Faces of Death
Many folks today find it scary and difficult to be in the same room or vicinity as a dead body. Any kind of corpse, human or fish or animal, if it’s bigger than a baseball bat (or in the case of an insect, bigger than the palm of our hand) and we’re in an enclosed space, we don’t want to be anywhere near that carcass! But where does this fear come from?
According to the Cleveland Clinic’s Health library, “Thanatophobia (THAN-uh-toe-FOE-bee-uh) is an intense fear of death or the dying process. It’s natural to feel...dying will be scary, painful or lonely. But if you have thanatophobia, your fear of death affects your daily life. It may make it difficult to function at school, work or in social situations. You may experience physical symptoms, such as a panic attack, when you think about dying. [Whereas] necrophobia is a fear of dead things (corpses) or places that contain dead things, such as graveyards,” caskets or morgues.
I’m no different. The unexpected sight of a dead cadaver within a few feet of me is jolting! Ever since I was young, I’ve been necrophobic As an actor, I don’t even want to perform from a coffin (sorry vampire actors). There’s no amount of money you could pay me. I am reluctant to attend funerals, not because I’m distraught over the deceased, but because I don’t want to occupy the same space. And viewing the body?! Forget about it! Even the original-yet-superstitious idea of a “wake” can be daunting, especially for those without solid religious beliefs. As I suspected before I researched it, “The name ‘wake’ originated [from the medieval Irish] because unknown diseases had plagued their countryside, causing some to appear dead. As the family began to mourn, they would awaken,” according to one funeral establishment. For this reason, the body often laid-in-state in the deceased's home for at least one night. Though I believe in resurrection, I’m not standing around waiting on somebody to rise up in front of me. Can you imagine!
Indeed, I am in awe of morticians, funeral home make-up artists, coroners and other medical professionals. I don’t know how they do it. At the very least, I’d be waking up from nightmares constantly. Though death is a normal and inevitable part of life, it is still nonetheless unknown and intimidating.
What causes these fears to arise? Perhaps it’s a learned behavior, something we pickup from those who scream and run in the movies and TV. The Walking Dead franchise is a work of fiction, yet its living characters run. Even in real life, dead bodies can’t hear us or hurt us anymore, yet we scream and run. The aforementioned Health library goes on to say “It’s possible for a specific event or experience to trigger thanatophobia,” like a life-threatening event, the loss of a parent or loved one, or being a witness to a painful or difficult death.
A couple of suggested treatments for our fears is cognitive behavioral therapy, where negative patterns of thought about self and the world are challenged in order to alter unwanted behavior patterns; or, what’s known as exposure therapy, where one is gradually but increasingly subjected to places, thoughts or situations that relate to death. At this point in my life, I’m not so much afraid of death itself as I am the feeling of “passing over.” If you’re like me, you only want to actually face death in your sleep!
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