Currently there are many treatments aimed at fighting thanatophobia (From the Greek thánatos , ‘death’, and phóbos , ‘fear’), as it is still a threatening problem for those who suffer from it. Thanatophobes carry the natural anxiety of the human being before the fact of dying to an excessive extreme that makes them suffer and limits their daily life. It is a disorder that does not come from objective factors; the proof is that thanatophobia is much less common among older people, who logically have a greater chance of dying earlier, than among younger and healthy people .
This syndrome is related to necrophobia, which is the fear of dead things . Sometimes both terms are used interchangeably, but thanatophobia defines something more specific, since it includes, but is not limited to, the fear of one’s own death, or also often the fear of losing a family member or close friend in a near future . Necrophobia is rather the fear of death in general, of dead things, such as human and animal corpses, as well as certain objects or rituals associated with death, for example, coffins, graves, tombstones or cemeteries .
In the case of necrophobia, the term is derived from the Greek necros (corpse) and phobos (fear). Those who suffer from this condition are not able to clearly explain the chilling and paralyzing feeling they experience when facing a mummy or a dead person.
But going back to the more specific fear of thanatophobia, that is, of the death itself, it usually originates, like other phobias, by some traumatic event suffered in childhood or by a childhood fear not treated in time and that ends up leading to a phobia . This condition can lead to panic attacks , so treatments may include medications to control anxiety . Sometimes there are also various physical manifestations caused by thanatophobia, such as dry mouth, insomnia, anxiety attacks, palpitations and tremors . The tremors usually start in the hands; They can then recur in intermittent episodes that gradually increase in frequency and severity over time.
To overcome thanatophobia you can go to a specialist . The most effective proven therapies use strategies to stop intrusive thoughts, relax, and focus the mind on the present by stopping continual anticipation. But there are even more revolutionary methods . Today virtual reality techniques are being applied to treat this disorder. This same year, Mel Slater, ICREA researcher at the Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment of the University of Barcelona, has published a study in which he applies virtual reality therapeutically.
It consists of making those affected feel that a virtual body is theirs real one . They are then asked to “get out of their own body” and observe themselves from above, that is, to have an artificial experience of out-of-body travel . The results show that the method serves to lose much of the fear of death. According to Slater, it is because the experience allows one to fully experience the feeling of survival beyond the physical body.
