Fear of death sooner or later visits every person. We are thinking that everything in this world and in our life will come to an end. Someone has this fear manifested in the form of general anxiety or disguised as another psychological problem. And there are those who manifest it so often that it grows into a real horror (a vivid example is the preparation of some people for the Apocalypse in December last year) or at best something like an obsession, at worst - thanatophobia (fear of death).
The fear of death, gradually evolving into a phobia, is a problem that must be dealt with. It has such symptoms as:
- The presence of some obsessive behavior (for example, a person is afraid of dying from cancer, so he can often be found under the doctor's office, which tests his tests, handed over already for the tenth time).
- Anxious sleep (or the person suffers from insomnia).
- Loss of appetite.
- Low sexual activity.
- An exhausting alarm and anxiety.
- A lot of negative emotions, which lead eventually to inadequate behavior.
Obsessive fear of death
The feeling of fear of death does not manifest itself until a person reaches adolescence. Fear of death says completely about itself when a person achieves adolescence: adolescents are increasingly thinking about death, some in difficult situations are thinking about suicide, thus turning the fear of death into an obsession. Some adolescents oppose such a fear to a rigid virtual life. They play computer games where the main character has to be killed, they feel themselves victorious over death. Others become insolent, skeptical about death, mocking at it, singing ridiculous songs, addicted to thrillers and horrors. And some go to reckless risk, defying death.
Over the years, the fear of death recedes when a person is engaged in building a career and creating his or her future family. But, when it comes a period that adult children leave the house, move to their newly created family nest or parents to finish their work, then a new wave of fear of death, a crisis of middle age, comes. Having reached the top of life, people analyze the past and realize that now the life path leads down to the vital sunset. And from that moment on, the person does not leave worry about death.
The fear of death is often associated with ignorance of what will happen to us after death. But there are people who understand that sometimes they are seized by the fear of the death of people close to them, a lack of understanding of how they can continue to live if there are no relatives of their own. Fear of death of a loved one is necessary and can be overcome.
How to get rid of the fear of death?
Overcoming thanatophobia or fear of death is not an easy procedure, but still life without fear of death opens more opportunities for a happy life than with it. Of course, to lose this fear is not completely what is impossible, but simply not reasonable. Without fear of death, that is, possessing a kind of fearlessness, a person can deprive himself of the most elementary means of precaution, which has deplorable consequences for his life.
How to overcome the fear of death is described in the Bible. But psychologists can help in solving this problem.
For starters it is recommended to look at your life from a different angle, try to live one day. A person does not know his future, so do not make distant plans for the future.
Psychologists are advised to first determine their views on the account of the afterlife. If, in your opinion, the afterlife exists, then you understand that only the body dies, and the soul is immortal. And this means that death for you will not be a critical phenomenon. Having decided with such views, you will help to discard the fear of the unknown, which arises with thoughts of death.
You can also use a universal method of getting rid of fears. First, draw your fear. Thus, you will endure all the negative things that have accumulated inside you. Then talk with fear. Tell him all that you want, accept it, admit that he is and say goodbye to him forever, feeling that only you are the mistress of your life, which means that you have power over your fear. After that, destroy the drawing (choose the method that you want to apply at the moment).
So you will not only extract the fear of death from yourself, but also get rid of it and again feel what it means to live a full and happy life.