Toward a comprehensive model of death anxiety

Abstract

An integrative, comprehensive model of death anxiety is presented. The model postulates three immediate antecedents of death anxiety: past-related regret, future-related regret, and meaningfulness of death. Past-related regret refers to a person's unfulfilled aspirations that should have been achieved but were not. Future-related regret refers to the anticipation that, as a result of premature death, one cannot achieve important goals in the future. Meaningfulness of death refers to one's concept of death and ability to make sense of it. These three antecedents are related to death salience in a complex way, mediated by coping mechanisms and their effects on one's beliefs about self and the world. The coping mechanisms include (but are not necessarily limited to) life review, life planning, identification with culture, and self-transcending processes. The model's developmental and practical applications are explored.

Gratitude lessens death anxiety

“…Empirical research shows that ego integrity and the feeling of a life well-lived, as indicated by life satisfaction and a sense of purpose, are associated with lower death anxiety (see metaanalysis by Fortner and Neimeyer 1999). Thus, some scholars have proposed that death anxiety is a function of the perceived inability to fulfill major life goals, or a sense of regret (Tomer and Eliason 1996). Life regrets are feelings that one is unable to fulfill certain major life goals, which may be due to past errors of omission or commission or the perception that future life circumstances make realizing important goals unlikely.…”

“…Regrets lead to the wish to undo past mistakes and realign actions with goals (Giloviqh and Medvec 1995), but death is a state that rules out the possibility of undoing altogether. Therefore regrets exacerbate the fear of personal mortality (Tomer and Eliason 1996).…”

“…Experimental studies are lacking, and the few studies that have been done found little support for behavioral approaches (e.g., systematic desensitization and relaxation; Rasmussen et al 1998;Testa 1981;White et al 1983White et al -1984 or life review therapy (Vaughan and Kinnier 1996). Other approaches, such as regret therapy (Tomer and Eliason 1996) or spiritual counseling (Eliason 2000), have not been subject to experimental investigation.…”

Death Anxiety Resilience; a Mixed Methods Investigation

“…Death anxiety is an inherently human condition of which we are aware at varying levels of Death Anxiety Resilience 25 our own mortality. This is both a normal and necessary experience that existential psychologists encourage to accept, confront and attribute meaning to our inevitable death [48][49][50]. However due to the overwhelming nature of death anxiety, we attempt to deny this mortality through the use of specific mechanisms.…”

Le risque alimentaire perçu comme risque vital de consommation. Émergences, adaptation et gestion

“…Cette densité de publications en fait le champ d'études empirique le plus important de la thanatologie. Certains auteurs se sont essayés à une définition de l'anxiété face à la mort (Tomer et Grafton, 1996). Alors que les premiers travaux présentaient uniquement l'anxiété face à la mort comme un construit unidimensionnel certains souhaitent distinguer aujourd'hui plusieurs sous dimensions (cf.…”