All About Thanatophobia, the Fear of Dying, & How To Overcome it with CBT, Therapy & Counselling in Wolverhampton & West Midlands

What is Thanatophobia?

Thanatophobia is the Fear of Dying or Death.

It might seem completely reasonable that death is something that people ‘should’ be afraid of, but of course EVERYBODY is going to die as surely as everybody was born and so having a fear of something that is an absolute certainty does seem is little bit ‘unproductive’!

It may be that people who experience Thanatophobia have more of their fear associated with the ‘mode’ of death, in other words, ‘will it be painful’?

All phobias, regardless of what the feared object or circumstances are, produce feelings of anxiety and stress for the sufferer, and Thanatophobia is no different in this sense.

Whilst the feared object or situation may seem, to other people, to be ‘ridiculous’ or ‘silly’, the person who suffers from Thanatophobia knows only too well that the anxious feelings they experience are real enough.

We completely understand this and will treat you and your Thanatophobia seriously.

Much of the work we do in helping people overcome Thanatophobia focuses on the evaluation and modification of a person’s core limiting beliefs and values so that exposure to the phobic trigger can be evaluated or perceived differently and given new and more useful ‘meanings’ – known as ‘adaptive coping’.

Most people suffering from Thanatophobia do recognise that their phobia is irrational but continue to experience it regardless of this knowledge.

Thanatophobia Symptoms

The symptoms of Thanatophobia are very similar to other specific phobias and will often include:

• Anger problems
• Generalised Anxiety
• Social anxiety
• Control issues
• Feelings of depression
• Insomnia & sleeping problems
• Low Self-Esteem
• Low Self-Confidence
• Panic attacks
• Overthinking things
• Paranoia
• Stress

Thanatophobia symptoms tend to be automatic leaving the sufferer feeling like they have little or no control over the way they feel.

This often results in the use of avoidance or safety behaviours in an attempt to prevent exposure to what they consider to be the triggering events.

Unfortunately, safety behaviours tend to produce a paradoxical effect and end up reinforcing the phobia and associated distress rather than making things better.

Thanatophobia may be the result of earlier traumatic experiences that can be directly (or indirectly) linked to the object or situational fear, but this is not always the case because phobic responses can also be inherited as learned behaviours from the social context in which they were brought up.

Over time, Thanatophobia may have become normalised or accepted as part of a person’s life and where this has been the case, sufferers may not seek help for their problem for many years as they have learnt to live with it.

In just as many cases, however, Thanatophobia may become much worse and start to get in the way of normal living. This is particularly true if the safety and avoidance behaviours have grown in frequency and sophistication.

The good news is that the majority of people who suffer from Thanatophobia will find a course of psychotherapy highly beneficial.

You can read more about the different types of psychological therapy for the fear of Dying below.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Thanatophobia

If you’re determined to overcome your Thanatophobia then we highly recommend following our Tranceformental CBT programme with Paul which is available as an Online Therapy as well as a self-help course.

The Tranceformental programme is a highly successful & pragmatic psychotherapy course, run over 10 sessions, that will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify any unhelpful thinking styles or limiting beliefs and then show you how to make changes using methods derived from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Tranceformental CBT programme is a clinically proven approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.

Free Initial Consultations for Thanatophobia

We offer all prospective clients FREE initial consultations to discuss your Thanatophobia problems prior to commencing any therapy programmes.

The consultation and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various psychological therapy options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available online.

At Tranceform Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapy relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so it is important to meet (either face-to-face or online) before deciding to follow a course of psychotherapy.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.