Theories of death anxiety

Theories of death anxiety have mainly evolved around the issues of death anxiety and its adjustment. Along with Sigmund Freud’s and Ernest Becker’s works, the following works on death anxiety are worth mentioning:
Sigmund Freud’s work
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) postulated that people express a fear of death, which he called ‘thanatophobia’. However, this was merely a disguise for a deeper source of concern. It was not actually death that people feared, because nobody believes in his or her own death. The unconscious does not deal with the passage of time or with negations. That one's life could and would end simply “does not compute”. Furthermore, that which one does fear cannot be death itself, because one has never died. People who express death-related fears, then, are actually trying to deal with unresolved childhood conflicts that they cannot bring themselves to acknowledge and discuss openly .
Ernest Becker’s work
Ernest Becker's existential view turned death anxiety theory towards a new dimension. It stated that death anxiety is not only real, but also that it is people's most profound source of concern. He described this anxiety as so intense that it can generate fears and phobias in everyday life. Fears of being alone or in a confined space are some examples of its impact. According to this theory, much of people's daily behavior consists of attempts to deny death and thereby keep their basic anxiety under control .
Martin Heidegger’s work
Martin Heidegger, the German philosopher, on the one hand showed death as something conclusively determined, in the sense that it is inevitable for every human being, while on the other hand, it unmasks its indeterminate nature via the truth that one never knows when or how death is going to come. Heidegger does not engage in speculation about whether being after death is possible. He argues that all human existence is embedded in time: past, present, future, and when considering the future, we encounter the notion of death. This then creates Angst. Angst can create a clear understanding in one that death is a possible mode of existence, which Heidegger described as “clearing”. Thus, Angst can lead to a freedom about existence, but only if we can stop denying our mortality (as expressed in Heidegger’s terminology as “stop denying being-for-death”). This, in turn creates space for authenticity, where death becomes an enriching, liberating, rather than frightening, aspect of human experience. Unfortunately, Heidegger, as a philosopher, did not make any suggestions as to how to arrive at this state of awareness .
Paul T P Wong’s work
Through the works of Meaning Management Theory Paul T. P. Wong showed human reactions to death as complex, multifaceted and dynamic. His “Death Attitude Profile” identifies three types of death acceptances as Neutral, Approach and Escape acceptances. Apart from acceptances, his work also represents different aspects of the meaning of Death Fear that are rooted in the bases of death anxiety. The ten meanings he propose are finality, uncertainty, annihilation, ultimate loss, life flow disruption, leaving the loved ones, pain and loneliness, prematurity and violence of death, failure of life work completion, and judgment and retribution centered. Most importantly, his Meaning Management Theory itself proposes that 1) Humans are bio-psychosocial-spiritual beings, 2) Human beings are meaning-seeking and meaning making creatures, 3) Two primary motivations for human beings are to survive and to find meaning and reason for survival, 4) Meaning can be found in all situations, and 5) The motivational tendencies of avoidance and approach may complement each other. This theory has a good potential to be utilized in working with people struggling with end-of-life issues.
Mohammad Samir Hossain's work
Mohammad Samir Hossain, a researcher of death attitude , postulated Death and Adjustment Hypotheses . In 2007, Mohammad Samir Hossain’s book Quest for a New Death: Death and Adjustment Hypotheses, postulated, in two parts, that adjustment to death is hampered by our preconceived misconceptions about the phenomenon of death. The prevailing perception, in fact our predominant one, is that our entire existence absolutely ends with death. According to Hossain’s theory of adjustment, it should be converted to something like ‘death does not cause an absolute end to existence’. If our conceptualization is changed in this way, it might enhance our adjustment to death. But, as per the second part of this theory, this can only be established when our morality attains a certain level, because decay or deterioration in relation to the concept of death, is very much connected to our code of ethics and beliefs .
Other works
Other approaches to death anxiety were introduced in the late twentieth century. Terror management theory is based on a study finding that people who felt better about themselves also reported having less death-related anxiety . Another approach named “regret theory” was proposed in 1996 by Adrian Tomer and Grafton Eliason. It approaches the way in which people evaluate the quality or worth of their lives. The prospect of death is likely to make people more anxious if they feel that they have not accomplished, and cannot accomplish, something good in life.

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