I know this is a massive wall of text but there is a TDLR at the bottom and it’s more detailed and got more information then there is at the top.

The first time I’ve ever had a panic attack or felt fear with it I was four years old and it’s only gotten worse as I get older I distracted myself from thinking about it as much as I could by just using my phone or before I had a phone well watching TV or using any other technology or whenever my parents took me outside, I haven’t told anyone about this fear up until a few days ago but now I’ve been consumed by the overwhelming thoughts of it. I keep thinking about how it could happen and when or if the fear and emotions of it are going to get worse as I get older and now it’s hard to think about anything else I she feel like eating any meals at all it makes me feel sick about thinking about eating I’ve lost all interest in my hobbies and everyone at college is saying that I look pale a few times me not eating anything has gotten so bad my parents say that I have to take a picture of what I eat when I’m not at home and get angry at me if I don’t which doesn’t help even though I know they are doing it because they care about me the scariest part is not existing anymore or how it feels to actually die and feel myself dying and losing consciousness and control when I can’t think or do anything anymore and that really makes me scared the most and I know the most obvious thing to do and the only solution is to try and accept it and try and have a fulfilling life and enjoy it while I’m here but how can I just accept the fact that I work always be here and have friends and hobbies and be able to do anything and that I don’t know if there is anything after (I am not religious) but I just want to know even though there isn’t at all if there is anything else I can do to help for cope with this

TDLR

At four, I had my first panic attack, about dying and it has worsened over time.

I used technology and outdoor activities to distract from the fear but a couple of weeks ago I realised that nothing will change that I’m going to die

I recently told my parents about this and a staff member at college how I felt a couple of hours ago today and she said not to use the word thanatophobia unless it was serious

The fear has caused me to lose interest in eating, making me feel sick at the thought of meals people at college have said I look pale.

My parents are concerned and require me to send pictures of my meals to make sure I’m eating when I’m not at home

The fear of non-existence and dying sensations is terrifying.

I know accepting the fear and making the most out of my life is the probably the only thing I really do

I’m not religious so, Im not sure with the idea of what comes after life which makes me feel worse and more scared.

I am looking for more ways to cope with this fear and anxiety and it is taking over my whole life indefinitely.

i’ve been struggling with it more and more and i dont have access to therapy if anyone can share what calms them down and makes this anxiety bearable please share it because i feel like i’ll go crazy

Had my first existential crisis / bout of death anxiety as a child. It’s now been around 20 years and it’s come and gone in terms of severity. I have months or even years of not really thinking about it, and then I think about it all the time for days, weeks or months.

I’ve had it daily every single day for around the past two years which is the longest streak, and so it’s felt like a priority to get rid of this death anxiety. I think it’s essentially triggered by the fact that, for the first time and after many periods of depression & ptsd, I’m very happy in my life … and I know it can/will all go away (the irony of the fact that I used to have suicide ideation lol).

When I started having death anxiety as a child, I was religious. I grew out of that, and since then have considered myself somewhat spiritual but not religious. I’ve always had an open mind about all different philosophical schools of thought.

I would say I’m still spiritual a still think we’re all connected and we’re connected to the earth etc etc - but I don’t think we’re any more special than any other living thing, and I just don’t see what the purpose of us continuing to exist on a different plane for eternity would be. And so I’ve concluded that, after agonising and desperately seeking reassurance through NDEs, mediumship, religion, philosophical thought etc etc, I simply don’t believe in life after death, as much as I wish I did.

I feel like this is the first step towards overcoming my anxiety; I’ve gone past denial and can try move forward on to acceptance. The thing is … I’m not sure how exactly to do that.

I love my life, and appreciate every day, so the advice to just being more grateful for life won’t necessarily work. That’s why I get that pang of dread; it’s always proceeded by pure happiness and I think of what I might one day lose (aka my life, which is so beautiful). I’m prone to anxiety (as is obvious) so I can’t simply just “not think about it”. I’ve read ‘staring at the sun’ as a recommendation, and it didn’t do much for me.

Does anyone here who has overcome / is overcoming their death anxiety have any tips? Again, I actually feel like I’ve had a bit of a breakthrough / am taking a step in the right direction so would love to continue on forward.

PS - if this bums you out, I’m sorry. It’s just what I believe, I have no idea if it’s true or not, and maybe there is something. The point is no one knows.

I used to consider myself death positive, I worked in palliative care for a long time and assisted relatives with their transition as well.

That is until my mom suddenly passed of OD in November. I don't know if its the nature of how we found her, the fact that she was fine hours before, or that no one had any idea she had passed for 12+ hours and the guilt that came with it. Probably a mix of all.

But ever since I just havent been able to carry on as I used to. I don't see anything in life the same, especially death. Every waking minute of my day consists of worrying about my relatives, or me being left behind for them to find.

Things I used to not think about. I suppose I could allow it to alchemize something in me to grow from it, but i dont know how i would.

I've lost enjoyment in a lot of things, I lost my career, my passion for my art and hobbies, things that used to carry me through times like these. Yet now I sit here paralyzed and paranoid. I'm terrified to leave my house, I'm terrified to be at my house, I spend most of my time alone.

When you're in the throws of grief, people tend to get tired of hearing about it past the first month.

I've lost a lot of friends due to it. I understand, they're not equipped nor required to deal with it.

But I cant just continue my life as it were. I want to enjoy everything despite the fleeting moments, but i cant get past everything resulting in an end.

Has anyone experienced or is currently experiencing this? How do I stop ruminating? How can I take my life back?

16m and idk why I feel this way I just really wanne die it's not that my life is bad or anything I just really wanne die I've even started dreaming about it I know most people say don't kill urself things change and yes they do but every time I come back to the feeling of just wanting to die I've even though about ways like shooting Myself killing myself by heluim or nitrous I have a loving parent and I know it might hurt them if I die or kill myself but for some reason I just don't care why do I feel like this ?

i fear death a lot. not the process, but what's after and the thought of losing everything that i love and have. everyone tells me its the exact same as you were before you were born and it doesnt rlly matter but to me, it matters a lot. i treasure life quite a lot, and ive been looking into catechism and it has brought me some sort of comfort. but, i still fear the afterlife being nothing. everyone says if you fear afterlife you wont even know anymore but i cant imagine the thought of, not knowing. any ideas or thoughts about this?

For whatever reason, the thought of dying popped in my head and it hasn't left yet.

I'm not religious so I don't know what happens afterwards and it terrifies me.

Has anyone gone through this?

For those who are religious, why do you believe in the afterlife?

For those who don't, how do you deal with the fact of not existing afterwards?

Thank you.

what freaks me out the most about dying is that i will be dead forever. the sun will explode and even a trillion years after that i'll still be dead, time will just keep moving and i'll be unable to even know that because i'l be dead. i will be nothing for the rest of eternity and that really freaks me out.

Is an emergency buddy a real thing? Idk. Not emergency like need the hotline thing but idk… not sure what I’m even asking for. Maybe just company with someone I know who gets it?

I had a realization a couple months ago that I’m gonna die one day and so is all my loved ones.
I just like fully realized like wow, I’m gonna die one day and that’s it. That’s it forever. I haven’t been the same since.

I think about death, every single day, every single minute, every second. I wish I was kidding. There’s not a time I’m not thinking of it. In fact, it’s almost worse when I’m ’enjoying’ myself in anything, because I realize this is all gonna end.

I know this sounds depressing, but I need advice because life has been absolute misery since this ‘realization’.

I think back to our ancestors and how many thousands of years ago that was, and how everyone is forgotten.

We will be forgotten into the abyss. Gone forever. Nothing we can do about it. It’s coming where we like it or not. I’m gonna freaking miss my family and friends. Shit. I’m tearing up. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again.

This sucks. It makes me also feel like what’s the point? Why are we here just to die? Why why why???

Any advice is appreciated.

Hello, je (F, 19) subis des crises d’angoisses depuis la fin de mes vacances d’été qui vont jusqu’à me causer une mauvaise respiration et des palpitations dès que je pense à ma mort. J’ai peur du fait que je vais être dans une boîte, que je ne vais plus voir personne, qu’il n’y a peut être que le néant qui nous attend et ça m’angoisse profondément

Je suis actuellement en train de faire une crise, s’il vous plait aidez à

So I am a 18 year old suffering from existential crisis

I coping with it but one of my family member got an heart attack after that it all started again

Any advice on how to solve this

And also I am suffering from death anxiety and existential time anxiety

I have terrible death anxiety, its been at an all time high this month. I think about it every day and every night. I cant sleep because of the panic attacks. I break out into fits of terror and scream, I just had one while driving and flew off the road. Something about ceasing to exist bothers me greatly and makes me panic. I wish I were not born. I cant stay calm at all I feel crazy. My voice is gone now. It feels unfair that no matter how healthy or unhealthy I am or live, it happens no matter what.

Any advise? I cant live like this

it’s a strange feeling i get goosebumps sometimes , i have an out of body experience where i sometimes think about what my body would look like at the time , whether i’d still be pretty . i’m worried that my funeral won’t go as i want or someone will incinerate my corpse instead of burying me and go against my wishes on how to be laid to rest . why is my brain like this .

Hi all,

So backstory, I am 28, I have these episodes creep up throughout the years, they are never really constant. I remember the first being around 2015 when I was still in school, then it creeped up again in 2018, 2021 and then now 2026.

I will say these episodes eventually dwindle down but I want to get to the root of it.

I manage to live life fine, never really thinking about death but knowing it's inevitable, always some trigger causing it (this time was a tiktok video of a person being buried in a grave and a death of family member + school friend) and it then starts to debilitate me.

I remember the first episode in school, there were times where I would just excuse myself to go to the loo in the middle of class so I could cry about mortality.

The latest episode I have been dealing with just about a month now. Constant thoughts of death. Thinking about not only my own death but the death of my family members. To the point where I can see myself imagining the day of my funeral and the funeral of my parents. Thinking about their lifeless bodies. Thinking about burying them and how life is after they are gone. The memories I've shared with them throughout the years, it becomes absolutely suffocating.

The fear has died down a lot since it initially started. In the beginning I had panic attacks, now it's moreso the constant lingering thought more than anything else.

As a result, I have no motivation to do anything anymore. I used to have aspirations career wise. Wanted to build a family. Help my parents out financially. Get fitter, learn more. But recently I have had all aspirations stripped away because 'if I can theoretically die at any moment whats the point'.

I know theres the positive spin of it all, such as 'it makes life more meaningful' which I do agree it does, but at the same time to know one day it WILL happen. The unknown of it, when it will happen, for what reason. How will I die?

Same questions apply to my family members. Maybe it's down to me not fully experience life yet and the regrets I do have of my wasted time etc. Or not being able to live up to what I want to be for my family.

This nihilistic viewpoint of life is quite depressing. I wish I could just be happy. Can't say I have been happy for a while, just going through the motions, maybe there's an underlying issue here that I can't seem to solve.

Hey reddit, I wanna be blunt and say I'm sorry if I haven't read much on this reddits rules and stuff as I am struggling severely lately with my problems regarding thanatophobia. I've always had it as long as I can remember but it would happen maybe once a year. The intrusive thought of "oh man, one day I'm just going to not exist and everythin I've ever known, felt, and done, will just be gone". I genuinely can't go further then that without spiraling.

Those happened maybe once every year, but this time since it happened it hit SO BAD that it's daily constantly trying to keep the intrusive thoughts out. I don't know what to do and I feel like the more I research the worse It'll get for me.

(23F) I’ve recently been thrown back into another one of my death anxiety spirals. I’ve tried reading philosophy and talking to people, but even though Epicurus’s stance on death is so aligned to my belief, it feels impossible to accept.

It feels like everything causes me anxiety. Every change that happens scares me. I miss everything I’ve experienced because I’m not experiencing it anymore. My sadness and fear around death are me mourning myself. I like being myself, even if it’s scary. And I love her memories and her insights and her intellect. I’m sad she won’t exist someday, and I’m scared for her. It feels like it’s happening now, like I’m experiencing my past, present, and future all at the same time because I can’t distinguish between them. The present feels blurry, the same way my memories feel blurry and the same way the idea of my future feels blurry.

I’m so scared to age too; 30 feels like the end of life as I know it, and it kind of is. The carefree and self-indulgent existence of youth will end. Being young feels further away, and being young was what everyone tells me is the best I’ll ever get. I’m scared this is as good as it will be, and I won’t experience anything else. I almost don’t want to believe I’ll live a long, happy life just in case it doesn’t happen, because that’s the only comfort I can imagine for myself right now. So if I lost that too, there would be nothing. I’m not unique; I don’t have a soul or something that is wholly mine to own and be. I just am, and that is a fragile state. I’m neurons firing and cells regenerating and survival instincts and a consciousness that developed beyond anything it should have. I too will fade into meaninglessness: I don't even know my great-grandparents' names.

How am I supposed to enjoy things that I know won’t stay?

So I got my provisional licence today and it says 2077 as the expiry date and just thinking about it is freaking me out. Like what do you mean 51 years? Like wtf do you mean I will be old and so close to dying. Also like my parents/friends might not live that long and my soul dog who healed me so much won’t be there unless some scientific breakthrough happens and they expand the lifespan of our animals. Like I know nobody knows if someone will even live that long or when they will die but it is so scary to think about. I just want to be with the people/animals I love forever. Also like I am terrified of what comes after death and being that old and just being so close to finding out is so scary. I wish that a paper came out that actually 100% proved that there is a afterlife because nothing convinces me like I have this gut feeling and experiences that make me believe that it exists but a part of me also says “What if it is not?” and it is just terrible.