Why We Fear Death

"While the exact numbers are debatable, scientific research using validated psychometric tools-like the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale-has been conducted in broad adult samples and consistently shows that death anxiety varies by age and gender. It tends to be higher in younger adults and shifts across older age groups, suggesting that fear of dying is not confined to illness or old age. It's measurable across the general population."

"As a hospice doctor, I encounter this fear every day-but not always where people expect. At the bedside, I sit with patients who are actively dying. Outside of work, I field questions from friends, family members, and acquaintances who are very much alive. They ask me how to have a "good death." More often, they ask how to avoid a bad one. They worry about pain. They worry about prolonged suffering. They worry about fear itself."

"Yes, pain is common at the end of life-but it is also, in most cases, quite treatable. Modern palliative medicine is very good at alleviating physical suffering. Even more surprising to many people is this: Death, in reality, is usually quiet. It is often calm. It rarely resembles the dramatic, chaotic scenes we've absorbed from television and movies. For many patients, dying is not a macabre event. It is a soft one."

Death anxiety occurs across adult populations and is measurable using validated psychometric tools such as the Collett-Lester and Templer scales. Death fear tends to be higher in younger adults and shifts across older age groups, showing it is not confined to illness or old age. Palliative medicine treats end-of-life pain effectively in most cases. Many deaths are quiet and calm rather than dramatic or chaotic. People often die in patterns reflecting how they lived: prolonged stress and fear can lead to a difficult dying process. Pursuing meaning, purpose, and intentional living now can reduce fear and contribute to a more serene death.

Read at Psychology Today