Fear of the dead. Necrophobia. Fear of corpses and funeral accessories. So here are some of the credible positions

Humanity probably had no greater fear than fear afterlife. There are few people who look at a dead person in a coffin without shuddering - except perhaps morgue workers and cemetery attendants who approach the issue of fear of the dead very calmly. It would seem: all life has already left this body, it will never rise again and will not speak. But where does fear come from then? Why are many of us afraid to even touch something that will never come to life?

When a person dies, he does not leave without a trace. His soul, his essence, his energy lose their outer shell and continue to dwell on earth for some time. Perhaps, subconsciously, each of us is able to feel it, some to a greater extent, and some to a lesser extent. And, to put it simply, each of us is a little bit of a medium. It’s just that for most people these abilities are minimal and consist only in the form of fear or some vague premonitions. But even these minimal abilities are enough for us to feel the energy of a deceased person, which began its existence outside his body. Most likely, fear from the sight of a dead person arises precisely for this reason. Those people whose mediumship abilities are more developed than usual are able to not only subconsciously feel the energy of the dead, but also his presence. For example, some people can accurately say in which part of the room they feel the spirit of the dead, even if they do not see it.

Fear of the dead can also come from negative energy that a person has left in this room, dying. Perhaps many have noticed that we are much less afraid of a dead person who is not in the room where he died. This is especially noticeable if a person died a painful death, or as a result of a serious incurable illness that undermined him day by day vitality. This happens because the room in which the person died is completely saturated with his thoughts. He saw life around him and realized that he himself was not able to survive. In this case, the person’s thoughts carried a negative charge, so the objects in the room and the room itself will store it for some time, instilling fear in us.

This very fear plays into the hands of many people who specialize in fortune telling. You can repeatedly come across information that it is possible to tell fortunes by asking the deceased various questions, to which the dead person will give some signs as an answer. Let's think rationally: is a body from which all life has left capable of making any signs? Of course not. But fear, as we know, has big eyes: our fear of the dead can play a cruel joke on us, and in the worst case, lead to a heart attack or the need to visit a psychologist or psychiatrist later. Therefore, you should not take up fortune telling that plays on our fear of the dead.

Horror at the sight of the dead, of course, cannot be eradicated: this is an unknown state of the human spirit and body, and the unknown has always frightened and will continue to frighten.

1. You must clearly understand that the deceased is not capable of causing any physical harm.

2. Leave the room if it becomes completely unbearable.

3. Prayer always helps believers get rid of the fear of a dead person.

4. Try to have a few other people next to you - their presence will have a calming effect on you.

Why do we fear the dead? It is quite obvious that there are many reasons for it. Perhaps there, beyond the line of life, there is absolutely nothing terrible. But no one will ever be able to tell exactly what is there. And as long as death remains a mysterious sacrament for us, fear will also exist, for we are all afraid of the unknown.

Have you ever been near a deceased person and what did you experience?

Most normal people, when they see a dead person, experience at least a strong feeling of discomfort - and in some cases, panic. The only exceptions are specialists like doctors or police officers, who are accustomed to corpses by nature of their work and therefore do not pay attention to them.

Well, and all sorts of necrophiliac perverts :)

The average person experiences extreme stress when they see a dead person!

Why does a person who, just half an hour ago, was the closest and dearest to us - mom or dad, child, spouse - literally immediately after declaring death cause us disgust, mystical horror, discomfort, and the like? negative emotions? After all, before us is still the same person, with all the insides, with all the arms, legs and other parts of the body - but our attitude towards him changes in the most radical way! In this case, I am talking only about people who died a natural death, without any dismemberment or other horrors of violent death.

What should we say if we see a dead man unfamiliar to us?

After all, a corpse does not threaten us in any way and cannot cause us any harm - and we are sometimes afraid of it until we lose our senses!

Well, isn't it a paradox?

It seems to me that the whole point here is in the very concept of “death”. After all, the biblical definition of this mournful phenomenon, contrary to all dictionaries compiled by atheists, does not mean the cessation of life, but the SEPARATION of something with something - and looking at the body of the deceased, willy-nilly one has to agree with this definition.

The Bible talks about several types of death: physical, spiritual... But in any case we're talking about about the separation of either soul and body, or (in the case of spiritual death) man and God.

The person lying in the morgue remains himself in every sense, and the set of his chemical elements has not changed at all.

Only one thing has changed: two substances have left this body - the spirit of life and the soul.

They SEPARATED from the body, leaving for another world - and we ascertain the death of a person.

Everything else remains in place, but any of us understands that this is no longer a MAN in the full sense of the word.

The man has gone to a place from which they do not return, and is gone forever. All that remains is a shell called the “body,” whose fate is to turn to dust in a crematorium or decompose into chemical elements in the grave in fulfillment of God's decree:

“...for dust you are, and to dust you will return” Genesis, chapter 3, verse 19.

Perhaps it is precisely because we, on an intuitive level, at the level of our souls, feel and notice this division in a numb corpse that the sight of a dead person evokes in us all those unpleasant feelings and emotions that I spoke about above.

It is the absence of life and soul in the body that causes fear of a corpse in a living person!

And may atheists forgive me, but the fear of a dead person, in my opinion, is another indirect proof of the existence of an eternal soul...

The dangers of this phobia

Corpsephobia, also often called necrophobia, is a specific phobia associated with an irrational fear caused by the sight of a dead body. Often this fear also extends to objects associated with death (tombstones, coffins, funeral wreaths, etc.).

Although the name of the phobia only refers to the fear of corpses, it essentially has two components. The first is the fear of corpses themselves or things associated with death. The second component - and perhaps the stronger one - is the fear of death itself. Such fears, more or less strong, are inherent in each of us, since they are associated with survival, but despite this, for corpsephobes they represent much more big problem, which can significantly worsen and complicate their lives.

Why is this happening? Those suffering from a fear of corpses often develop symptoms of other disorders against a background of constant fear - for example, agoraphobia (they are afraid to leave the house because outside its walls it is dangerous, and you can accidentally bump into an object that causes fear) or hypochondria (even a minor cold scares you - what if it is life-threatening). A fear of heights, a fear of being attacked (sexually, to rob or kill), or a fear of being in confined spaces may develop. And since participation in funeral-related events is certainly difficult for a necrophobe, relationships with relatives and friends may deteriorate. Therefore, progressive necrophobia can force a person to completely cut himself off from the outside world.

Reasons for development

Psychologists do not identify any separate reason that would cause fear of corpses. For some, this phobia develops after they saw someone die that horrified them. For others, it was because they attended the funeral of someone whose death shocked them—for example, a small child. Someone developed necrophobia after unexpectedly coming across a dead body of a person or animal. There are often cases when watching horror films that are so popular in our time has a certain influence on a person.

Since the development of corpse phobia can be directly related to past experiences, parents should take this into account during the period when the child needs to be helped to cope with the death of a loved one. Also, you should not force a child to attend a funeral if he openly expresses his reluctance.

Symptoms of corpsephobia

For some people, understanding and accepting that death is a natural part of our lives comes easily. But those who suffer from necrophobia, when meeting the object of their fear, experience a significant degree of fear and anxiety, which negatively affects their functioning. It is easy for such people to become fixated on death or what is associated with it.

The fear of corpses leads to the fact that a person begins to fear that wherever he goes, he will stumble upon a dead body. The patient constantly thinks about this and diligently does everything to avoid getting into such situations - this is the most noticeable symptom that reveals a fear of corpses. One more common symptom is insomnia, which occurs because a person constantly has thoughts about death spinning in his head.

A panic attack in a corpse phobe can begin at any moment. A panic attack is accompanied by an attack of fear, a feeling of vague anxiety, increased heart rate, dizziness, increased sweating, trembling limbs and difficulty breathing. Some experience chest pain, dry mouth, and nausea. Such a reaction can be caused by the mere sight of something that reminds one of death or a funeral - be it a church, a priest, funeral service, gravestone or dead animal. A person who suffers from corpse phobia is afraid to even walk past cemeteries, and is certainly afraid of the dead.

Thus, the most characteristic symptoms through which necrophobia manifests itself are:

• constant thoughts about death;
• fear of everything dead;
• reluctance to leave home due to irrational fear of death;
• panic attacks when meeting an object of fear.

How to get rid of corpse phobia

Since this fear is irrational in nature, no logical arguments or heart-to-heart conversations will help the patient overcome similar phobia, although the help of family and friends during treatment is certainly necessary. And if a believer has developed this phobia, a conversation with a priest can help him.

But the best solution would be the help of a qualified psychotherapist who knows how to lead the patient on the path of understanding his own fears and defeating them. To help overcome this phobia, a therapist may use several different techniques.

When using desensitization therapy, the patient is gradually introduced to the things they are afraid of in order to make them less frightening. Using cognitive behavioral therapy can help a person control their thoughts so that they can look at what frightens them differently and learn to understand that death is a natural part of life. life cycle person.

Hypnotherapy and NLP methods can also be used to treat corpse phobia. IN in some cases To relieve symptoms of panic, sedatives and antidepressants are used, but their role is only auxiliary; this phobia cannot be treated with medication.

There are also some tips that you can follow to help yourself cope with the symptoms of corpse phobia:

• The first step to overcoming your fear is to get additional information about death, and it does not matter whether it will be obtained from scientific or religious books and films;
• remember that death is part Everyday life of people, ;
• if thoughts about death begin to overcome you, you need to try to maintain a positive attitude;
• Yoga, deep breathing, and muscle relaxation can help manage the emotional and physical symptoms of corpse phobia.

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1. Natural fear. There is nothing more natural for the living than to fear the dead. This fear suggests that our instinct of self-preservation works normally without failure. Moreover, this natural fear can also be different. So, for example, someone is afraid of simply dead human bodies without any funeral paraphernalia, while others, on the contrary, are not afraid of lifeless bodies, but of a person in a coffin - and everything that is connected with the official burial process.

2. Fear of the mystical unknown. S. Freud, answering the question why death frightens us so much, said: because we know nothing about death. Death still remains a mystery and enigma for us. Is there a soul where it goes after death? And if it doesn’t exist, then how does it mean to “die” and many other questions that the living cannot answer, because this is the domain of the dead.

3. Traumatic situation. A person experienced a painful funeral procedure as a child or as an adult. After this, of course, the fear of retualized death will remain in his heart.

4. Films and books about the living dead. Anyone who has never lost anyone close to them, but has watched and read a lot of horror stories, may be afraid of coffins and other ritual paraphernalia. The scariest in this regard, of course, are the films of Wes Craver (creator of Freddy Krueger) and the creations of S. King, especially Pet Sematary. In general, the theme of “bad death” is one of the most fundamental for the horror genre.

What scares you the most?

People fear what they don't understand. But they do not understand death and do not know it at all. We cannot experience death as our own experience, the experience of non-existence. It is always given to us as the experience of the death of another person (M. Heidegger). What frightens a person is not the fact of death itself, but the fact that his neighbor in the world is now more powerful than him, because he knows more, so he will definitely be able to walk, talk and frighten after death.

How to cope with necrophobia?

1. Folk remedies. There is a rumor among people that if you hold on to a dead person, the fear will definitely go away. This cannot be said to be a shameless lie, since it helps some people, but not others. Some people turn to witches to rid them of fear - this also does not help everyone.
2. Psychologist. A specialist can help open this abscess of fear and establish the underlying causes. Perhaps, after realizing the main reason, the person will feel better. If the fear of death in an ennobled form has overflowed its banks, then it is better to take antidepressants along with conversations with a psychologist (with the consent of the doctor).
3. Do not watch or read anything that may arouse fear. If a person is impressionable, then it is better for him to forget about the horror genre forever, no matter how charming Freddy Krueger may seem to him.

The paradox of necrophobia

People began to show respect before death a long time ago. One book even says something like this: the measure of a civilization’s culture can be determined by its attitude towards the dead.

The cultural framing of death symbolically signifies its domestication. With the help of coffins and other ritual paraphernalia, a person tries to make death understandable for himself, but sometimes for some, death becomes even more mysterious and terrible when it is dressed in a shroud.

Afroneomophobia – fear of the irrational

Relax! Your beauty and youth depend on it...

Fear of the Dead

Among the most powerful and widespread fears of man at all times has been, and continues to be, the fear of the dead. Despite scientific progress, people fear the dead with enviable consistency. And this fear is not something simple and primitive. In practice, we are dealing with a whole group of different fears, united by a common necrotic plot. Some are afraid of the dead body itself, some, on the contrary, are afraid of the incorporeal essence of the deceased. Some people are afraid in reality, while others consider it dangerous to meet a dead person in a dream. They are often afraid not only of the dead themselves, but also of things associated with them: coffins, grave fences, tombstones, even if they have not yet been used for their intended purpose, but are just being prepared. The so-called “mortal” - clothing intended for the deceased - also inspires a lot of fear. Such mortal things can be kept for years in the apartment of a still living old man and terrify relatives. There are people who claim that they are not afraid of the dead at all. But most of them lie, and this is easy to check. It is enough to offer such a daredevil to spend the night in a room with a dead man, and he will immediately find excuses. If you don’t deceive yourself, you will have to admit that fear exists. Let's try to figure out what underlies the fear of the dead, and what to do about it.

Biological reasons for fear of the dead

There is a film with an intriguingly frightening title, “Revenge of the Dead.” The creators of the film did their best - the risen dead took revenge on their killers colorfully and with great taste. But can this really happen? Even if you leave mysticism aside and concentrate on the materialistic side, the answer is still yes, the revenge of the dead is quite real and good known to science phenomenon. Examples? Yes, as much as you like! For example, a pathologist opens a corpse and accidentally becomes infected with an infectious disease that the deceased had. So much for "dead man's revenge"! The phenomenon in medicine is, unfortunately, common. But this special case. In general, the dead person must be shown “respect” by burying him. Otherwise, he can easily “take revenge” on everyone who is nearby, even without any autopsy. And all people understand this perfectly well at the subconscious level.

Man has always been disturbed by the smell of rotting flesh. Firstly, it is a signal of the presence of toxins in protein foods. And those who ignore it risk paying with their lives. Secondly, death often occurs from contagious diseases, in which case those who fear the dead have a much greater chance of surviving. Thirdly, the place where death occurs is potentially dangerous. So again, those who are afraid of corpses have bonuses to survival. Therefore, we can confidently say that fear of the dead is natural and evolutionarily justified. There is no need to be ashamed of it; on the contrary, you need to rejoice in the care from nature, which has rewarded you with a useful instinct.

Psychological reasons for fear of the dead

If with biology everything is quite simple and logical, then the psychological reasons for the fear of the dead lie deep in the unconscious, and it will take some skill to pull them out from there. The fact is that it is very difficult for a person to understand that a person who was connected to a certain body during life and this very body after death are completely different things. Those whose work involves death, for example, doctors or the military, learn to understand this. For an experienced doctor who has seen death, it is not a problem to realize that the patient whom he treated yesterday and his corpse lying on the dissecting table today are not at all the same thing. Therefore, he can calmly cut up the dead body of the one with whom he discussed the news yesterday. The corpse is not in pain, it does not need anything, and it will not be offended by anything. Those who have often not dealt with death unconsciously continue to consider the corpse a person. But this “man” behaves very mysteriously, he seems to be hiding and waiting for something, thereby terrifying those around him who are inexperienced in death. To most people, a corpse appears to be some strange kind of living thing, existing according to incomprehensible rules and guided by its own incomprehensible goals. It is especially scary to see the dead body of a friend or relative. Unconsciously, we expect from him the support that he provided us during life, but instead we receive something mysterious and hostile. As it seems to us.

Then imagination helpfully fills in the missing details. Since the deceased does not live in the ordinary world, it means he must have his own world, where he exists and acts together with his own kind. The world of the dead must exist, because the thought of own death for a person is unbearable, and he is ready to believe in any fairy tales, if only they give a chance for immortality. It is quite natural that every traditional culture describes the world of the dead. And if so, then another fear is added - the fear of contact with world of the dead. And the lying dead man appears to be none other than the emissary of this mysterious world. Mysterious and hostile, because you don’t want to die. They are watching him and with unconscious fear they are waiting for him to give a mysterious and frightening signal from his world. The imagination of the most impressionable makes them afraid that the dead will rise up, overtake, grab and make part of their world. Or he will come in a dream and take you to him.

Fear of dead animals

This fear stands a little apart and is either purely childish or has roots in childhood. This is mostly fear born of guilt. Children often have animals. And often small and therefore irresponsible people do not take good care of their pets, which is why the latter die. Or impressionable children think that they are to blame for the death of their animals. So a dead hamster appears in the imagination, hiding under the bed to take revenge on its to the former owner and grab his leg with rotten but sharp teeth. And since hamsters are usually buried not far from home, the task is significantly “simplified” for them. Sometimes children even dig up hamster graves to make sure no one has left them. What they see there also does not add happiness and peace of mind. Why be surprised that children do this, if adults sometimes play similar games to make sure that the deceased did not leave the grave for a walk. Numerous legends about vampires were born after such excavations of the graves of patients with porphyria.

The second source of children's fears of dead animals has its root in childhood cruelty. This is how people are designed that at a certain stage of personal development they can be extremely cruel to both peers and parents. But most of all it goes to animals, plants and insects. Ripping off the wings of flies and butterflies, slicing open worms and burning live beetles eventually result in fantasies of being stung, of being trapped in a basement with spiders and caterpillars seeking revenge. cruel treatment with his brothers. Of course, all this happens unconsciously. A thoughtless reprisal against a cat or dog can lead to much more severe mental consequences. Subsequently, such an action may develop into a real guilt complex and require the intervention of a psychotherapist.

Fear of dead children

A dead child is scary. It’s scary in life, in movies and in photos. Scary in the imagination. Anyone who has children is afraid of losing them more than anything else. Therefore, the fear of dead children is naturally present in everyone’s subconscious. normal person. This is something you don't want to see under any circumstances. This type of fear is especially characteristic of those who had animals in childhood. Naturally, the children had to survive their death one way or another. And since pets, according to their owner’s perception, are on the same level as children, the roots of this fear become clear. Elderly, childless women often have several cats and dogs. From a psychological point of view, this is a transference that allows them to overcome regret about their own childlessness. In the same way, parents sometimes deliberately keep animals in the house to teach their children responsibility. Ultimately - responsibility for their future children.

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Necrophobia (fear of the dead) – why does fear appear?

1. Three reasons for fear of the dead 2. Are there symptoms 3. Fear of death 4. How to cope with this phobia

One of the specific types of fear or anxiety disorder is necrophobia (from the Greek necrophobia: necro - dead, phobos - fear) or fear dead people. At first glance, this seems strange, because the deceased certainly cannot cause any physiological harm. Experts classify this type of fear as irrational. The person cannot explain the reason for the panic; at the time of experiencing a phobia, he is not able to control his thoughts and actions, he is controlled by the desire to run away and hide.

In this article we will find out whether it is normal to be afraid of the dead? Can a fearful person learn to cope with his fears?

Three reasons for fear of the dead

Surely many have asked themselves a simple question: why am I afraid of the dead? And they found the answer for themselves. There may be several reasons. But these are always certain emotions that can be classified into three types.

1. The first type of fear when seeing a dead person is associated, rather, with depressing emotions and negative impressions caused by unpleasant memories. After all, almost every adult attended the funeral. It could be an elderly relative or another close person. The emotional state at such a moment is very difficult.
2. Fear of the dead may be caused by impartial appearance corpse. After all, even if a person died a natural death, he looks unnatural: bluish skin color, a frozen expression on his face, perhaps crooked fingers. What if it’s a disaster or an accident? According to statistics, even experienced police officers investigative committee or medical institutions, who regularly encounter death as part of their duties, cannot always remain calm when they see a dead person.
3. Another reason why many people fear the dead is the belief in the paranormal. With the advent of television programs about psychics and practicing witches who see ghosts, people began to fear the dead even more. Because they learned that spirits can harm the living. Therefore, such fear is completely justified and conscious.

There is another hypothesis that fits all of the above reasons. People are always afraid of what they don’t know and don’t understand. But death for a living person is something unknown, and therefore very scary.

Are there any symptoms?

Absolutely everyone has necrophobia to some degree. And even if a person outwardly demonstrates calm, next to a dead person, rarely can anyone remain indifferent.

Usually men try to look the most cold-blooded, or people who, due to their professional activity often see death. And even they still have a depressing feeling. It’s difficult to call it a phobia, but there is definitely some fear, anxiety there.

Most people experience approximately the same sensations when they see the dead:

• sudden trembling throughout the body;
• a chill down the back, followed by immediate sweating;
• stuttering;
• muscle weakness (legs give way);
• increased heart rate and breathing.

But there is a certain percentage of people who experience real panic at the sight of corpses. This is a crippling fear that makes you shake nervously, feel a dry mouth, and experience nausea. Someone begins to behave inappropriately: starts running, screaming, grabbing at people around them in search of help. Often people even faint - the fear is so strong.

Fear of death

If a person says: “I am afraid of the dead,” then this is not necessarily fear of the sight of a corpse. Perhaps the phobia is associated with the fear of death itself. After all, a person who sees a dead person involuntarily thinks that he himself will die sooner or later. This thought becomes obsessive, the subconscious begins to rebel, emotional condition staggers. And this is, of course, a fear that can go in cycles and harm the psyche. Vulnerable, impressionable and sensitive people (women, children, the elderly) are especially affected.

It’s a paradox, but in Russian the word “dead man” is animate. In order to understand why this happened historically, it is worth analyzing ancient ideas about the world and man in it. In the process of language formation, “animate” included all words that denoted objects or phenomena that had a soul, and, accordingly, various human states. IN modern world, death is the point, the end of everything. While in ancient times death marked the transition human soul into a different state, in connection with which the deceased did not cease to be a person, but only his form and condition changed. That is why the words “dead” and “dead” have been preserved in our language as “animate”, because they denote the state of the human personality.

The fear of dying is associated with the fear of the unknown. What happens next after death? Will I never see my family again? What if I die and don’t have time to do anything? How more people thinks and reflects on this topic, the more he plunges into dark thoughts. And the older a person gets, the more such unconscious fantasies he has. Elderly people begin to lose their friends, roommates or neighbors one after another. summer cottage. They often have to attend funeral events and see the dead, and because of this, a paradoxical phobia gradually develops: a person is less and less afraid of corpses, but more and more afraid of dying.

Another big fear regarding corpses is: what if the dead person turns out to be alive. There are a lot of such videos on the Internet. The prankster, jokingly, pretends to be dead, and then suddenly “comes to life” and scares those around him. You can see from people's reactions how scary it is. Not the least factor in this case is the effect of surprise: after all, no one expects movement from a corpse. Therefore, a person who sees a dead person involuntarily fantasizes that he is about to move and scare.

How to deal with this phobia

Not every person can boldly and confidently say: I am afraid of the dead. But if you admit your fear, it will be easier to cope with it.

If you think that your fear of the dead is panicky and this is preventing you from living, use our advice.

1. Stop reading dark literature and watching such TV shows (about psychics, about life after death, etc.).
2. Don't bring up the topic of death in conversations.
3. If you need to visit a cemetery, create a special image of this place in your head. Let the churchyard appear to you not as a dwelling of spirits and ghosts, but as something peaceful and calm. As the last refuge of departed souls. And you come there to visit your deceased loved ones and honor their memory.
4. When bad thoughts arise, you need to switch to something pleasant: turn on a comedy, take interesting book, go for a walk, or even just turn on the light.
5. Help from a psychologist. Panic fear of corpses or death is a reason to consult a specialist. A psychologist will help you identify the cause of fear and cope with it.

Some people prefer to solve the problem of necrophobia in a radical way, as they say, wedge by wedge. Looking your fear in the eye is an original method of solving a problem. Surely everyone knows what quests are in reality, when people are asked to live through a certain storyline. You can read the descriptions of quests and find the one that interests you most: with ghosts, corpses, zombies and other horror stories. This is a kind of self-test.

Some people see nothing wrong with their phobia and accept it. And this is the most correct thing: to understand the problem with a sober head, without emotions. Yes, I'm afraid of dead people, but what of that? After all, the likelihood that I will suddenly see a corpse is extremely small. Therefore, I live calmly, without thinking about the dead. It is rightly said that one should fear not the dead, but the living. The latter can cause much more physical harm. And to get rid of moral harm, you just need to think less about it. Death, by definition, is the final and inevitable point in every person's life, and one must learn to take it for granted.

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How to overcome corpse phobia

The dangers of this phobia

Corpsephobia, also often called necrophobia, is a specific phobia associated with an irrational fear caused by the sight of a dead body. Often this fear also extends to objects associated with death (tombstones, coffins, funeral wreaths, etc.).

Although the name of the phobia only refers to the fear of corpses, it essentially has two components. The first is the fear of corpses themselves or things associated with death. The second component - and perhaps the stronger one - is the fear of death itself. Such fears, more or less strong, are inherent in each of us, since they are associated with survival, but despite this, for corpsephobes they represent a much greater problem, which can significantly worsen and complicate their lives.

Why is this happening? Those suffering from a fear of corpses often develop symptoms of other disorders against a background of constant fear - for example, agoraphobia (they are afraid to leave the house because outside its walls it is dangerous, and you can accidentally bump into an object that causes fear) or hypochondria (even a minor cold scares you - what if it is life-threatening). A fear of heights, a fear of being attacked (sexually, to rob or kill), or a fear of being in confined spaces may develop. And since participation in funeral-related events is certainly difficult for a necrophobe, relationships with relatives and friends may deteriorate. Therefore, progressive necrophobia can force a person to completely cut himself off from the outside world.

Reasons for development

Psychologists do not identify any separate reason that would cause fear of corpses. For some, this phobia develops after they saw someone die that horrified them. For others, it was because they attended the funeral of someone whose death shocked them—for example, a small child. Someone developed necrophobia after unexpectedly coming across a dead body of a person or animal. There are often cases when watching horror films that are so popular in our time has a certain influence on a person.

Since the development of corpse phobia can be directly related to past experiences, parents should take this into account during the period when the child needs to be helped to cope with the death of a loved one. Also, you should not force a child to attend a funeral if he openly expresses his reluctance.

Symptoms of corpsephobia

For some people, understanding and accepting that death is a natural part of our lives comes easily. But those who suffer from necrophobia, when meeting the object of their fear, experience a significant degree of fear and anxiety, which negatively affects their functioning. It is easy for such people to become fixated on death or what is associated with it.

The fear of corpses leads to the fact that a person begins to fear that wherever he goes, he will stumble upon a dead body. The patient constantly thinks about this and diligently does everything to avoid getting into such situations - this is the most noticeable symptom that reveals a fear of corpses. Another common symptom is insomnia, which occurs because a person constantly has thoughts about death in his head.

A panic attack in a corpse phobe can begin at any moment. A panic attack is accompanied by an attack of fear, a feeling of vague anxiety, increased heart rate, dizziness, increased sweating, trembling limbs and difficulty breathing. Some experience chest pain, dry mouth, and nausea. This reaction can be triggered by the mere sight of something that reminds one of death or a funeral - be it a church, a priest, a funeral home, a gravestone or a dead animal. A person who suffers from corpse phobia is afraid to even walk past cemeteries, and is certainly afraid of the dead.

Thus, the most characteristic symptoms through which necrophobia manifests itself are:

• constant thoughts about death;
• fear of everything dead;
• reluctance to leave home due to irrational fear of death;
• panic attacks when meeting an object of fear.

How to get rid of corpse phobia

Since this fear is irrational in nature, no amount of logical arguments or heart-to-heart conversations will help the patient overcome such a phobia, although the help of family and friends during treatment is certainly necessary. And if a believer has developed this phobia, a conversation with a priest can help him.

But the best solution would be the help of a qualified psychotherapist who knows how to lead the patient on the path of understanding his own fears and defeating them. To help overcome this phobia, a therapist may use several different techniques.

When using desensitization therapy, the patient is gradually introduced to the things they are afraid of in order to make them less frightening. Using cognitive behavioral therapy can help a person control their thoughts so that they can look at what frightens them differently and learn to understand that death is a natural part of the human life cycle.

Hypnotherapy and NLP methods can also be used to treat corpse phobia. In some cases, sedatives and antidepressants are used to relieve symptoms of panic, but their role is only auxiliary; this phobia cannot be treated with medication.

There are also some tips that you can follow to help yourself cope with the symptoms of corpse phobia:

• the first step to overcoming your fear is to obtain additional information about death, and it does not matter whether it will be obtained from scientific or religious books and films;
• remember that death is part of people's daily lives;
• if thoughts about death begin to overcome you, you need to try to maintain a positive attitude;
• Yoga, deep breathing, and muscle relaxation can help manage the emotional and physical symptoms of corpse phobia.

Necrophobia: overcoming the fear of the dead

He who loves life fears death (Voenarg)

In the subgroup of anxiety-phobic disorders there is wide range diseases characterized by comprehensive, all-consuming, uncontrollable and ununderstandable, intense fear, gloomy, depressing forebodings.

Among these irrational fears, there are quite common and very rare disorders, there are phobias that are stupid and funny, strange and that evoke understanding among others. For example, for many contemporaries, fear of heights is an understandable and normal phenomenon; most people do not pay special attention to this anxiety and live with fear all their lives, adapting and adjusting their behavior, activities, and leisure time.

But sometimes there are fears that society not only does not share, but does not understand and tries to “disown” communication with a person suffering from this disease. One of these “mystical” mental disorders is necrophobia - fear of the dead, often adjacent to thanatophobia - fear of death. A person suffering from necrophobia experiences panic fear and horror when seen in reality or in images, imagining the bodies of the dead and funeral supplies.

Of course, there is a small group of people with mental pathology who are inspired by the contemplation of cemetery monuments with “touching” wishes, beautiful funeral bouquets of flowers and wreaths. But ordinary person, who does not have mental disorders, thoughts about the inevitability of his death and the departure of loved ones to another world are visited relatively rarely. A sane person is not fixed and is not constantly under the influence of thoughts about death, overcoming his anxiety by logical reasoning about the achievements of modern medicine or resorting to the help of religious beliefs. People with a normal psyche understand that the fact of imminent death is inevitable, they live in the present, find a certain meaning for their existence and try to leave a visible trace of their presence on earth for their descendants.

A patient with this disorder avoids visiting cemeteries, morgues, and most often refuses to attend a funeral ceremony close relative. A patient with necrophobia shuns anything that has even the slightest connection or reminder of death. Horror films, action films, crime dramas, detective stories, science fiction are “forbidden fruit” for a person with this disorder. He will not watch or listen to crime reports and information about road accidents. Even with the prospect of ending up in prison, he will run away from the battlefield or completely refuse to take part in hostilities. And the reason is not at all cowardice and fears for one’s own life; necrophobes have one argument – ​​fear of the dead, because in a “hot spot” there is a possibility of seeing death with one’s own eyes. A person suffering from this disorder is unlikely to be found among doctors, military personnel, police officers, firefighters and rescue workers; he avoids professions that involve even the slightest chance of being close to the dead.

Extremely in rare cases the fear of the dead is transformed into veneration of cemetery symbols. The patient begins active preparations for his own death: he revises his will, often visits the cemetery, and talks endlessly about the upcoming funeral.

Causes

The exact, unambiguous cause of necrophobia has not been established to date, however, factors that may predispose to the appearance of the disorder have been identified. Often the disease begins in childhood, after the child has been in an atmosphere of mourning, where tears, grief, grief and despair reign. For some susceptible children, a funeral is extremely stressful, because watching the coffin with the deceased being lowered into the grave and covered with earth is not a spectacle for children with an unstable psyche.

• genetic predisposition (hereditary factor);
• violation of the regulatory function of neurotransmitters: GABA, norepinephrine, serotonin;
• activation of the limbic system, the predominance of excitation processes over inhibition of the autonomic nervous system;
• as a delayed reaction to previously occurring negative events, negative radical changes in life;
• in the presence of certain personal qualities, such as: suspiciousness, impressionability, vulnerability;
• Regular viewing in childhood of television shows and horror films with a storyline about the living dead, the dead wandering at night, and transformations into zombies.

Signs

Fear of the dead, like other phobic disorders, is conventionally divided into levels of anxiety.

Mild degree. Motivates a person to avoid frightening events or helps to concentrate when in a frightening situation.

Moderate degree. Limits the scope of perception and interests. A person refuses activities where he might “collide” with the dead. He avoids watching programs and films that might show corpses.

Pronounced degree. Avoidance behavior is clearly formed in necrophobia. Appear and intensify physical symptoms, among which:

• cardiopalmus,
• dizziness,
• Strong headache,
• tremor,
• sweating,
• pallor,
• nervousness, irritability,
• muscle weakness,
• lack of appetite,
• nausea, vomiting,
• frequent urge to urinate,
• sleep disorders.

Level of panic anxiety. Fear reaches the level of panic and horror, the fear of the dead takes over the patient’s entire life. The patient’s only desire is salvation even from a fictitious meeting with the dead. During an attack of panic attacks, physical symptoms manifest themselves to the maximum, up to fainting, and communication with the patient is impossible.

Determining the degree of anxiety plays a huge role in choosing and prescribing therapy for each individual patient.

Treatment

To get help for necrophobia, you need to consult a psychologist or psychotherapist. Qualified experts advise, first of all, to change your way of thinking and perceive death not as a tragic inevitability, but as the final part of a person’s existence.

In severe cases of the disorder, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy in combination with medication are used.

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Fear of death, fear of the dead and dislike of cemeteries are natural reactions of any person that should not cause concern. The only exceptions are cases when these phenomena cause uncontrollable horror and all-consuming panic. Necrophobia is a fairly common problem that requires attention. You need to figure out how it manifests itself and what methods will help overcome pathological fear.

The funeral of a loved one can cause the development of psychopathology

Necrophobia, or fear of corpses, is a pathological fear of the dead. The phobia can take various shapes. Some necrophobes are afraid of corpses and cannot calmly walk past a cemetery or funeral procession. Another category of people is afraid not of the dead man himself, but of the fact that he will suddenly rise up and attack. If the first type of fear is logical and has good reasons, then the fear of the living dead is an irrational fear associated with excessive impressionability.

What provokes or causes necrophobia depends on the person’s age. This phobia is equally common in both adults and children, and in all cases requires timely treatment. Despite the fact that in everyday life the chance of encountering the object of fear is low, over time the phobia progresses and the person may begin to fear his own thoughts.

Causes of necrophobia in children:

• watching horror films;
• recent death of a relative;
• strong impressionability;
• bullying by parents or peers.

Most often, fear arises in the mind of a child after watching a horror film. The zombie apocalypse, the living dead, ghosts and ancestral curses that are described in the movies - all this causes an irrational fear of the dead. As a result, the child cannot fall asleep for a long time, he has nightmares, the nervous system is exhausted and fear is transformed into a phobia, which can remain with the person for life.

Psychologists call another reason the recent bitter loss of a close relative. A child cannot come to terms with death, since his psyche cannot fully comprehend this phenomenon; as a result, the sight of a dead person, who until recently was a living loved one, evokes strong emotions and sows fear in the child’s mind. As the child tries to comprehend what has happened, it is quite possible that the image of the dead man will transform into something threatening, and the fear will develop into a phobia.

Children's horror stories, intimidation and pranks can create a traumatic situation in which the psyche will be subject to severe stress. As a result, a classmate wearing a zombie mask will be mistaken for a real “living dead”. The child will experience intense terror, which will lead to necrophobia.

Although fear of the dead usually stems from childhood fears, necrophobia can also develop in adults. Favorable factors for the appearance of irrational fear are nervous overstrain and a traumatic situation, due to which the image of a corpse will remain in the memory. It could also be a horror film watched during a period of severe psycho-emotional stress.

Recent studies have shown that the development of phobias may be preceded by the use of narcotic substances that disrupt brain function.

In general, people are very prone to necrophobia impressionable people with a rich imagination. It is the ability to believe in the walking dead that is the main impetus for the development of this disorder.

Symptoms

For a necrophobe, pathological horror can be caused not only by the sight of a dead person, but also by the very thought of it

Fear of corpses is a moderately severe phobia, since in everyday life a person is insured against an accidental “meeting” with a dead person. Typically, a mild form of this disorder is limited to avoiding watching horror films and attending funeral ceremonies, and generally does not cause much discomfort to the person. According to severity, there are three stages of necrophobia.

The mild form does not have a significant effect on normal life person. She shows a dislike for horror films. The person is quite capable of attending funeral ceremonies, but feels insecure during the process. He has to use his will to restrain the growing anxiety and panic, but in general a person is able to distract himself from disturbing thoughts.

The average degree of necrophobia changes a person’s interests. He has to carefully select films to watch so as not to encounter funerals and demonstrations of the dead during the plot. This also imposes restrictions on literature - any stories and poems in which dead people appear are denied to the patient.

Some necrophobes refuse to attend church and cannot calmly walk past a cemetery.

If a person accidentally encounters a funeral procession, he will immediately try to avoid it or quickly hide.

Severe necrophobia is a serious anxiety disorder. Symptoms appear not only when seeing a funeral or a hearse, but also when thinking about the dead. The signs are as follows:

• a feeling of anxiety that cannot be contained;
• horror;
• desire to run away;
• cold sweat;
• hand tremors;
• increased muscle tone;
• increased heart rate;
• dizziness;
• feeling of derealization.

If a person encounters an image of a dead person or accidentally switches channels and sees a fragment of a zombie movie, he may even lose consciousness due to the sudden development of the attack. Having encountered a funeral procession on the street, the patient may fall into a stupor, which also often ends in fainting.

Treatment

Necrophobia can be successfully treated. Moreover, those who are afraid of corpses can get rid of their fears on their own, the main thing is to realize that there is a problem. The method of getting closer to the object of fear in this case is ineffective, because it can only intensify the fear, so the issue of treatment must be approached comprehensively.

The best treatment option is a combination of professional, medication and home treatments. The sooner a person was able to recognize the problem and begin treatment, the more favorable the prognosis.

Pharmacological methods

Pharmacology plays a secondary role in the treatment of phobias. The fact is that fear sits in a person’s head and is tightly tied to a way of thinking that cannot be corrected by any pills. Medications used in the treatment of phobias have only one goal - to reduce the overall load on the nervous system. This is achieved by reducing anxiety and reducing overall emotionality.

Since living in constant fear is a serious test for the nervous system, people with severe phobias exhibit all the signs of neurosis and prolonged stress, to eliminate which medications are used. For this, tranquilizers are prescribed - Adaptol, Afobazol, Diazepam or Gidazepam. The choice of drug is made by the doctor depending on the damage caused to the nervous system.

Psychotherapy

A professional approach is the key to successfully getting rid of a phobia. Necrophobia is successfully treated with psychotherapy aimed at developing critical thinking in the patient.

Treatment is carried out in three stages. First you need to determine the cause of the development of fear. Usually it lies in events that occurred in early childhood. The patient discusses the situation from the past in detail with the psychotherapist. The next stage is to change the attitude towards the object of fear. For this purpose, cognitive-behavioral correction is used - the gold standard of modern psychotherapy.

After the patient can learn to change the direction of his thoughts and stop the appearance of frightening associations associated with the dead, the time comes for rapprochement with fear. Usually, to do this, the doctor and the patient watch a horror film and analyze each scene in detail, refuting the possibility of such events repeating in real life.

How to help yourself?

Self-help is possible only in the early stages of the development of a phobia, since in advanced cases a person loses the ability to think critically when confronted with an object of fear, or when thoughts arise about it.

Self-help is as follows:

• reducing the load on the nervous system by taking sedatives;
• control of one's own emotions;
• a critical assessment of everything related to the dead;
• gradually getting closer to fear by watching movies and TV shows.

As a rule, these measures are enough to overcome mild to moderate necrophobia. If a person is not confident in his own abilities, it would not be a bad idea to enlist the support of family and friends who will accompany him at all stages of therapy.

As practice shows, necrophobia can be successfully treated, but with severe fear, which is accompanied by severe symptoms, it is recommended to seek qualified help. After successfully defeating a phobia, not a trace remains of fear; it does not leave psychological trauma, since a healthy psyche is quickly restored.