great anxiety in the face of his own death. This would be the cause of thanatophobia.

Traumatic events

Finally, it is possible that the fear of death appears due to the experience of some situation that has left a mark on the person's subconscious.

For example, you may have had to contemplate a family member in a terminal state, or have witnessed a violent or especially unpleasant death.

Consequences

Depending on its severity, thanatophobia can be a simple annoyance or become a problem that negatively affects all areas of a person's life.

In the most serious cases, it can lead to difficulties such as social isolation, inability to carry out daily activities and ongoing discomfort.

In addition, it is very common for people with this phobia to develop other mood disorders, such as depression, hypochondria or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Treatments

Because it is not officially recognized as a pathology, diagnosing a case of thanatophobia can be difficult. However, once the problem is discovered, the approach to solving it is usually the same as that used for other similar anxiety disorders.

Thus, a mixture of psychological therapies (usually cognitive-behavioral) with changes in lifestyle will normally be used to alleviate the most serious symptoms and begin recovery.

In some cases, medication can also be used to help the person in the process.

References

1. "Tanatophobia or Necrophobia: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments" in: Life Persona. Retrieved on: December 22, 2018 from Life Persona: lifepersona.com.
2. "Everything You Should Know About Thanatophobia" in: Healthline. Retrieved on: December 22, 2018 from Healthline: healthline.com.
3. "Thanatophobia Diagnosis and Treatment" in: VeryWell Mind. Retrieved on: December 22, 2018 from VeryWell Mind: verywellmind.com.
4. "Coping With Thanatophobia" in: VeryWell Mind. Retrieved on: December 22, 2018 from VeryWell Mind: verywellmind.com.
5. "Death anxiety" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: December 22, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.