Thanatophobia : This is the name phobia google suggested me for the feeling I was going through for may be last 3-4 months. Thanks to google to give me the exact word for this. Thanatophobia, means fear of death, or fear of dying. But am not sure this word completely suits the feeling I was going through. Yet it is true that I was undergoing this phobia, wait, I think I still have that underlying somewhere within me.
I am a seasonal Thanatophobian. This started way before when I was 12 or 13 years of old. My granny was 88 years old at that time, and thinking about her was the first time I started fearing death. But somehow I got rid of it, may be after her death. Then it started climbing me again when I was doing my graduation. I used to go for one hardware course after my college and used to get late while coming back. The time waiting for the bus, at the night, alone, brought me the feeling again. Succesfully got rid of that again.
Now I got under the phobia again after Lays had left to her home for her delivery of Totto. 🙂 I was alone in my room, at nights while surfing through facebook, while watching TV, anything, my mind went under the fear of dying. It started after seeing the movie, The Bucket List. After that night, it was very difficult to sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, the fear of death climbed back. Later I found out that its not the death am afraid of, am afraid of getting old and then facing the fact that anypoint from now I will be dead. What will happen after that, is their any soul inside us which will leave, then I am happy. If there is no soul, and death is the end of all, bhum, thats the worst thing that will happen.
I tried to find out the reasons why this phobia came back. The reasons were simple, I was alone, and that too time without sunlight brings weird thoughts into your mind. Day time you will be too busy to think these things. The solution for this was right inside these reasons. Dont get free time at night. Make yourself busy until your eyes tell to that go to sleep idiot.
That was the point when I decided to make my reading habit more strong. I did had this habit, but was not that aggressive. Now I am an aggressive reader. Read till my eyes get burned out and sleep on the book itself. And BINGO, I am surprised that the phobia is not creeping out anymore. I hope any one of you reading this will get some hint to overcome this. Make your mind understand the fact that death is unstoppable, and believe in god. Death is not the end of all, believe that.
But still am sure that Thanatophobia is lying inside me undercover, ready to jump out anytime.
A Fighter's Book 
Praveen Arockiasamy. nice post
I’m so glad someone else’s fear came up out of long periods of loneliness and lack of sunlight as you put it. I’ve always had this fear (moreso losing family members than me dying), but recently, I’ve been scared about dying and about not existing. It’s nice that someone says something about both sides of whether we exist after death instead of a staunch religious or atheist view. I’m still trying to get mine in control, but this helped. thanks man.
I see that I’m not the only one going thru this, it is awful, I just want to be normal again. I’m 43 yrs old and I have never had anxiety or went thru anything like this. I think about people who have passed on especially people my age that have, it just pops up in my head out of nowhere, I try to stay busy, I even attend school at night Mon-Friday. Those thoughts just make me feel some kind of way. Sometimes I get weak, quesy stomach and my daughter can look at me an tell something is wrong. The Dr s said I have anxiety, I have tried all kinds of natural remedies but nothing helps for long and I refuse to take that prescription meds they give because of all of the side effects. I’m so tired of going thru this I don’t know what to do, because it’s really scary thinking about death all the time. I pray a lot and that helps me.
I think thanatophobia jumps out whenever we may be facing death. It’s what causes otherwise good people to kill other human beings on the battlefield, or not to oppose family or nation when they do serious wrong.
see http://www.jub.id.au
excellent that i had the same symptoms..
I have it liked you, but it’s way worse every time I see the word death or I hear about death or I think about death will start crying and panicking the my anxiety goes through the roof
Hi Ethan, if you consciously spend some effort on this, I think you can overcome it. This blog was written years before, and believe me, now, well I have little fear, but not like I am always thinking of death of anxious. So just try some thing, like for eg, start working out or jogging or reading and keep this thought away. make yourself busy and accept the fact that you will die one day. that will hopefully change everything. 🙂 Cheers mate,
What you said is the basic description of what happens to me. I just don’t want my consciousness, the thing that makes me me to just forever disappear. Sometimes I think death is fine but then the fear would come back harder an I end up in tears. I’m still a teenager and having these thoughts are said to be unhealthy but what can I do. I have tried so many ways and it won’t help. I am literally scared out of my mind and I wish there was someone out there who could help me.