Death anxiety and mental health: Requiem for a dreamer

Investigating the relationship between changes in metaphysical beliefs and death anxiety following a significant psychedelic experience

Research examining the potential of the psychedelic experience to alter attitudes toward death is steadily emerging. However, the specific mechanisms leading to this change are not well understood. The present study investigated the potential relationship between changes in metaphysical beliefs and changes in death anxiety following a single significant psychedelic experience. A total of 155 participants completed a retrospective questionnaire that included questions about their acute experience and changes in death anxiety and metaphysical beliefs following a significant psychedelic experience. Although some participants reported an increase in death anxiety, there was an overall significant reduction in death anxiety from before to after the experience. Improvements in death anxiety were positively correlated with changes in belief in panpsychism, but no other measured metaphysical beliefs. The findings from this exploratory study provide direction for future research looking at the relationship between changes in metaphysical beliefs and death anxiety in the context of psychedelic experiences.

Effects of different psychosocial interventions on death anxiety in patients: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Objective

This research intended to assess and compare influence of psychosocial interventions in death anxiety in patients, providing evidence-based guidance for both patients and healthcare providers.

Design

The present study exclusively gathered randomized controlled trials by comprehensively searching across multiple databases, comprising of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus. The methodological quality of the enrolled studies involved in the analysis was assessed using the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool, and data analysis was performed utilizing appropriate software.

Results

This research, encompassing 15 randomized controlled trials with a cumulative sample size of 926 patients, spanned from the earliest possible date to December 2023. The findings of network meta-analysis unveiled that the Rational-Emotive Hospice Care Therapy significantly reduced death anxiety among patients (Sequentially Updated Cumulative Ranking Analysis: 100%).

Conclusion

The ranking plot of the network suggested that the rational-emotive hospice care therapy exhibited superior efficacy as a psychological treatment for reducing the death anxiety of patients.Systematic review registration: [https://clinicaltrials.gov/], identifier: [CRD42023484767].

The Effect of Death Anxiety on Work Passion: Moderating Roles of Work Centrality and Work Connection

Fear of death is an emotional manifestation of the instinct for self-preservation. Any threat to our existence induces an anxiety response. Death anxiety can trigger obsessive-compulsive behaviours, such as an obsessive passion for work. Using a sample of 314 participants (68.2% female), with a mean age of 38.97 years (SD = 10.36), this study sought to observe the predictive effect of death anxiety on work passion, as well as the moderating effect of work-family centrality and connection on the relationship between anxiety and passion. The results revealed that death anxiety negatively affects harmonious passion, and positively affects obsessive passion. Work centrality did not moderate the influence of death anxiety on harmonious and obsessive passion. Nonetheless, work connection moderated the influence of death anxiety on harmonious passion. The negative influence of death anxiety on harmonious passion was greater in a group with high work connection than a group with low connection.

Relationship between self-esteem and quality of life in middle-aged and older patients with chronic diseases: mediating effects of death anxiety

BACKGROUND

Many studies have explored the relationship between self-esteem and quality of life. However, few studies have elucidated the mechanisms underlying the relationship between self-esteem and quality of life in middle-aged and older patients with chronic diseases. The present study aimed to explore the mediating role of death anxiety in this relationship.

METHODS

Middle-old-aged patients with chronic diseases were selected as the respondents by using a multi-stage sampling method, random number table method from October 2021 to February 2022 in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. The Cumulative Disease Rating Scale, the Self-Esteem Scale (SES), the Chinese version of the Death Anxiety Scale (CT-DAS), and the Simplified version of the Quality of Life Scale (SF-12) were used as the researching tools to conduct the survey. SPSS26.0 was used to analysis data. AMOS 23.0 software was used to construct structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

294 valid questionnaires were collected. There were significant differences in quality of life among middle-aged and elderly patients with chronic diseases who have different physical activities, socialization, and chronic pain (P < 0.01); Self-esteem was positively associated with quality of life (r = 0.330, P < 0.01), self-esteem was negatively associated with death anxiety (r = -0.222, P < 0.01), and death anxiety was negatively associated with quality of life (r = -0.263, P < 0.01); Death anxiety partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem and quality of life, with the mediating effect accounting for 18.40% of the total effect.

CONCLUSION

Death anxiety partially mediates the relationship between self-esteem and quality of life. Interventions to improve self-esteem and reduce death anxiety should be used to improve the quality of life of middle-aged and senior patients with chronic diseases.

Examining terror management theory in Ukraine: impact of air-raid alarms and explosions on mental health, somatic symptoms, and well-being

Objective

This study sought to evaluate Terror Management Theory (TMT) assumptions about death awareness and its psychological impact in the context of a real-world war situation with high external validity. We examined if factors such as habituation to war circumstances and psychological resilience could buffer the effects on civilians' anxiety, physical and mental health, and affect.

Method

We implemented a pre-registered smartphone-based experience sampling method study over four weeks, with 307 participants (k = 7,824) living in war-affected areas in Ukraine whereby participants were regularly exposed to war situations, including air-raid alarms, explosions, and infrastructural problems.

Results

The data indicated that war situations significantly increased anxiety, negatively impacting mental health, and raising somatic symptom severity. While habituation showed a mild buffering effect on these impacts, resilience did not.

Conclusion

This real-world investigation supports TMT's fundamental assumptions about death awareness and its psychological implications. However, even amidst the presence of real, life-threatening situations, the buffering effects of habituation were surprisingly minimal. This suggests that further exploration of TMT's buffering factors in real-world scenarios is warranted.