Fear of Death - Essay Example

Colby Pawlik Crp842 Spring Death and Dying Introduction In the society, the issue of death and dying is often perceived with distressing negative sensations and thoughts. The death related threats are associated with various fears of death that individuals experience, especially due to its inescapable and inevitable nature. These negative sensations are induced by innate emotions along with human desires to confront eminent or perceived dangers related to death and dying. In addition, views and perceptions concerning death are attributable to individuals’ emotional status of anxiety, which occurs upon deliberation of its occurrence. It is common that individuals have negative feelings as well as thought towards death itself, dying or being dead, and fright of dead things. These perceptions result from individuals’ emotional as well as physiological-related objectification as well as experiences. This paper reviews several articles discussing the issue of death and dying. Discussion Gailliot, Schmeichel, and Baumeister (2006) argued that self-regulation is essential for death threats control. Individuals undergo effortful struggle in the attempt to deal with unwanted feeling as well as thoughts, particularly those resulting from death and dying. Since death is inescapable and inevitable, it is essential that individuals guard themselves from death related thoughts in order to minimize the anxiety likely to be evoked by awareness of death. The attempts to avoid threat of death through denial are rational but unsuccessful, therefore, people should engage in more realistic defenses. According to their study, death anxiety and thought are moderated by state as well as trait self-control capability. Self-regulation is an essential technique as one of the psychological defenses that can be used against death related threats. Through self-regulation tool, individuals can reduce awareness or thoughts and anxiety of death. However, effortful self-control is required in order to suppress these thoughts and feelings, which necessitates use of resources leaving individuals with low level of self-control as well as relatively ineffective in their tasks (Gailliot, Schmeichel and Baumeister 50). Using a wide range of manipulations as well as measures in their studies, Gailliot, Schmeichel, and Baumeister (2006) revealed that deprived self-regulation weakens mortality concerns management while management of death anxieties results to a decline in subsequent self-regulation. In particular, individuals expressing little trait self-control were identified to have superior death anxiety as well as further thoughts concerning death compared to those with elevated trait self-control. On the other hand, diminutive state self-control, associated with low self-regulatory strength, was found to elevate individuals’ susceptibility to disturbing thoughts relating to mortality. People regarding themselves to have low self-regulatory ability exhibited an upsurge in death anxiety as well as thoughts about death. Besides, enhanced support for a superficially strong as well as patriotic being was identified as one of the defensive responses to death related threat, and political preferences-oriented responses to threat of death were defensive techniques among individuals with little trait self-control. Furthermore, death salience contributes to self-regulation impairment. These research findings are in line with the notion that perceptions relating to death and dying are distressing with their delineation as threats that should be suppressed. It is apparent that a variety of cues exist that evoke death related feelings as well as thoughts which obligates individuals to employ self-regulation in averting aversive emotions and thoughts from inflating their conscious. In general, state and trait aptitude for self-control or regulation is not only an effective means of envisaging as well as comprehending individual’s susceptibility to death fears and thoughts but it is also an appropriate defensive reaction to death related threats and thoughts (Gailliot, Schmeichel and Baumeister 59). In the study carried out by Faisal, Pnina, Shoham, and Tinsky-Roimi (2011), disparities in anxiety about death as well as dying between non-bereaved and bereaved elderly parents was examined. Religiosity was also analyzed in the attempt to identify its relationship with death and dying. Research findings indicated that bereaved parents have substantially high anxiety relating to dying as opposed to non-bereaved parents; however, both groups had insignificant differences with respect to death anxiety. Negative emotions and thoughts are associated with the differences on the parents’ anxiety about death. It was found out that bereaved parents are not frightened by death itself rather than the dying process. In most scenarios, bereaved parents perceive death as liberation from suffering and grief or a chance to join up with their children as per their beliefs. In contrast, dying process is viewed to involve feelings of misery, anger, grief and guilt for bereaved parent who is likely to hold himself accountable for his or her child’s death. In addition, religiosity was found not to have any relationship with anxiety regarding death as well as dying. Although faith as well as beliefs held in religion may enhance an individual’s positive perceptions concerning death and dying, religious people still exhibit high levels of death as well as mortality thoughts and worries. Besides, gender influences dying anxiety. In this study, bereaved women or mothers reported higher dying anxiety compared to bereaved father, which was attributed to variations in self-control or regulation between men and women. There were no apparent associations between the duration after the child’s death or nature of death and death as well as dying anxiety (Faisal, Pnina and Shoham 619). Sigelman & Rider (2009) argued that opinions concerning death and dying vary correspondingly with an individual’s encounters associated with death, as well as felt effects or consequences. In childhood, death is mainly inferred as a temporal experience associated with fear of being left behind and loneliness; although children’s perceptions vary with personal experience, religious and cultural beliefs as well as cognitive development. Further, young adults or adolescents have a comprehensive or more abstract understanding of death, especially if an individual experiences it. At this development stage, death is perceived as the ultimate end of life which is biologically caused, universal, and irreversible. In this phase, individuals are likely to express their grief directly through painful emotions and thoughts. Adolescents tend not to fear death, and indulge in risk-taking actions as well as romanticize death which changes when they directly experience death. On the other hand, adults view death as a normal developmental occurrence, and are substantially able to control their bereavement as well as accept its happening. The late adulthood is characterized by readily recognition of ones mortality. Death is viewed as the inevitable experience, and older adults consider it as a transition point marking the close of worldly affairs (Sigelman and Rider 15). Gamino and Ritter (2012) stated that death competence and bereavement, is an essential requirement for appropriate conduct in grief psychotherapy. They referred death competence to specialized skill in managing as well as tolerating an individual’s problems resulting from death and dying. Based on preceding researches and an extensive literature review, the concept on death competence was analyzed with emphasis on how it has evolved with time. Gamino and Ritter analyzed the empathic failure associated with the apparent deficient in death competence among the psychotherapists or mental health providers. Research findings indicated that death competence is a significant characteristic in providing ethically sensitive as well as clinically effective grief counseling. In view of this, grief psychotherapists should display sufficient death competence when dealing with individuals with dying anxiety and the bereaved. It is essential that they integrate emotional and cognitive competence along with specialized skill in handling death, bereavement and dying related problems of their clients. They are required to be informed on individuals’ feelings concerning death, and meticulous self-knowledge regarding personal loss account. Both aspects should be synchronized such that personal encounters with death as well as dying enhance one’s clinical proficiency instead of interfering with or limiting it. Generally, empathic failure in the preliminary sitting of grief counseling is attributable to challenges experienced in foundational therapeutic activities necessary for comprehending bereaved individuals, empathizing precisely as well as formulating effective interventions (Gamino and Ritter 38). According to Hayslip and Peveto (2005), culture manipulates death and dying conceptions among individuals of different social or societal backgrounds. Beliefs and rituals contained in religion as well as cultures concerning death are significant determinants of people’s attitude, anxiety and fear towards it occurrence. Most beliefs assist the dying face the shift between life and death boldly, as well as uphold a feeling of worth and importance in their entire existence. It is argued that culture perceptions that instill temperate fear promote the subsistence of morality and great personal achievements. In addition, religious belief systems offer encouragements to the dying, and family as well friends to the dying individual with a likelihood of reducing helplessness. Although cultures and spiritual beliefs vary between societies, some views concerning death and dying are similar such as its irreversibility, inevitability, and uncertainty among others (Hayslip and Peveto, 19). Conclusion It is apparent that death and dying thoughts and feelings can be moderated through self-regulation. Individuals’ ability to suppress death related thoughts is dependent on their self-regulation strength. Moreover, anxiety about death as well as dying varies between non-bereaved and bereaved elderly parents with bereaved women being more vulnerable than men. Death competence is a significant characteristic in therapeutic process of managing or relenting problems related to bereavement, death and dying. As abovementioned, different human development phases are characterized by varying views, meanings or perceptions concerning death. Furthermore, religious and cultural beliefs as well as rituals influence individual’s conceptions towards death and dying. In general, death is an inescapable encounter viewed as well as experienced fairly differently by individuals, and requires death competence, self-regulation or other appropriate defensive reactions. Works Cited Faisal, Azaiza, et al. "Death and Dying Anxiety among Bereaved and Nonbereaved Elderly Parents." Death Studies 35.7 (2011): 610-624. Print. Gailliot, Matthew T., Brandon J. Schmeichel and Roy F. Baumeister. "Self-regulatory processes defend against the threat of death: Effects of self-control depletion and trait self-control on thoughts and fears of dying." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91.1 (2006): 49-62. Print. Gamino, Louis A. and R. H. Ritter. "Death Competence: An Ethical Imperative." Death Studies 36.1 (2012): 23–40. Print. Hayslip, B. and C. A. Peveto. Cultural changes in attitudes toward death, dying, and bereavement. New York: Springer, 2005. Print. Sigelman, C. K. and E. A. Rider. Life-span human development. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Read More