Repacked
Punxsutawney resident
Pick a theoretical framework that will help you make more sense of your impending and certain demise, the time you have here, and help you not be a **** while you are here. A fear of death is not an excuse for shitty behaviour.
[h=2]Theories[edit][/h][h=3]Thanatophobia[edit][/h]Sigmund Freud hypothesized that people express a fear of death, called thanatophobia. He saw this as a disguise for a deeper source of concern. It was not actually death that people feared, because in Freud's view nobody believes in his or her own death. The unconscious does not deal with the passage of time or with negations, which does not calculate amount of time left in one's life. Furthermore, that which one does fear cannot be death itself, because one has never died. People who express death-related fears, actually are trying to deal with unresolved childhood conflicts that they cannot come to terms with or express emotion towards.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][14][/SUP][SUP][15][/SUP] The name Thanatophobia is made from the Greek figure of death known as Thanatos.
[h=3]Wisdom: Ego integrity vs. despair[edit][/h]Developmental Psychologist, Erik Erikson, formulated the psychosocial theory that explained that people progress through a series of crises as they grow older. The theory also envelops the concept that once an individual reaches the latest stages of life, they reach the level he titled as "ego integrity". Ego Integrity is when one comes to terms with his life and accepts it. It was also suggested that when a person reaches the stage of late adulthood he becomes involved in a thorough overview of his life to date. When one can find meaning or purpose in his life, he has reached the integrity stage. In opposition, when an individual views his life as a series of failed and missed opportunities, then he does not reach the ego integrity stage. Elders that have attained this stage of ego integrity are believed to exhibit less of an influence from death anxiety.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][14][/SUP][SUP][15][/SUP]
[h=3]Terror management theory[edit][/h]Main article: Terror management theory
Theory of Ernest Becker was based on existential view which turned death anxiety theories towards a new dimension. It said that death anxiety is not only real, but also it is people's most profound source of concern. He explained the anxiety as so intense that it can generate fears and phobias of everyday life—Fears of being alone or in a confined space. Based on the theory, many of people's daily behavior consist of attempts to deny death and to keep their anxiety under strict regulation.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][14][/SUP][SUP][15][/SUP][SUP][16][/SUP]
As an individual becomes more aware of the inevitability of death, they will instinctively try to suppress it out of fear. The method of suppression usually leads to mainstreaming towards cultural beliefs, leaning for external support rather than treading alone. This behavior may range from simply thinking about death to severe phobias and desperate actions.[SUP][17][/SUP]
[h=3]Death and adjustment hypotheses[edit][/h]Main article: Death and adjustment hypotheses
Mohammad Samir Hossain, faculty at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Medical College for Women and Hospital,[SUP][18][/SUP] postulated the Death and adjustment hypotheses. With the declaration of the hypotheses, two things were postulated. The first part of the hypotheses theorizes that death should not be considered the end of existence. The next segment states the belief that the immortal pattern of human existence can only be adopted in a morally rich life with the attitude towards morality and materialism balanced mutually.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][14][/SUP][SUP][15][/SUP]
[h=3]Being, time, and Dasein[edit][/h]Martin Heidegger, the German philosopher, on the one hand showed death as something conclusively determined, in the sense that it is inevitable for every human being, while on the other hand, it unmasks its indeterminate nature via the truth that one never knows when or how death is going to come. Heidegger does not engage in speculation about whether being after death is possible. He argues that all human existence is embedded in time: past, present, future, and when considering the future, we encounter the notion of death. This then creates angst. Angst can create a clear understanding in one that death is a possible mode of existence, which Heidegger described as “clearing”. Thus, angst can lead to a freedom about existence, but only if we can stop denying our mortality (as expressed in Heidegger’s terminology as “stop denying being-for-death”).[SUP][19][/SUP]
[h=3]Meaning management theory[edit][/h]Paul T. P. Wong's work on the meaning management theory indicate that human reactions to death are complex, multifaceted and dynamic.[SUP][19][/SUP] His “Death Attitude Profile” identifies three types of death acceptances as Neutral, Approach and Escape acceptances. Apart from acceptances, his work also represents different aspects of the meaning of Death Fear that are rooted in the bases of death anxiety. The ten meanings he proposes are finality, uncertainty, annihilation, ultimate loss, life flow disruption, leaving the loved ones, pain and loneliness, prematurity and violence of death, failure of life work completion, judgment and retribution centered.
[h=3]Other theories[edit][/h]Other theories on death anxiety were introduced in the late part of the twentieth century.[SUP][20][/SUP] The existential approach, with theorists such as Rollo May and Viktor Frankl, views an individual's personality as being governed by the continuous choices and decisions in relation to the realities of life and death.[SUP][21][/SUP] Another approach is the regret theory which was introduced by Adrian Tomer and Grafton Eliason.[SUP][22][/SUP] The main focus of the theory is to target the way people evaluate the quality and/or worth of their lives.[SUP][22][/SUP] The possibility of death usually makes people more anxious if they feel that they have not and cannot accomplish any positive task in the life that they are living.[SUP][22][/SUP] Research has tried to unveil the factors that might influence the amount of anxiety people experience in life.[SUP][22][/SUP]
[h=3]Personal meanings of death[edit][/h]Humans develop meanings and associate them with objects and events in their environment, provoking certain emotions within an individual. People tend to develop personal meanings of death which could accordingly be negative or positive for the individual. If they are positive, then the consequences of those meanings can be comforting (for example, ideas of a rippling effect[SUP][23][/SUP] left on those still alive). If negative they can cause emotional turmoil. Depending on the certain meaning one has associated with death, the consequences will vary accordingly whether they are negative or positive meanings.[SUP][24][/SUP]