Role of Social Detachment in Coping With Death Anxiety

Abstract

The present research examines the strength of terror management theory in an indigenous Indian context of religious fair called Magh Mela. It explores how elderly Hindu people deal with death anxiety through practicing Kalpvas in Magh Mela. The research explores the role of social detachment and self-esteem in coping with terror of death. Study 1, a field experiment on 150 Kalpvasis (practitioners of Kalpvas) confirms the significant role of social detachment as an adaptive strategy for coping with death terror. The role of self-esteem did not emerge in the study. Study 2, another field experiment on 62 Kalpvasis confirms results of study 1. Significant role of years of Kalpvas on fear of death shows importance of the religious practices in managing terror related to death. The relation of terror management theory and death anxiety thus follows a different explanation for more indigenous contexts.

Death Anxiety, Religiosity and Culture: Implications for Therapeutic Process and Future Research

“…A number of studies indicate the role of spiritual experiences and life satisfaction as a coping mechanism (Moore 2013;Saini et al 2016;Taghiabadi et al 2017). Furthermore, social detachment was demonstrated as an important religious coping practice for managing death anxiety (Maheshwari and Mukherjee 2019). Spiritual practices such as a daily schedule of yoga and meditation were found to be effective in relieving symptoms of depression and anxiety (Bridges and Sharma 2017;Varambally and Gangadhar 2020), which may provide great relief from death anxiety as well.…”

Religious factors affecting death anxiety in older adults practicing Hinduism

“…The findings are also in line with a large body of work conducted in the West suggesting that religiosity is negatively associated with death anxiety (Jong et al, 2018), especially in older adults (Cicirelli, 2002;Falkenhain & Handal, 2003) and religious populations (Ellis & Wahab, 2013;Jong et al, 2018). While to our knowledge this is the first study examining religious factors and death anxiety in the context of Hinduism, limited previous studies conducted on pilgrims attending the Kumbh have found positive factors as devotees felt a sense of shared identity (Maheshwari & Singh, 2009), improved in well-being during the pilgrimage (Tewari et al, 2012), and used social detachment to cope with fear of death (Maheshwari & Mukherjee, 2019). Such factors may indirectly contribute towards lowering death anxiety.…”

“…The findings further showed that higher presence of meaning facilitates lower death anxiety, leading to greater acceptance of death. From a psychosocial perspective, the relationship between meaning and coping with mortality awareness, can potentially be attributed to elderly in Asia deriving meaning from social structures and holding important roles in families/society (Reker, 1997;Maheshwari & Mukherjee, 2019). Contrary to the hypothesis, participants with higher levels of continued search for meaning experienced greater death anxiety.…”

“…A recent study on 150 elderly pilgrims (kalpvasis) suggested that Kumbh Mela is particularly lucrative to elderly pilgrims and that they use social detachment as a means of coping with death anxiety (Maheshwari & Mukherjee, 2019). So, despite the inherent risks associated with mass gatherings (spread of disease, crowd control, sustainable waste management etc.)…”

Relationship and Prevalence of Death Anxiety and Religious Coping among Death Care Workers in Pakistan

“…Several studies have established the effectiveness of religious coping behaviors such as praying, in helping people regulating their feelings of distress and anxiety, as they enable people to cope with guilt, submit entirely to God's Will, consider affliction through optimistic lenses and control their fear 18,20 . Social detachment is seen as an important religious coping practice to regulate death anxiety 21 . Spiritual practices such as daily meditation in the form of prayers is found to provide great relief from death anxiety 22 .…”