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Death anxiety is the morbid, abnormal or persistent fear of one's own mortality. One definition of death anxiety is a "feeling of dread, apprehension or solicitude (anxiety) when one thinks of the process of dying, or ceasing to ‘be’".〔Definition by Farley G.: Death anxiety. National Health Service UK. 2010, found in: 〕 It is also referred to as thanatophobia (fear of death), and is distinguished from necrophobia, which is a specific fear of dead or dying persons and/or things (i.e. others who are dead or dying, not one's own death or dying).〔The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company〕 Lower ego integrity, more physical problems, and more psychological problems are predictive of higher levels of death anxiety in elderly people. ==Types== Robert Langs distinguishes three types of death anxiety:〔http://www.escp.org/death_anxiety.html; Langs, R. (2004). "Death anxiety and the emotion-processing mind," ''Psychoanalytic Psychology'', vol. 21, no.1, 31-53; Langs, R. (2004) ''Fundamentals of Adaptive Psychotherapy and Counseling''. London: Palgrave-Macmillan〕 ;Predatory death anxiety Predatory death anxiety arises from the fear of being harmed.〔Langs, R. Three Forms of Death Anxiety. Retrieved from http://www.escp.org/death_anxiety.html; Langs, R. (2004). "Death anxiety and the emotion-processing mind," ''Psychoanalytic Psychology'', vol. 21, no.1, 31-53; Langs, R. (2004) ''Fundamentals of Adaptive Psychotherapy and Counseling''. London: Palgrave-Macmillan〕 It is the most basic and oldest〔Castano.Leidner.Bonacossa.Nikkah.Perrulli.Spencer.Humphrey."Ideology, Fear of Death and Death Anxiety "Political Psychology.2011.p615〕 form of death anxiety, with its origins stemming from the first unicellular organisms’ set of adaptive resources. Unicellular organisms have receptors that have evolved to react to external dangers and they also have self-protective, responsive mechanisms made to guarantee survival in the face of chemical and physical forms of attack or danger.〔Castano.Leidner.Bonacossa.Nikkah.Perrulli.Spencer.Humphrey."Ideology, Fear of Death and Death Anxiety "Political Psychology.2011.p616〕 In humans, this form of death anxiety is evoked by a variety of danger situations that put the recipient at risk or threatens their survival.〔Castano.Leidner.Bonacossa.Nikkah.Perrulli.Spencer.Humphrey."Ideology, Fear of Death and Death Anxiety "Political Psychology.2011.p617〕 These traumas may be psychological and/or physical.〔 Predatory death anxieties mobilize an individual’s adaptive resources and lead to fight or flight, active efforts to combat the danger or attempts to escape the threatening situation.〔 ;Predation or predator death anxiety Predation or predator death anxiety is a form of death anxiety that arises from an individual physically and/or mentally harming another. This form of death anxiety is often accompanied by unconscious guilt.〔Langs, R. (1997). Death Anxiety and Clinical Practice. London: Karnac Books; Langs, R. (2004). "Death anxiety and the emotion-processing mind," ''Psychoanalytic Psychology'', vol. 21, no.1, 31-53; Langs, R. (2004) ''Fundamentals of Adaptive Psychotherapy and Counseling''. London: Palgrave-Macmillan〕 This guilt, in turn, motivates and encourages a variety of self made decisions and actions by the perpetrator of harm to others.〔McDonald.Hilgendorf. (Death imagery and death anxiety. ) Journal of Clinical Psychology. 1996. p88〕 ;Existential death anxiety Existential death anxiety is the basic knowledge and awareness that natural life must end. It is said that existential death anxiety directly correlates to language; that is, language has created the basis for this type of death anxiety through communicative and behavioral changes.〔 Existential death anxiety is known to be the most powerful form.〔Sterling. "Identity and Death Anxiety"Central Michigan University.1985.p10〕 There is an awareness of the distinction between self and others, a full sense of personal identity, and the ability to anticipate the future.〔Sterling. "Identity and Death Anxiety"Central Michigan University.1985.p11〕 Humans defend against this type of death anxiety through denial, which is effected through a wide range of mental mechanisms and physical actions many of which also go unrecognized.〔 While limited use of denial tends to be adaptive, its use is usually excessive and proves to be costly emotionally.〔 Awareness of human mortality arose through some 150,000 years ago.〔Simin."War, death anxiety, death depression and religion" California School of Professional Psychology.1996.p13〕 In that extremely short span of evolutionary time, humans have fashioned but a single basic mechanism with which they deal with the existential death anxieties this awareness has evoked—denial in its many forms.〔 Thus denial is basic to such diverse actions as breaking rules and violating frames and boundaries, manic celebrations, violence directed against others, attempts to gain extraordinary wealth and/or power—and more.〔Simin."War, death anxiety, death depression and religion" California School of Professional Psychology.1996.p14〕 These pursuits often are activated by a death-related trauma and while they may lead to constructive actions, more often than not, they lead to actions that are, in the short and long run, damaging to self and others.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Death anxiety (psychology)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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