Addressing fear of death and dying: traditional and innovative interventions
Mortality August 30, 2020 Mackenzie Blomstrom, Andrew Burns, D. Larriviere et al.
Fear of death and dying is a common source of distress, especially at the end of life. This review examines current treatments for thanatophobia. Psychotherapy effectively reduces death anxiety. Mindfulness exercises also reduce anxiety but do not typically change beliefs about the afterlife. Psychedelics can reduce death anxiety by inducing mystical experiences that dissociate mind from body, but legal restrictions limit their therapeutic use. Virtual reality may reduce death anxiety by simulating out-of-body experiences and strengthening afterlife beliefs. Although several interventions show promise, the literature does not identify one clearly superior approach.