How to get rid of taphophobia

What is taphophobia

Taphophobia is an irrational, panicky fear of funerals and related paraphernalia (wreaths, cemeteries, coffins, graves). A taphophobe will never go to the funeral of even a loved one. He avoids gloomy films and news reports, and avoids funeral parlors and shops where you can see something reminiscent of a funeral.

Psychologists distinguish several types of taphophobia:

fear of being buried alive;
fear of death;
fear of hearse;
fear of torment and pain;
fear of funerals, cemeteries, coffins, dead people;
fear of falling into a lethargic sleep and then waking up in a coffin.

The fear of being buried alive became widespread in the 18th-19th centuries. And this was due to the increasing number of cases of medical errors, when a living person was declared dead. Since then, medicine has come a lot further, so it is very strange that the fear of being buried alive is still present in our society. Perhaps it's something else, and not just a lack of trust in doctors.

Interesting! Taphophobia is similar to necrophobia - fear of the dead. Sometimes these terms are identified. Taphophobia is also associated with claustrophobia.

Symptoms of taphophobia

The symptoms of taphophobia are individual for each patient. However, there is a general pattern of symptoms that is specific to everyone.

Sleep disorders

Insomnia or nightmares, interrupted or too light sleep, sleeping in unnatural positions, and the inability to relax the body muscles during sleep are characteristic symptoms of taphophobia. So why does taphophobia affect sleep in the first place?

Many people associate a dark room, a soft bed, loneliness and a horizontal position with being in a closed coffin. How to get rid of it? Many people begin to sleep in positions “atypical” for a deceased person - sitting, standing, bending over, across the bed. Thus, at the subconscious level, a person draws a line between himself and the deceased.

Also, during sleep, a taphophobe may be haunted by obsessive fears of falling asleep and not waking up. Often taphophobia leads to a fear of loneliness. Taphophobe is afraid to fall asleep alone in a room; he definitely needs someone's presence. He believes that if he falls asleep and does not wake up, a person nearby will wake him up or immediately call doctors who can return him to consciousness.

With such primitive methods, a person suffering from phobias tries to achieve a feeling of security. However, these actions only aggravate anxiety and cause a lot of inconvenience both to the individual himself and to those around him.

Nightmares can also be associated with anxiety. The individual experiences dreams in which he sees himself in a boarded-up, dark and cramped coffin, hears earth pouring onto the lid, and understands that no one will help him get out. Of course, such dreams increase anxiety and can lead to deep depression.

After nightmares, attacks of suffocation, high blood pressure, arrhythmia, and intense anxiety are common.

Atypical behavioral reactions

A taphophobe usually strives to leave as much information as possible to those who will bury him in the event of a sudden death. These are all kinds of wills, audio and video messages, instructions to friends and family.

Experiencing panic anxiety of being alive in a coffin, a person gives detailed instructions to ensure that his death is verified before burial. Every time before he goes to bed, he leaves farewell notes with instructions for potential “finders of his body.” It can also be video or audio recordings with instructions. The instructions, as a rule, include requests not to bury the body for several weeks after death, to confirm death with the help of several specialists, and not to perform an autopsy.

Taphophobes can exhaust themselves with visits to doctors, checking their physical health and eliminating the possibility of falling into a lethargic sleep. They constantly study information regarding a topic that interests them, reading about famous cases of burial alive. Thus, they only aggravate their anxiety, feeding their imagination with new images every time.

Reasons for fear of funerals

Fear of being buried alive - what is this phobia? More often it is associated with psychological trauma or fear after watching the film of the same name. If it is not the person’s impressionability that is to blame, but trauma, then we can talk about the experience of violence, torture, and ill-treatment.

Reasons for fear of other people's funerals:

Childhood trauma. Perhaps the child was frightened by the funeral procession, tears and screams of friends and relatives of the deceased. It is difficult for children to understand all this, so it is better not to take them to the funeral.
Trauma experienced in childhood or adulthood associated with the death of a loved one . In this case, funeral paraphernalia triggers unpleasant memories.
Fear of old age and death. Associated with this is the fear of death itself.
Fear of losing control of the situation. Some people, due to their personality traits, need to control everything at all times. The very thought that they will find themselves in conditions of helplessness causes a panic attack.
Poor medical training, suggestibility. Some people are afraid that they will be buried alive by mistake, for example, by confusing clinical death or coma with real death.
Fear of becoming a victim of blackmail, someone's cruel joke. Or the fear of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, of becoming a victim of a maniac. This reason is relevant for suspicious people with a pessimistic vision of the world and for those who are afraid that specific people may take revenge on them in this way.

In adulthood, the fear of being buried alive can develop due to stress and exhaustion, as well as violence. For example, if a person was tortured, beaten, or was forced to dig his own grave, threatened, thrown into a hole, etc.

Interesting! According to psychoanalytic theory, the fear of funerals and the fear of being buried alive are associated with psychotrauma received during fetal development. Psychologists are confident that the child understands and feels if he was unwanted by his parents, if they wanted to kill him. In the future, this may take the form of a phobia.

Causes of fear

Most often, people who are highly emotional and impressionable suffer from mental disorders. They also have a rich imagination, which allows them to imagine terrible pictures of death and burials in their heads.

The following negative factors lead to the development of fear of funerals:

Nervous overstrain. A person does not always need a stimulus that leads to anxiety. Patients with taphophobia manage to independently deplete their own nervous system by constantly thinking about their fear. Such thoughts give rise to depressive states, which are companions of phobia.
Death of a loved one. A phobia often arises after a tragedy. After losing a friend or relative, people begin to fear that something similar will happen to them soon.
Low level of stress resistance. This factor contributes not only to the development of fear, but also to its active progression. Within a few days, people who do not know how to cope with stress fall into a depressive state caused by negative thoughts about death and funerals. This factor has the greatest influence on the fairer sex. Men are considered more resistant to stressful situations.
Experiencing tragic events in childhood.

The root cause of a phobia is often an unhealthy atmosphere in the family, which has a negative impact on the formation of the child’s personality and gives rise to many fears in him. Attending a funeral can leave a negative imprint. This is why psychologists do not recommend that parents take their children with them to such events, as this may lead to fear in the future.

If parents begin to notice signs of taphophobia in their child, they should immediately take him to an appointment with a psychologist. Also in this case, they must clearly explain what death and funeral are. The child must understand that these are completely natural processes that should not be too frightened.

At-risk groups

Suggestible, suspicious people with a developed imagination are at risk. Also at risk are all those who have experienced trauma associated with a funeral or violence. Psychologists note that taphophobia is more common in men than in women.

Interesting! The fear of being buried alive haunted Edgar Allan Poe and Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Strange, isn't it? Considering that both writers often turned to mysticism in their works, especially Poe. He even wrote a book with the same title – “Buried Alive.”

Reasons for the development of taphophobia

Taphophobia is characterized not just by the fear of the wooden product itself, but by a whole string of accompanying phobias. The cause of the development of taphophobia is most often thanatophobia (fear of death). This is inherent in almost every person, because everyone is afraid to die.

Fear of torment

In parallel with taphophobia, a person may suffer from nyctophobia (fear of the dark) and claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces). The causes of phobias most often lie in childhood fears. Observing the ceremonies and rituals associated with funerals, the child does not understand well the essence of what is happening, but the sight of crying relatives and the depressed atmosphere on a subconscious level instill in him the idea that everything that is happening is bad and scary.

Fear of death

Intimidation and prejudices associated with burying the body of the deceased play a role, which are clearly highlighted in cinema; information and photos can be found on the Internet. All this has a huge impact on the fragile child’s psyche.

Taphophobia can also develop at a conscious age due to suspiciousness or impressionability. The reason may be a strong shock from the loss of a loved one.

Fear of being buried alive

Special attention should be paid to such a manifestation of taphophobia as the fear of being buried alive. This is a common form of phobia, which they tried to cope with back in ancient times: they made special coffins with a second entrance or tied a rope to the deceased’s finger, and its other end was attached to a bell.

Our ancestors were afraid of being buried alive, since medicine was poorly developed, and often a dead person could not be distinguished from a living one.

Signs and Symptoms of Funeral Fear

As with other phobias, fear of funerals has three leading symptoms:

anxiety that grows upon contact with an object of fear (coffins, wreaths, graves, etc.) or when talking about it, viewing pictures and videos;
avoidance reaction (a person tries to change the topic, run away, hide);
somatic reactions in response to mental stress.

In addition, most taphophobes suffer from nightmares and other sleep problems (frequent awakening and difficulty falling asleep, insomnia). Dreams are distinguished by the realistic sensations. After them, a person wakes up in a cold sweat, his heart beats very quickly, his breathing becomes labored.

This is largely due not so much to psychological stress as to the physical executions that the taphophobe inflicts on himself. Many of those who are afraid of being buried alive are afraid to take a horizontal position and fall asleep. Therefore, they either deliberately deprive themselves of sleep or try to take a nap in a standing, sitting or other uncomfortable position. Many taphophobes are keen on studying medical literature and the science of dreams.

A taphophobe is afraid to fall asleep because it seems to him that he may not wake up. And even a medical certificate of health does not help to relieve obsessive thoughts. In advanced stages, before going to bed, a person connects devices that measure blood pressure and pulse. While awake, the taphophobe is also overly concerned about his health. The inevitable somatic reactions frighten him even more.

Somatic symptoms of taphophobia:

nausea,
vomit,
headache,
dizziness,
dry mouth,
appetite disorders,
chills,
sweating,
tremor,
tachycardia,
arrhythmia,
pressure surges,
pre-fainting state.

Taphophobes try to avoid loneliness, especially in bed. If there is another person nearby, then the taphophobe calms down a little - if they help him with anything, they will push him away. However, this does not help to calm down completely. Then the taphophobe comes up with protective rituals and rituals. For example, he keeps an audio diary or leaves verbal instructions about what needs to be done before burying him (how many days to wait, what medical examinations to conduct, how often to check the body if the person is declared dead), writes a suicide note.

Some taphophobes even bother making a special coffin, for example, one that can be used to send some kind of signal to the top; they order a coffin with a video camera inside or with ventilation.

Note! The taphophobe is very afraid of losing consciousness, but the more he is afraid of this, the higher the risk that this will happen.

Causes and mechanism of fear

Impressionable adults and children are susceptible to taphephobia.
They are united by experience and strong outside influence. Each of them suffered tragedy in early childhood: they lost loved ones and attended their funerals. The reluctance to accept their death and ignorance of what happens to a person’s body after burial triggered the fantasy. Trying to deny the obvious, the child’s psyche built defense mechanisms. He came up with various options, and thoughts came into his head that the man did not die, but was just fast asleep. Seeing that the coffin was covered with a thick layer of earth, the kid understood that the buried were trapped and were unlikely to be able to get out without outside help.

It is not only the experience of attending a funeral that leads to the obsessive fear of being buried alive. Children could have seen similar stories in horror films or read many stories on the Internet. Growing up, they learn about lethargic sleep, coma, medical negligence, the difficulty of establishing the fact of death at home, sudden revival, and their fear only intensifies.

High emotionality leads to the fact that a person is so imbued with stories that he begins to try on the role of someone buried alive. He models various situations and mentally plays them out, which further develops his sick imagination. Nervousness, anxiety, and constant thoughts appear that the person is no longer able to get rid of. A weak nervous system, great vulnerability and impressionability contribute to the fact that fear turns into a behavioral disorder, which psychiatrists diagnose as taphephobia.

Most often, psychoanalysis, hypnosis, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, and gestalt therapy are used to treat the fear of being buried alive. Sometimes free association and desensitization techniques are used. In especially severe cases, medication is indicated: tranquilizers, antidepressants, antipsychotics. But the main method of treatment is the work of a psychologist. The specialist helps the client work through the trauma and realize the irrationality of fears.

Methods to combat taphophobia

To get results from therapy, you need to clearly set a goal for yourself and seek advice from a psychotherapist. This specialist will be able not only to plan a course of treatment, but also to find the cause of taphophobia.

Psychotherapy

The fear of being buried alive, as well as the fear of the coffins themselves, can be overcome with the help of improved techniques. The therapist's goal is to obtain as much information as possible from the patient. All information is analyzed in detail to find the psychological “anchor” that cemented fear in the subconscious. The most successful methods are:

Neurolinguistic programming is the unobtrusive suggestion to the patient of the necessary tactics to combat a phobia. Specific words that are selected by the doctor are introduced into normal conversation. The result is recorded with some kind of marker: clicking a pen, tapping your fingers, etc. Later, when a person begins to feel the approaching panic, it is enough for him to recreate this sound. This calms you down and gives you the opportunity to switch to something else.
The cognitive method is the fight against fear by constantly confronting it. The patient is encouraged to watch videos on relevant topics, read stories, and visit cemeteries. This method is used only for adults with a mature psyche.

Simulators can be an effective way to combat the fear of being buried alive. The entertainment industry offers the bored public quests to escape from the coffin. The patient may have a loved one with them during this trial. This should not be done if, in addition to the phobia, the person suffers from problems with the cardiovascular system.

Self-medication

With minor manifestations of taphophobia, you can cope with them yourself. This method of dealing with a phobia is less effective and gives short-lived results, but it is very relevant if there is no opportunity to contact a specialist.

What is the danger of being afraid of funerals?

Taphophobia is exhausting, leads to exhaustion and the development of secondary mental disorders. Without treatment, the taphophobe's condition will constantly worsen. Due to problems with sleep, hallucinations arise, fear of loneliness develops, and depressive tendencies arise. Taphophobia prevents a person from living, working, relaxing, loving, and creating. A person becomes a hostage to his fear and gradually loses touch with reality.