What is Thanatophobia?

Sooner or later we will have our funerals at funeral homes in Rocky Mount, VA. As Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1789 letter, "Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." It's normal to have some apprehension about death if you or a loved one has a terminal illness or is seriously ill.

However, some people have chronic, extreme fear of death. It may be all they talk about, think about, and display distress about. They may avoid any kind of activity that has the potential to cause death. They may, for example, refuse to learn to drive a car, because cars have the risk of death associated with them. They may avoid taking elevators, going to attractions in mountainous territory, swimming in the water at the beach, and going on rides at amusement parks, to name a few things.

This can seriously impact normal day-to-day living both for the person who's chronically anxious about death and for their friends and family.

Phobias about death are not uncommon, but some are more pronounced in how they affect a person's life that others are. There are several identified phobias about death and dying. One is necrophobia, which is a fear of dead animals and people. Another is taphophobia, which is a fear of being buried alive. A third is placophobia, which is a fear of gravestones. Coimetrophobia is a fear of cemeteries.

Thantophobia is generalized and chronic anxiety about death and dying that interferes with a normal life. It is the most commonly-seen phobia that is connected to death and dying.

Like all phobias, thantophobia exists on a scale that ranges from mild to severe. The symptoms of thantophobia are similar to the symptoms of other anxiety disorders. They may include sweating, shaking, feeling very hot or very cold, respiratory distress, rapid heartbeat, a feeling of tightness in the chest, nervous stomach, headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea, and dry mouth.

In the most severe manifestations of thantophobia, panic attacks, which have many of the same symptoms as heart attacks, can ensue. In severe cases of thantophobia, the person may spend most of their waking hours on the Internet researching medical conditions and activities that could be potentially life-threatening. Additionally, the person gets extremely upset when they come face to face with anything related to death and dying. This can include hearing or seeing news stories about death, watching programs or movies where death is involved, conversations about death and dying, and being obligated to attend a funeral.

Thantophobia can be present at any age and any gender, but it is most common among women in their 20s. Younger people, in general, fear death itself, while older people are more afraid about what dying is like and feel like.

In some cases of thantophobia, an extreme fear that a loved one, such as a child or spouse, will die develops and persists. This can make parents or spouses radically overprotective of their children or their spouse, to the point where it becomes distressing for the kids or the other spouse to even walk out of the house.

In these kinds of cases of thantophobia, counseling with a mental health professional can be very beneficial. For information on death-related phobias at funeral homes in Rocky Mount, VA, our compassionate and experienced staff at Conner-Bowman Funeral Home & Crematory is here to help. You can come by our funeral home at 62 Virginia Market Place Dr., Rocky Mount, VA, 24151 or you can contact us today at (540) 334-5151.