If with some phobias we are surprised, with others we feel more identified. This is the case of necrophobia or fear of the dead and everything related to them, an almost universal fear that we all have to a greater or lesser extent. We tell you in our phobia dictionary everything you need to know about necrophobia.
What is necrophobia?
Necrophobia is the fear of the dead. But not the dead for fear of becoming zombies or ghosts, but everything that is part of the ritual of death. Corpses, funeral homes, urns, crematoriums, cemeteries, graves or even a hear or wreaths.
Do not confuse necrophobia with the fear of death. In this phobia, the anxiety reaction is not caused by thinking about one’s own death, but is more associated with the loss of loved ones than with the end of one’s life. In any case, it Isa that can make life very complicated, since attending a funeral or meeting a funeral procession is sometimes unavoidable.
Symptoms of being afraid of the dead
Most people feel some uneasiness about anything related to death. A cemetery or a funeral home is surely not your favorite place to spend a good day and the same goes for a funeral, which is not the most pleasant situation. Thin these types of places or situations range from sadness to fear, it is true, but the phobia is something else.
Necrophobia is something more than that restlessness that assails you when you are going to enter a funeral. Necrophobia produces the same symptoms of anxiety, with all that this implies and can lead to a panic attack. The most common reaction in those moments is that of avoidance, as it happens with all phobias, but it is not always possible.
The physical symptoms are joined by a series of psychological symptoms or consequences of suffering from this. Among them are fatalistic, obsessive and distorted thoughts, but in this case also a feeling of guilt for avoiding situations that socially should not be avoided.
Know the causes of necrophobia
The most frequent cause for the development of necrophobia is due to a traumatic experience. A child who sees the corpse of her grandfather from her, for example, can be marked for life and have to suffer from this phobia that in adulthood will create many complications.
An anxiety disorder that generates irrational and excessive fears in any situation must also be assessed as the cause of necrophobia. Anxiety shoots up in the face of danger, just like fear. And in this case, the entire context surrounding death has always been surrounded by a halo of fear.
Treatment of this phobia
That to some extent it is logical to fear things related to death, does not mean that necrophobia should not be treated. We cannot forget that in phobias fear is neither adaptive nor functional and, therefore, it is something that we must overcome with psychological therapy.
The most effective therapy in the treatment of phobias is cognitive, which gets to the root of fear, to that thought that triggers panic in order to dismantle it and be able to adopt a different behavior in the face of the situation. And given the relationship between phobia and anxiety, any therapy must be accompanied by relaxation techniques.