Death anxiety and mental health: Requiem for a dreamer

Recently, there has been an increased interest in the role of death anxiety in a broad range of mental health disorders. It has been argued that the fear of death may be a transdiagnostic variable contributing to the development and maintenance of many chronic mental health problems. Further, it has been suggested that death anxiety may be responsible for relapse and the emergence of new disorders in patients that have received successful treatment for earlier conditions in their lives. Given this, the purpose of the present selective review is to: (1) explore contemporary theoretical accounts of the role of death anxiety in a broad range of human be-haviours; (2) examine evidence for death anxiety as a key variable in mental health disorders; (3) examine evidence on the treatment of death anxiety in both non-clinical and clinical populations; (4) describe the limi-tations of the current literature, and; (5) provide a detailed description of the critical future directions for this field.

Automated summary

There is a growing interest in the role of death anxiety in mental health disorders. It is suggested that the fear of death may contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic mental health problems, as well as relapse and the emergence of new disorders in previously treated patients. This selective review aims to explore theoretical accounts, examine evidence, describe limitations, and provide future directions for this field.