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Brooke Walker
Suzanne Thomas
UWRT 1102
11 April 2016
Why is Death Scary?
Reflection: I have never written a thesis before, so I used the examples in the course pack to help
me. I tried to do they say, I say so I hope you can pick that out. I still have a lot to do to this
paper, but I hope to get a lot of good feedback from the conference.
Reflection Post-Conference: At the conference, I got a lot of good feedback on my paper. They
suggested ways to keep the audience engaged and what else I could write about. They were able
to see the they say, I say in my writing, which is what I was wanting! I made a few changes on
the I say to make sure the audience is interested in my paper.
We all have a best friend who is there for us through anything. They do things that show
us they care and we act the same way towards them. Then imagine something terrible has
happened to that friend and having to watch them suffer for months. That best friend for me was
my grandfather. He was diagnosed with cancer when I was ten years old, and died six months
later. It was tough to watch him battle through that disease, but even tougher to watch him pass.
Going through that experience and hearing other people tell their stories of watching loved ones
pass, it has made me wonder why the word death has such a bad tone.
Like it or not, we hear about death often. There is an obituary section in the newspaper
and we often hear of someone we know who has died or someone who has been affected by
death. We live our lives afraid of dying and doing things that keep us from dying. I want to live a
long time on Earth, but why are we afraid of death? From my church and learning, I have learned

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that there is a better place than Earth. We always tell each other when someone has died,
Theyre in a better place now. Then why do fear of leaving this planet? Is it because we are
afraid of how we are going to die? Or because we dont exactly know what happens after death
because no one can come back and tell us?
The definition of death in Merriam-Webster is the end of life: the time when something
or someone dies. In medicine, death is the permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions
(Death). The famous philosopher Sartre said Death is the meaning of my future-self to
present to the other (ThePhilo). In the Bible, it is the termination of life, and there are many
verses that describe what it is. Ecclesiastes 12:7 states The dust shall return to the earth as it
was and Romans 8:6, Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 2:3, and Colossians 2:13 describe death as
death of the soul under the power of sin (Easton). Medicine, philosophy, and religion all have
different meanings of death because of what it means in their field. Different religions have
different views of death and how we go about accepting it. The variety of definitions proves the
many views of death and what it means.
Fear of death is also called thanatophobia. It is derived from the Greek God of death,
Thanatos, and phobia, meaning fears. One of the causes of this very common condition is
religious issues. Even though people have beliefs about what will happen to them after they die,
many are unsure of them and worry if they are wrong. Another cause of thanatophobia is loss of
control, meaning afraid of the act of dying. No one knows how they are going to die, which is
scary to most people (Fritscher).
Many people believe that religious people do not have anything to worry about
concerning death because of religious beliefs. As a Christian, I know what is going to happen
when I die: I am going to Heaven. I am going to be with God and everything is going to be great.

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This is not the same for all religions, but each one has ideas about death and afterlife. As I look at
the religious side of death, why are people afraid of it?
Timothy Chappell, a philosophy professor at The Open University in Scotland,
researched why Christians are afraid of death. He came up with two types of people: believer and
non-believer. Non-believers think death is nothingness, meaning they do not know what to
expect after death. On the other hand, believers think death is nothing because it is simply
moving on to Heaven. He states, this present life is so related to the resurrection life that it
would be a better way of speaking to call this the prelife and that life, rather than calling this life
and the resurrection the afterlife (Chappell 422). Chappell suggest that dying for believers
should not mean the end of life, but rather the beginning of a new one. Non-believers have a
reason to fear death because they do not know what is going to happen and losing control. But
for believers, they could have reasons such as losing pathological control and innocent control.
The loss of pathological control is when we cannot control our mind or thoughts, but this is only
temporary for believers because right after they die, they will be in Heaven. The loss of innocent
control refers to how we are going to die. Believers may be afraid of the act of dying, which, as
the same as losing pathological control, would not be long.
Besides Christianity, other religions believe that certain things will happen after death.
For example, Hindus believes in afterlife, samsara, and karma, the law of cause and effect.
Hindus believe that if a person does good deeds in life, they will get a better afterlife. But if they
did bad things, they will get a worse afterlife. For them, death should not be fearful unless you
have committed wrongdoings. The Bhagavad Gita, Hindu scripture, states, not to fear death, nor
to grieve the deaths of our loved one (Johnson and McGee 120). They do not believe in being
afraid of death because everyone who dies has been brought into a new life.

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Christianity and Hinduism both bring light on fear of death, and they both give arguments
on why we should not be. Christians believe in dying and going to Heaven, a better place than
Earth. Hindus believe in a second life, in which the things you do in the first life depend on the
outcome of the second. For Christians, God is our protector and we should not fear anything. He
is going to take care of us through everything.
However, not everyone is afraid of death. St. Thrse, a nun in the Roman Catholic
Church in France, was one of those people. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died at age
24. Having already witnessing death through the death of her mother, she was excited about it.
She says, It is only that I feel that I have nothing to fear about (Thrse 207). Her religious
beliefs made her happy about her death, something she said she has been waiting her whole life
for.
St. Thrse brought up a good point for all religious people: if we have religious beliefs
concerning death, why should we be afraid? There may be some religious people who are afraid
of death because of the uncertainty of what will happen afterwards. This reason may arise
because there is no way for us to know for sure if our beliefs are true.
As previously mentioned, I have experienced death through the passing of my
grandfather. Right before my grandfather died, he kept talking about seeing mountains. I
remember him calling them beautiful, with light shining at the top of them. We kept telling him
to climb the mountains, and when he died, we knew he was with God on that mountain top. This
first-hand account of my grandfather dying, and the way he was talking about the mountains,
gave me a sense of security that there is a Heaven. For me, the religious reason for fear of death
is not an issue because of this experience.

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Thanatophobia is a condition within ourselves, but it can also have an affect on other
people. For example, medical professionals have to deal with dying patients. They have to
explain to the family that their loved one is dying, and explain to the patient what is happening.
Elisabeth Kbler-Ross, author of On Death and Dying, a book about the five-stages of grief,
wrote, What happens in a changing field of medicine, where we have to ask ourselves whether
medicine is to remain a humanitarian and respected profession or a new but depersonalized
science in the service of prolonging life rather than diminishing human suffering? (25). This is
referring to medical professionals avoiding the death talk with patients because of the fear of the
topic. Mustafa V. Kavas and Derya ztuna, faculty members of Ankara Universitys School of
Medicine and researchers of the dying process, conducted a study on medical professionals about
their view of death. In addition to studying medical professionals, they also asked families of
dying patients, or patients who have passed, about their experience with doctors during that time.
Kavas and ztuna concluded that medical professionals are more likely to be afraid of death
because of their profession. When having to deal with patients, they do not prefer to talk about
death with the patient or their family, but do because it is their responsibility. However, the
patients families had opposing views. They stated, They express that most of the time their
attending physicians (as well as other healthcare professionals) behave as if they do not exist or
are a non-living thing or just a machine rather than a human being who is still alive (Kavas and
ztuna 774). Patients and their families feel like medical professionals ignore them because of
their state of wellbeing.
As a future nurse, I will have to deal with dying patients. It is in the job description. That
does not mean that I will ignore or treat them or their families any different. Kavas and ztuna
are right when they stated, Probably coming across dying patients reminds them of their own

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temporary existence, namely, their mortality (774). But anyone who is around death is going to
have this feeling. However, that is not supposed to affect medical professionals work.
Besided religious reasons, other reasons for thanatophobia are society. If you watch the
news, you have seen the increase in mass shootings within the last few years. 35 mass shootings
have occurred since Columbine in 1999 (Hodari), and this does not include 9/11 events, the
Boston Marathon bombings or the Paris attacks. These tragedies have induced fear in people all
over the world. In On Death and Dying, Kbler-Ross explains that these events have made
people afraid of survival, causing a fear of death. She tells how people are afraid to go do normal
things because out of nowhere, there may be an attack.
I agree that recent tragedies have caused thanatophobia in people because that is one of
the reasons I am afraid of death. Mass shootings and other horrible tragedies have made
everyone afraid of going out. When there are events within a community or even sports events,
there has to be a huge amount of security because that is what our society has come to. We cant
even get on an airplane without going through massive amounts of security protocol. A fear has
been induced in people because of past attacks.
Treatments of thanatophobia vary depending the severity of the condition. A common
treatment is seeking professional help, such as a psychologist, with the aim to identify the reason
for this fear and to try and overcome the fear. This treatment is very effective and many people in
turn completely lose this fear. Another type of therapy used to overcome thanatophobia is
cognitive behavioral therapy. Patients face the fear and learn how to become accustomed with
their reactions and symptoms. (Thanatophobia).
Mary Williams, a Certified Mental Health Training Analyst and a member of the Society
of Analytical Psychology, suggests two sides of thanatophobia: sadistic and masochistic

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methods. The sadistic method is when someone, forms a counter-phobic identification with
death as the destroyer (Williams 160). This means that the person avoids death by committing
death themselves. Williams give the example of a woman whose child died at 18 months old. She
had another child and when he turned 18 months old, she want to kill him. The woman did not
know why she was doing this, but her psychologist determined that it was her fear of death that
was making her feel this way towards her child. When she looked at her child, it reminded
herself of her age and that as her child is getting older, so was she. This meant that she was
getting closer to death. When her first child died, she had nothing to remind herself of this. With
the help of her psychologist, she was able to get rid of this condition.
The other side of thanatophobia Williams proposes is masochistic. This is when the
person realized they are getting closer to death, and do things they did when they were not in that
situation. For example, they may dress in childish clothes and do things they did when they were
younger. Instead of accepting reality, they decide to ignore it. Many people in this stage go into
depression and sometimes commit suicide.
Thanatophobia is important because we should not be afraid of what it to come, however
think about what is happening right now. Although thanatophobia may only affect a few people
who have this condition, it should concern everyone. We will all have to face death one day, but
we do not need to be afraid of it. The research I included above supports reasons on how not to
be afraid, such as religious beliefs. In the future, I would like to learn more about people who
have thanatophobia and why they have their fear.

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Works Cited
Chappell, Timothy. The Fear of Death. New Blackfriars. 90.1028 (2009): 413-423. Wiley
Online Library. Web. 12 March 2016.
"Death." MedicineNet. MedicineNet, Inc., 09 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
Easton, Matthew George. "Death - Definition and Meaning, Bible Dictionary." Bible Study
Tools. Bible Study Tools. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
Fritscher, Lisa. "Thanatophobia-Fear of Death." About Health. About.com, 10 Dec. 2014. Web.

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14 Feb. 2015.
Hodari, David. "A History of Mass Shootings in the US since Columbine." The Telegraph.
Telegraph Media Group, 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.
Johnson, Christopher Jay and Marsha G. McGee. Hinduism. How Different Religions View
Death and Afterlife. Philadelphia, PA: Charles, 1998. Print.
Kavas, Mustafa V, and Derya ztuna. Thanatophobia in Medical Students: Approach to Death
and Dying Patients Attitude Scale (ADDPAS) for Undergraduate Years in Medicine.
Journal of Cancer Education. 26.4 (2011): 774-781. Springer Link. Web. 12 March 2016.
Kbler-Ross, Elisabeth. Attitudes Towards Death and Dying. On Death and Dying. New
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Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster.Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
"Thanatophobia." Thanatophobia. All About Counseling. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.
ThePhilo. "Death: Philosophy Definitions." Philosophy & Philosophers. Philosophy &
Philosophers, 02 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
Thrse, de Lisieux Saint. The Trial of Faith. Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St.
Therese of Lisieux.
Williams, Mary. The Fear of Death in Consciousness. Journal of Analytical Psychology. 7.1
(1962): 29-40. Wiley Online Library. Web. 17 March 2016.