Death Anxiety Presenter: Rida Khan
Death Anxiety
Presenter:Rida Khan
Description
• Apprehension towards dying
• Fear of non-existence
• Importance in healthcare
• Goal of therapy
Attributes
Emotion• Threat to
existence• Amygdala;
hippocampus
Cognitive • Self cannot
exist state• Death salience • Too much focus
on living
Experiential • Denial
repression • Self-
regulation
Developmental• Developmental
stage• Identity crises• Ego integrity vs.
despair; Firestone
Sociocultural shaping• Cultures’ duty• Different
meaning
Motivation • Conflict• Finite vs.
infinite• Psychological
defenses
AntecedentsStressful Environments
Threatening situationsIraq invasion of Kuwait study
Diagnosis of fatal illness
Cancer patients; terminally ill
Experiences with death & dying
Death of beloved
Funeral studies
ConsequencesAdaptive Defend culture
West – materialism
Maladaptive
Mental health
-vity towards aging/oldWithdrawal; self-mutilation
STUDIES
Anxiety in the dying child
• Terminally ill children under 5 – loneliness
• Seriousness of illness
• Altered surrounding environment
• Threatening illness
Death anxiety in the outpatient leukemic child
• Comparison b/w chronically ill and leukemic
• Dolls reflect separation
• Leukemic children more preoccupied
- threat to body integrity
- difficulty adapting
- older children – higher anxiety
Clinical Implications
• Intervention is vital
• Assess and manage death anxiety
• Acknowledgement helps direct lives
• Target developmental stage
• Lehto, R. H., & Stein, K. F. (2009). Death anxiety: an analysis of an evolving concept. Research and theory for nursing practice, 23(1), 23-41.
• Maglio, C. J., & Robinson, S. E. (1994). The effects of death education on death anxiety: A meta-analysis. OMEGA--Journal of Death and Dying, 29(4), 319-335.
• Spinetta, J. J., & Maloney, L. J. (1975). Death anxiety in the outpatient leukemic child. Pediatrics, 56(6), 1034-1037.
• Spinetta, J. J., Rigler, D., & Karon, M. (1973). Anxiety in the dying child. Pediatrics, 52(6), 841-845.
References