Afterlife OCD involves concerns or fears about what happens to us after we die–whether we have a soul or spirit that lives on in some form after we experience physical death or whether we simply cease to exist.
While many dream of an afterlife, people with apeirophobia are terrified of eternal existence.
Whilst death anxiety itself isn't a disorder, existential fears lie at the core of many anxiety and depressive disorders. This means that it is often linked to these kinds of mental health issues – Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in particular, which is characterised by frequent and uncontrollable worrying.
Death anxiety, formally known as thanatophobia, is the fear of your own death or process of dying. This is different from necrophobia — a more general fear of dead or dying people and things.
The good news is fear of death fades as a person ages. Men who experienced thanatophobia in their 20's usually overcome their fear and are less likely to feel dread towards the subject later on. Women on the other hand, have a higher chance of experiencing a re-emergence of the problem in their 50's.
The reasons why death is scary are often related to the fears of the unknown, of non-existence, of eternal punishment, of the loss of control, and fear of what will happen to the people we love.
We get better at this as we age. A 2000 meta-analysis found that fear of death grows in the first half of life, but by the time we hit the 61-to-87 age group, it recedes to a stable, manageable level.
1. Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it.
Existential death anxiety is the belief that everything ceases after death; nothing continues on in any sense. Seeing how people deeply fear such an absolute elimination of the self, they begin to gravitate toward religion which offers an escape from such a fate.
What are death obsessions? Death obsessions are a fear that you or someone close to you will die. You can also have obsessions about the process of dying. Death obsessions can be caused by various underlying factors such as anxiety, depression, or OCD.
1. Acrophobia. Acrophobia is the fear of heights and it affects more than 6% of people. People who have acrophobia can have anxiety attacks, which causes them to avoid high places, such as bridges, towers, or tall buildings.
When you're dying, your body temperature drops, and your skin may feel cold or clammy to the touch. Other numbers may be irregular or unpredictable as your vital organs work to keep you alive, even as you're nearing death. As you approach your final hours, your respiration rate will steadily decline.
A conscious dying person can know if they are on the verge of dying. Some feel immense pain for hours before dying, while others die in seconds. This awareness of approaching death is most pronounced in people with terminal conditions such as cancer.
The symptoms may come and go over an individual's lifetime. Someone with mild death anxiety might experience heightened anxiety when they think about their death or the death of a loved one, such as when they or a family member is seriously ill.
What Causes a Fear of Death? The exact cause of thanatophobia is unknown, but a variety of factors can increase a person's risk of developing the disorder: Trauma: Phobias can develop from personal trauma or near-death experiences or from hearing someone else talk about their traumatic experiences.
Fearing death also makes it harder for us to process grief. A recent study found that those who were afraid of death were more likely to have prolonged symptoms of grief after losing a loved one compared to those who had accepted death.
The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (DABDA). They apply when you are grieving for the death of a loved one as well as when you are facing a terminal diagnosis. These stages help describe the emotional process when facing these life-changing events.
Matthew 10:28. "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Obsessive thoughts of death can come from anxiety as well as depression. They might include worrying that you or someone you love will die. These intrusive thoughts can start out as harmless passing thoughts, but we become fixated on them because they scare us.
Fear of Missing Out
Missing out on the joys of life is a common reason why people fear dying alone. Especially since many people may not want to burden their loved ones with their heavy emotions, these emotions can also further isolate them.
“A lot of our fear of death is about losing the things we've built up,” says Steve Taylor, a lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University in Leeds, England, and the author of Out of Darkness. “But elderly people let go of their attachment to these things, and in the process they let go of some of their fear.”