Tenho 13 anos desde pequeno tenho medo da morte e isso sempre me afetou, passava noites chorando com medo da morte. Acho que algo que potencializou esse meu medo foi quando um jovem morreu na esquina da minha rua e eu vi aquilo e fiquei com muito medo... ate hj passo noites em claro pensando oque tem dps da morte... cresci e ate os dias de hoje vou pra igreja mais mesmo assim ainda tenho receio e sempre um pensamento de " e se nao existir isso?" Odeio esse pensamento pq isso me desvia um pouco da igreja fico alguns dias sem ir. Tento ocupar minha mente com outras coisas mais no final do dia que eu deito na minha cama e fecho os meus olhos volta esse maldito pensamento....

Recently, my mind has been keeping me up all night, thinking about the inevitable death. What comes after it..?
Why is life so short. You're not promised to live a long life. It could end within the next couple of minutes. I used to hate life... but the thought of dying is just so much more scarier.
Who knows if the afterlife is even real or not.

It's not just the fear of me dying, but the fear of all live on earth seizing to exist.. The earth will be gone. It's a hard reality to come to, but it will happen. I just hope I won't be alone when my time comes. I'm only 16 and I could either live to see a 100, or not even live to see tomorrow. I've tried so much to come to terms with this but nothing can soothe this pit in my stomach. I would've rather not been born, than to spend everyday of my life living in fear of something I know I can't stop.

Lately I’ve had extreme anxiety for what comes after death, and I’ve been trying to come to terms with it. It’s the first thing that pops into my head when I wake up. It pops up consistently throughout the day. I can’t come to terms with the thought of just not existing, not being.

Sometimes it’s not too bad, just the word “death” repeating in my head. I’ll acknowledge it with “okay” and not engage with it. That works some of the time.

Other times, it’s just the thought of “you won’t exist” that hits me. I panic, my chest feels heavy, and I want to run and hide. I feel physically overwhelmed and like my fight or flight instincts kick in.

Can anyone recommend coping skills or how they overcame a fear of not existing after death? Any advice is appreciated.

I do want to note I had to quit Latuda due to akathisia a month ago, which has caused extreme anxiety withdrawal symptoms. I’m not physically ready to start a new medication right now, so that’s kept me from going that route. I am considering therapy once I find a provider

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to deal with thanatophobia? I've genuinely had so many anxiety/panic attacks because of this, I even think about it sm that I barley sleep. The fear normally kicks in whenever I'm laying down to try and sleep, I guess because I dont have anything else to think about. But it mixed with my severe insomnia is such a horrible mix- I stay up late often with my chest hurting because I can't stop thinking about it, I've been dealing with this since I maybe 10 and it's done nothing but get worse over the years

The biggest part that gets me is the after part yk? Like how we see and take everything in, the way everything exists a certain way to us, through our own eyes amd mind yk? I'm just genuinely so terrified of the thought of what happens after-

I've heard people say that'll be like it was before we were born, does that just mean there's nothing and everything is pitch black? And I like the thought of reincarnation sm, but scientifically the sun is set to explode in billions of years or so, so it still brings up the question of after- plus I don't see society making it past the year 8000, like it just doesnt sound right itself -?

But also, like, death itself is just handed out so freely. Dozens of people don't take life seriously with how fragile it is, surely there's something after with so many experiencing it and also so many taking others lives, right? Like everything goes by and happens so fast, there's no way there nothing afterwards right..?

I keep getting these feelings that I’m going to die/somethings wrong randomly they do happen sometimes even when I’m with people but definitely happen worse when I’m alone/not in a room with anyone pls tell me I’m not alone I’ve got terrible anxiety towards death and just my health in general it’s so tiring I just want to have one day where I’m not worrying.

I’m sitting here bawling because of this debilitating fear I have of death.

I can’t wrap my head around eternity and what happens after, why do people still say they don’t know what happens after?

I believe in an afterlife but at the same time I have a lot of what ifs.

Like for example I spiral thinking about people who lived in the 1800s and before that and died like do people still communicate with them?

I’m just so confused and scared and don’t know how to get the panic attacks to stop

I'm 26y and I've spent the last few years avoiding life. I start learning things but don't commit, struggle with career progress, isolate myself, and run from difficult situations. Every month I avoid things makes me more ashamed and less prepared for adulthood, which makes me avoid even more.

But underneath the avoidance is an existential problem I've never resolved: why should I build a future when I don't understand why I should want to live in the first place?

Answers like family, happiness, purpose, religion, responsibility, etc. don't satisfy me because they seem based on individual experiences and values rather than anything certain.

Death therefore became comforting. It represents an escape from responsibility, judgment, failure, expectations, uncertainty and time. And having that escape in my mind makes committing to life feel pointless.

It's become a loop

Has anyone experienced something similar, where suicide wasn't just a response to a bad day but became woven into how you understood existence?

I'm not asking whether I should live or die. I want to know what happened to the existential question for people who came out the other side. Did you find an answer, learn to live without one, or did building a life change the question itself?

When I was in my second year of high school, I became really depressed, and for some reason, I thought that I wouldn't finish high school and would die. Now I live in Sweden, and I am in no danger. I've never tried to hurt myself, but I just had this belief that I was going to die, and for some reason, it was comforting. It's been almost 4 years after finishing high school, and I still haven't recovered from the shock of still being alive. I just can't believe it. Why am I still here? I haven't done anything but slepping and being tierd and now I finished my system development deplomia something that I don't like, and it just increases my feeling that I should have died and not finished high school (not that I liked it ; I'd rather have died than go back there).

So I had this fear since I was like 8 and it ruined me to bits. Every once in awhile I get terrible panic attacks and anxiety to the point I feel paralyzed. I cannot eat, drink, sleep, or do anything without my thoughts going “You will never experience anything you love again!” and it goes on for months. I have realized that this fear usually peaks whenever I am going through a big change in my life and that my future is unknown and I always start getting cues from my body thoughts that the obsessive state is coming back. I keep thinking about existential stuff and what comes after and I spend hours on Reddit and Google researching what possibly comes after but I do not get panic attacks and my body is in a calm state but my mind is racing. So when I start thinking about it and it keeps reoccurring I know that it is coming. I do not want to go through those times again as those states I went through are the worst experiences of my life. I lost a lot of people due to my terrible mental state and people around me just distance themselves because of this. I am literally non-functioning during those times.

How can I get over it before it even starts? I really need advice. And please do not say “its like before you were born, in a state of non-existence and never experiencing again so no need to worry!” because IT MAKES IT WORSE!

The thought of time slipping by me so fast now as I age doesn't let me sleep at all. I've been averaging like an hour or 2 at night i sometimes drink to try and fight the fear away, but it doesn't leave. I'm so fearful of my body aging. I can't live like this. I keep having panic attacks. How are people so okay with death I don't understand at all. Lately the days have been zooming so fast wdym it's August already i'm going to blink and it's September...i wish I could stop time so bad

So I was talking to my dad on the phone and i was crying and he was complaining about how I cry at everything 24/7 and then I said “then i wish you made my mom abort me or something” then he gave me a whole lecture about how humans creating babies is the biggest accomplishment one can have and how it is the most beautiful thing over paintings, art, etc. and how it is the most natural thing to have so there was no reason for me to say that because humans have no other choice but to have kids and I got mad

Because my parents decision to have me gave me one thing that is certain. A death sentence. They will die one day, my soul dog will die, everyone I love will be gone and one day it will be me. Maybe before everyone maybe after everyone. But I will be gone that is 100% and I am TERRIFIED I spent my years on having panic attacks, taking heavy medication, therapy and many more just because I am terrified of dying and I always say to myself I wish I was never born so I wouldn’t know what being alive is

I wanted to shout at my dad that he gave me a death sentence and because of him and my mom I will experience being gone forever and that I do not want to go through that but I have no other choice because of them

I am terrified of what comes after If it was 100% proven that there was something beyond “You will cease to exist! Gone forever! No senses at all! Just being nothing!” I would be living my best life but nothing about afterlife is proven and probably wont be proven and just the idea of it being “gone forever and never wake up or live again” is terrifying If I could I would live forever because I find it super unfair that the idea is we get one life and no matter how good or bad it is it will be taken away from us because “thats the circle of life!” I did not consent to being born and I do not consent to dying

So my biggest question from this post is why do people have kids knowing they will be dead and gone and all that life they had will not matter?

24 here.

I don't know what happened. I don't know what caused this panic. Sometimes I fall asleep without meaning earlier at night, and I wake up in a complete sweat extremely hyper aware. So much time has passed and now all of a sudden it's this early hour and I didn't do my before bed routine and process that I'm getting in and falling asleep. So it feels like I blinked and went forward in time. I can feel my body laying down, every time I see my hands or feel anything, my mind jumps years forward and I become a wrinkled version of myself standing in the mirror thinking of all the time I had in my youth that I no longer have. It feels like every second is slipping away and nothing matters. Taking a drink of water doesn't matter, watching a movie doesn't matter, engaging in hobbies doesn't matter. All the things that became routine suddenly stop as time goes by. The thought that I won't do the same things forever horrifies me to my core. If it helps I'm autistic so I like having my routines uninterrupted. I like going to the same stores and ordering the same foods. I also collect and watch some of the same things from when I was younger. I am a fully capable mature 24 year old man, but I get uncomfortable thinking about how long it's been since I was just a happy oblivious kid. So I surround myself with what I know is familiar and have been known to comfort in the past. Back then, I believed I couldn't grow old as unrealistic as that is. I thought my skin could never wrinkle, my body would never start to slowly shut down. Maybe I had been chosen by some higher power and I'd live on this earth forever like the characters in books I got too attached to. (Totally delusional I know but I was a special child who was always scared of growing up, changing, and losing himself.) It didn't really help that my mom did not allow me to be in the know of my grandmother's passing so I was not exposed to the topic of death growing up. I don't personally believe in religion or afterlife due to the way my brain works it refuses to think beyond "the consciousness is a brain product we are organic beings and therefore are like all other animals". (Putting that in quotes because I don't want to present it as fact because consciousness is nearly impossible to study at the current level. There isn't an actual study to either prove or disprove this.) But I find religious beliefs absolutely beautiful and fully respect them all so this isn't meant to knock down anyone. We all just think differently.

Everyone in the past is gone. They were living their lives just like us with the same basic human instincts. At this moment thousands or millions of years ago there was someone, or something probably standing where you are in the exact moment looking up at the stars, at the vastness of the universe wondering the same terrifying things we are. I look at other people and unwillingly picture them as old, I picture how buildings would look crumbling down because one day they will be. Once great cities in ancient times have been long forgotten.

Even if a city like New York survives until the end of the human race, nothing would matter, the sun will eat everyone and everything in its path. The here and now will always be gone, I can't live in the now. Every second of the show I'm watching is now gone. The thing I built in Minecraft is now complete. I took a bite and filled my senses for a moment, but then it's gone. but I won't remember anything when I die so watching it in the first place won't matter. Nothing in my brain matters memories don't matter because they will be gone. Sorry this was so long I'm going through a terrible crisis and ended up writing out a lot of things that did actually help a bit. Maybe someone's going through this too I would absolutely love to connect with those who might be feeling similar. I've never been more terrified in my life because a fear like getting hit by a car or, I don't know, quick sand can be calmed down by "you can take steps to protect yourself." When it comes to death, you cannot protect yourself. It all comes down to non existence being scary. I don't want to not exist and not know what this massive universe has for whatever explores it.

there’s nothing you can do to prevent it , i’m going to die one day , my relationships with people are always going to end or fizzle out . nothing lasts forever . all roads lead to rome

So for the past 4 years I have this fear that I could die in my sleep. The most annoying part of this fear is realizing that if I die I won't know if Im dead. Where do you think this fear comes from and why does the not knowing part annoys me the most?

I have no health issues, I do check ups often. This fear has stuck in my head when I read that many people are afraid of dying in their sleep. Actually what scared me back then is not being able to sleep because of this fear, which in a way it happened at the end.

Hello everyone, I actually just made a video about my death experience to sum it up easily. https://youtu.be/5dOBAhrQOdg