Posted by Cecilia on April 2, 2001, at 3:17:52
In reply to Phobia of death/dying, posted by carisa on March 30, 2001, at 0:37:31
> I have recently been diagnosed with thantophobia. It is the obsessive fear of death/dying. I am taking Celexa for it. I guess I would just like to talk to someone about this... to know i'm not alone. Please reply if you suffer from this condition. I am desperate for someone who can relate.
>
> CarisaCarisa, you are definitely not alone. I think everybody is afraid of death to some degree, I think it`s probably partly an innate biological instinct (in both animals and humans) but of course as humans we add to the innate instinct to flee from danger our thoughts and fears about what will happen during and after death. For me, I obsess sometimes about the pain and helplessness associated with death, and sometimes I have obsessive fear of the fear, imagining a prolonged illness with every day filled with the terror of knowing it will happen soon. Most of all though, I`m afraid of what will happen after death, intellectually I don`t really think there is any afterlife, but emotionally I`m terrified there is, I`ve had so much pain in my life and the more pain I`m in the more I feel like I deserve it and will be punished even more after I die. Also I get this totally invaded feeling, imagininng my sisters sorting through my stuff. imagining, if there IS any sort of consciousness after death. hearing people talk about me. Or I start thinking I`ll be told I failed this life and will have to do it all over again. Of course I know all these thoughts are irrational, but the trouble is no one alive has any clue what WILL happen.
poster:Cecilia
thread:5366
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010324/msgs/5448.html