What is thanatophobia?
Thanatophobia is an intense fear of death or the dying process. Another name for this condition is “death anxiety.” You might be anxious about your own death or the death of someone you care about.
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What is a phobia?
A phobia is an intense sense of worry or panic about certain activities, objects or situations. A specific phobic disorder, such as thanatophobia, is a type of anxiety disorder. Other examples of phobic disorders include claustrophobia (fear of small, confined spaces) and aerophobia (fear of flying).
What’s the difference between thanatophobia and necrophobia?
Thanatophobia is different than necrophobia. Necrophobia is a fear of dead things (corpses) or places that contain dead things, such as graveyards.
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Is thanatophobia normal?
It’s natural to feel some sense of worry about death or dying. After all, it’s normal to fear the unknown. You might think dying will be scary, painful or lonely. But if you have thanatophobia, your fear of death affects your daily life. It may make it difficult to function at school, work or in social situations. You may experience physical symptoms, such as a panic attack, when you think about dying. Or you might go out of your way to avoid talking about death or the dying process.
How common is thanatophobia?
Research suggests that death anxiety is common, though people tend not to report their feelings. One study shows that between 3% and 10% of people feel they’re more nervous than others about the thought of dying.
