Death Anxiety: The Fear of Dying

 

Even if you have preplanned cremation services in Geddes, NY , you may find that you experience anxiety when you think about dying. There are certain things that may scare you about death, even if you are as prepared as you can be for it.

 

Death anxiety is common. You may be afraid when you think about your loved one dying and not being there anymore. You may be afraid when you think about yourself dying. But, because giving concentrated attention to death and dying might be very uncomfortable for you, you focus instead on living life to the fullest and achieving all your dreams and goals.

 

However, death eventually comes to us all. And, when you spend a few minutes thinking about a loved one dying or you dying you suddenly find yourself worried and anxious or afraid.

 

This worry, anxiety, and fear about death and dying can be so intense that it can have dramatic effects on your emotional and mental health, either in the short term or the long term. If these is the kind of death anxiety you are facing, it may be something that you keep in the back of your mind simmering, but it boils over when you or a loved one is faced with the prospect of death.

 

There are a lot of theories about what drives death anxiety, because some people don’t have it at all, others may have mild episodes of it, while still other people are absolutely consumed with it.

 

The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud believed that death anxiety was a result of some kind of trauma that happened in childhood that had not been resolved. However, Ernst Becker, an anthropologist, came up with what is considered the modern understanding of death anxiety.

 

Becker’s conclusion about death anxiety is simple: when people find the thought of death and dying unacceptable, they get worried and afraid about death itself. He believed death anxiety drives everything else a person does in their lives.

 

Because of death anxiety, we cope by focusing on everything but death, even to the point of denying death when it is staring us in the face. However, Becker’s assertion is that most people cope with death anxiety subconsciously, most of the time, using terror management (dealing with the internal conflict of wanting to live in the face of knowing we will die).

 

Death anxiety can be extreme and it can have severe consequences, especially for the survivors of someone who is dying.

 

You may know of someone who was terminally ill and who was in denial about their imminent death. You may have been bewildered to see that person ignore medical assessments of their condition and prognosis and act as though they were going to live indefinitely, even when their physical decline was evident.

 

Because death was unacceptable to this terminally ill person in spite of the evidence that that they were dying, they may have come to the conclusion that they could live longer by willing more life into existence. Their energy and time focused on this extended life they could see for themselves instead of on taking care of their affairs so that their families were legally and financially protected after their death.

 

You may have some form of death anxiety, but it’s important to make sure your legal and financial affairs are in order so that your family is taken care of after you die. If you haven’t done this already, now is a good time to make sure your family will be okay when you’re gone.

 

If you’d like to know about cremation services in Geddes, NY, our compassionate and experienced team at Bagozzi Twins Funeral Home, Inc. is here to help.