So, why do I feel like I’m going to die soon? The question in hand gets asked a lot. Despite the difficulty of this question, there is a reasonable explanation here. Humans are the only species aware of death among all other animals worldwide.
Also, humans might feel scared of death anytime and in any location. This is a horrible feeling.
We might thus say that the fear of death affects almost everyone. Even in existentialism, “death anxiety” refers to the worry individuals feel while considering their own mortality.
Consequently, the fear of death is a frequent phenomenon affecting almost everyone. Knowing that a little bit of death anxiety is natural and helps you avoid risky circumstances is beneficial.
Many people, though, are plagued with intense death apprehensions, which may be a great nuisance.
Here, you’ll find the answers to all your questions regarding why it seems like your time is limited.
Why Do I Feel Like I’m Going to Die Soon?
Here are some reasons:
Anxiety or Depression
There are a lot of possible explanations for why you get this feeling that you’re going to die. But getting a diagnosis for your anxiety and depression is a very crucial step to take. These anxiety disorders are the source of several unfavorable feelings, including gloominess and a sense of being let down.
You may feel like you have no motivation to accomplish anything, you’re always exhausted, and you don’t want to spend time with your family and friends. It’s also possible that you’ll lose your appetite, making it tough for you to concentrate on your job or studies. However, since you are experiencing all of these emotions, your subconscious mind may start to indicate that you are about to die.
Individuals who experience panic attacks almost always feel anxiety about passing away. When one of their attacks starts, it causes them to break out in a cold sweat, speeds up their respiration and pulse rate, and gives them the sensation that their heads are about to explode.
When subjected to these disturbing circumstances, they feel they are about to pass away and cannot endure the assault.
Moreover, until the next time their panic attack occurs, they continue to suffer from the constant anxiety of passing away. As a result, it’s critical to think about how you’re feeling mentally in this circumstance.
Hence, you should take the status of your mental health into account.
Death of a Loved One
The passing of a loved one or a well-known individual in the public eye is a second possibility that may play a role in you feeling like dying. We are all aware of death intellectually. Hence, there is a possibility that we may not accept it on a fundamental level and may even reject its existence.
However, the passing of a loved one brings home the reality that death is a part of life and is much closer than we may realize at any given moment. The experience of seeing other people’s death will bring our own mortality into focus.
During the Covid-19 epidemic, this specific form of fear of death has been more prevalent. Many of us have had loved ones, and close friends pass away due to the virus. Hence, the unexpected nature of their passing has caused us to develop a fear of our mortality.
Death Anxiety
Death anxiety is the third possible explanation for why you can be plagued with the dreadful notion that you will die soon.
Some of the best historical psychologists have investigated this existential idea, including Erick Erikson and Sigmund Freud.
As pointed out, humans are the only species aware that they have a certain amount of time left on this planet. The realization of one’s mortality inevitably brings on feelings of fear.
When you think about the idea of passing away, you may feel that everything will get wiped out when you go. In particular, your hopes and aspirations, as well as the things you’ve worked so hard to accomplish, would be lost forever.
You will get separated from the people you care about and fail to exist in the grand scheme of things. Unfortunately, due to all of these things running through your head, you can’t help but feel as if, after you die, you won’t have any sense of who you are anymore. All of your hard work would have been for nothing.
Symptoms
Your feelings of disappointment, depression and lack of motivation can become stronger. Consequently, the combination of these emotions might give one fear of death.
People suffering from major medical diseases like cancer, panic attacks, or other health difficulties have more death fear than those who do not suffer from such conditions. These people suffer much physical pain, and that suffering constantly reminds them that they are so near to death. Hence, they also experience much emotional anguish.
In addition, persons who have lost both their parents and children tend to feel greater levels of death anxiety than those whose parents and children are still living.
Not Living Life to the Fullest
Another factor contributing to your fear of death is the possibility that you are not living your life to the expectations you have set for yourself.
Suppose you don’t try to achieve something and enjoy your life as you’ve always dreamed of living it. In that case, you’ll always fear that your life will end before you’ve had a chance to achieve your goals and fulfill your desires.
One may express it as follows:
Fear of death is fear of a life you haven’t lived to its full potential.
If you do not live your life to the fullest and take advantage of all the opportunities, you will always risk the fear of dying. So, all you need to do is refer to your list of ‘things to do before you die’ and work towards doing them.
It is essential to remember that just thinking about your death will not actually result in your death. Our brain is a dishonest agent in many situations, and it actively wants to mislead us. So it would seem that just being aware that your thoughts are not equal to reality might be relaxing.
Thanatophobia
Thanatophobia is a severe type of anxiety disorder known as death anxiety.
It is natural for everyone to have a reasonable degree of fear of death as a character from time to time. However, people should not take this fear too seriously. This specific death fear is more prevalent in women than in males. Such feelings reach their maximum in one’s young age and early adulthood, gradually declining with increasing years.
It is important to highlight that thanatophobia occurs more in women in their 50s.
On the other hand, some individuals live their whole lives with an ongoing condition of death worry. Such individuals can get badly impacted and made lifeless by death anxiety.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, thanatophobia is not a valid diagnosis for mental disorders.
It can present itself in various illnesses. These illnesses include panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and depressive disorders.
Symptoms
The fear of dying can manifest itself in various ways, including the following:
- Seizures brought on by panic
- Stomach pain
- Increased pulse rate and breathing rate
- The constant thoughts of death
- Sweating
- Dizziness
Several psychological therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), have shown much promise in curing thanatophobia. CBT is a kind of therapy whose primary goals are to improve the patient’s abnormal beliefs and behaviors.
Medication is another treatment option that physicians have at their disposal if an individual’s anxiety is very sensitive and does not respond to other types of therapy. On the other hand, doctors also treat thanatophobia by treating the underlying diseases that cause it, like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
One further thing to keep in mind is that the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has the potential to induce thanatophobia. Therefore, if you try to protect yourself against the virus and pay attention to the preventive measures, you will lower the danger of infection and minimize the fear of death.
Final Words
It is normal to fear death and have a feeling of impending doom. However, to overcome our phobias, we should constantly try to face them. Therefore, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask some of life’s most challenging questions.
Finding the solution will undoubtedly be challenging, but doing so will bring about significant growth in life. So it would be best if you made an effort to think about death as a gift that teaches you how to live a healthier life. The reason behind all this is that if the chances to live were greater; we would have never understood the importance of living our lives to the fullest.
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