Understanding Death Anxiety

An accessible and informative guide to understanding death anxiety, written specifically for clients.

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A psychoeducational guide. Typically containing elements of skills development.

Overview

Our ‘Understanding…’ series is a collection of psychoeducation guides for common mental health conditions. Friendly and explanatory, they are comprehensive sources of information for your clients. Concepts are explained in an easily digestible way, with plenty of case examples and accessible diagrams. Understanding Death Anxiety is designed to help clients with death anxiety to understand more about their condition.

Why Use This Resource?

This guide aims to help clients learn more about death anxiety. It explains what death anxiety is, what the common symptoms are, and effective ways to address it, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Identify symptoms of death anxiety and what contributes to it.
Understand what keeps death anxiety going.
Explore effective treatments for death anxiety.
Gain insights into how people experience death anxiety and how they overcome it.

Key Benefits

Comprehensive

Explores what death anxiety is and what maintains it.

Relatable

Contains detailed examples and relatable case studies.

Supportive

Written in a friendly and accessible manner.

Hopeful

Outlines effective treatment options.

Who is this for?

Death Anxiety

Designed to help clients understand and learn more about death anxiety.

Integrating it into your practice

Assess

Identify clients who may be experiencing death anxiety.

Provide the guide to clients who could benefit from it.

Educate

Use the content to inform clients about death anxiety and help normalize their experiences.

Reflect

Discuss the client’s personal experience with death anxiety.

Intervene

Plan treatment with the client or direct them to other sources of help and support.

Theoretical Background & Therapist Guidance

Worries about death - whether one's own or that of a loved one - are a normal part of life. However, when thoughts about death or dying become extremely distressing, time-consuming, or interfere with important activities, it may be a sign of death anxiety.

Death anxiety (also referred to as thanatophobia) is a common fear that can affect individuals across the lifespan. Research indicates that up to 10% of people experience death anxiety, with approximately 3% experiencing it at an intense level. Clients' concerns may center on their own death, the death of others, the process of dying, or questions about what happens after death.

Death anxiety can contribute to significant mental health difficulties and impair daily functioning. It is also implicated in a range of other psychological disorders, including anxiety disorders (such as health anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder), depression, and eating disorders. Encouragingly, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for death anxiety.

What's inside

Introduction to death anxiety.
Guidance for introducing and using the resource with clients.
Key references for learning more about death anxiety.

Get access to this resource

FAQs

Death anxiety involves intense fear or preoccupation with death, affecting daily functioning and mental health.

Important maintenance factors often include avoidance, unhelpful coping strategies, and unhelpful or distressing thoughts about death.

CBT is an effective therapy that focuses on addressing maladaptive thoughts and behaviors that maintain death anxiety.

How This Resource Improves Clinical Outcomes

By using this resource in their clinical practice, therapists can:

Identify individuals who may be experiencing death anxiety.
Help clients better understand their difficulties and what maintains them.
Explore treatment options.
Encourage hope and optimism about change.

References And Further Reading

Noyes Jr, R., Hartz, A. J., Doebbeling, C. C., Malis, R. W., Happel, R. L., Werner, L. A., & Yagla, S. J. (2000). Illness fears in the general population. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 318-325.
Agras, S., Sylvester, D., & Oliveau, D. (1969). The epidemiology of common fears and phobia. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 10, 151-156. DOI: 10.1016/0010-440X(69)90022-4.
White, J. (1980). A practical guide to death and dying. Quest.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1986). The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 189-212). Springer.
Yalom, I. D. (2008). Staring at the sun: Overcoming the terror of death. Jossey-Bass.
Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Greenberg, J. (2015). Thirty years of terror management theory: From genesis to revelation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 52, 1-70. DOI: /10.1016/ bs.aesp.2015.03.001.
Iverach, L., Menzies, R. G., & Menzies, R. E. (2014). Death anxiety and its role in psychopathology: Reviewing the status of a transdiagnostic construct. Clinical Psychology Review, 34, 580-593. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2014.09.002.
Iverach, L. (2018). Death anxiety and psychopathology. In R. E. Menzies, R. G. Menzies, & L. Iverach (Eds.), Curing the dread of death: Theory, research, and practice. Australian Academic Press.
Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., & Solomon, S. (1997). Why do we need what we need? A terror management perspective on the roots of human social motivation. Psychological Inquiry, 8, 1-20. DOI: 10.1207/s15327965pli0801_1.
Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Navarrete, C. D. (2006). Reports of my death anxiety have been greatly exaggerated: A critique of terror management theory from an evolutionary perspective. Psychological Inquiry, 17, 288-298. DOI: 10.1080/10478400701366969.
Menzies, R. E., & Veale, D. (2022). Free yourself from death anxiety: A CBT self-help guide for a fear of death and dying. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Tomer, A. (1994). Death anxiety in adult life – theoretical perspectives. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed), Death anxiety handbook: Research, instrumentation, and application (pp. 3-28). Taylor and Francis.
Jong, J., Ross, R., Philip, T., Chang, S. H., Simons, N., & Halberstadt, J. (2018). The religious correlates of death anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Religion, Brain, and Behavior, 8, 4-20. DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2016.1238844.
Howard, A., & Scott, R. (1965). Cultural values and attitudes toward death. Journal of Existentialism, 6, 161-171.
Schumaker, J. F., Barraclough, R. A., & Vagg, L. M. (1988). Death anxiety in Malaysian and Australian university students. Journal of Social Psychology, 128, 41-47. DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1988.9711682.
Menzies, R. E., Zuccala, M., Sharpe, L., & Dar-Nimrod, I. (2018). The effects of psychosocial interventions on death anxiety: A meta-analysis and systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 59, 64-73. DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.09.004.
Furer, P ., & Walker, J. R. (2008). Death anxiety: A cognitive-behavioral approach. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 22, 167-182. DOI: 10.1891/0889-8391.22.2.167
Menzies, R. G. (2018). Cognitive and behavioural procedures for the treatment of death anxiety. In R. E. Menzies, R. G. Menzies, & L. Iverach (Eds.), Curing the dread of death: Theory, research, and practice. Australian Academic Press.
McEvoy, P . M., Hyett, M. P ., Shihata, S., Price, J. E., & Strachan, L. (2019). The impact of methodological and measurement factors on transdiagnostic associations with intolerance of uncertainty: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 73, 101778. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101778.
Linkovski, O., Kalanthroff, E., Henik, A., & Anholt, G. E. (2016). Stop checking: Repeated checking and its effects on response inhibition and doubt. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 53, 84-91. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.12.007.

A Guide To Emotions

Understanding Death Anxiety

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Guide (PDF)

Overview

Why Use This Resource?