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Background Aim Study Design Methods Results Conclusion Relevance to Clinical Practice Frailty, a geriatric syndrome characterized by decreased resilience, is a known risk factor for mortality in critical care settings and can significantly impact a patient's perception of their own health and prognosis.To explore the relationship between frailty and fear of death in geriatric patients admitted to critical care units.A convergent parallel mixed methods design was applied.Data were collected from 247 geriatric patients in critical care units from March 2023 to February 2024. Quantitative data included clinical frailty score and death anxiety questionnaire. Qualitative data were gathered through semi‐structured interviews with a subset of 34 participants. Quantitative analysis involved descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple linear regression. Qualitative data were analysed thematically using Braun and Clarke's approach.Quantitative analysis revealed a positive significant correlation between frailty and death anxiety (r = 0.19, p = 0.003). Additionally, regression analysis identified age (B = 0.69, 95% CI [0.22, 1.15], p = 0.004), lack of social support (B = 2.88, 95% CI [0.28, 5.47], p = 0.030), lower income (B = −5.33, 95% CI [−9.03, −1.63], p = 0.005) and higher frailty scores (B = 0.83, 95% CI [0.10, 1.56], p = 0.025) as significant predictors of increased death anxiety. Qualitative findings yielded four key themes: the impact of frailty on perception of mortality, the psychological and emotional dimensions of fear of death, the role of the critical care unit environment on fear of death and coping mechanisms and support.Frailty in geriatric critically ill patients heightened death anxiety due to physical decline, existential worries and the overwhelming critical care environment.This study can help nurses provide more personalized care to geriatric patients by addressing both their physical frailty and psychological needs related to fear of death. This, in turn, can improve the quality of care and enhance patient satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to explore the variations and dynamics in the mental states of young patients with early breast cancer across different perioperative periods and to analyse how different surgical methods impact these patients' psychological well‐being. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on young patients with early breast cancer who underwent surgery from March 2021 to March 2022. Mental status questionnaires were administered at four key time points: preoperatively, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year postoperatively. The collected data were statistically analysed to discern the psychological shifts in these patients throughout the perioperative timeline. The patients were categorized into either the breast‐conserving or mastectomy group based on their surgical procedure, and their mental state scores during each phase were analysed to investigate the effects of different surgical methods on their psychological health. Results: During the study period, 149 young patients with early breast cancer completed the four‐phase questionnaire. Statistically significant differences were observed in self‐evaluation, self‐esteem, physiological state, fear of death, economic stress, negative emotion, and anxiety and depression among these patients across different periods. The baseline data revealed differences in marital status, place of residence and prior tumour history between the two surgical groups. Significant differences in self‐evaluation, depression, self‐esteem and positive emotions were found between the breast‐conserving group and mastectomy groups. Conclusion: Breast cancer presents significant physical and psychological challenges from diagnosis through treatment. Our findings indicate that young patients with early breast cancer experience varying degrees of psychological distress during the entire perioperative period, influencing their surgical choices and postoperative recovery. This study found that the psychological state of patients undergoing breast‐conserving surgery is more favourable compared with that of patients who received mastectomies, particularly in terms of self‐assessment, self‐esteem, positive affect and depression levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elucidates the existential and psychological dynamics of onticide: the malicious annihilation of another's existential‐emotional being. On any given day, chances are we're going to read a new account of racist violence and injustice that is, simply put, grotesque. This cannot be adequately explained as mere ignorance or prejudice. An existential phenomenology of racism is needed to explain that disgust, malice, and disdain. What arouses such fear, hatred, loathing, and the desire to punish or humiliate? This paper explores the ways in which inner impoverishment and wounds are turned into fantasies of evil in the outer world, and how the ontological dread of annihilation and nonbeing induce the desire to harm, diminish, and annihilate the menacing other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a lack of studies investigating death anxiety among the oldest old based on a large, nationally representative sample during the pandemic. Thus, our aim was to investigate the prevalence and determinants of death anxiety among the oldest old in Germany during the Covid‐19 pandemic. Methods: Cross‐sectional data were taken from the 'Old Age in Germany' (D80+) study. This is a large, nationwide representative study including individuals 80 years and over living at home and individuals in institutionalised settings (N = 9542 individuals in the analytic sample). Results: Overall, 30% of the respondents reported the absence of death anxiety, 45.5% reported a rather not strong death anxiety, 20.2% reported a rather strong death anxiety, and 4.3% reported a very strong death anxiety. Linear regressions revealed that higher death anxiety was significantly associated with being female (β = 0.21, P < 0.01), younger age (β = −0.02, P < 0.001), being married (β = 0.09, P < 0.001), high education (compared to low education, β = 0.07, P < 0.05), the presence of meaning in life (β = 0.13, P < 0.001), higher loneliness levels (β = 0.18, P < 0.001), the presence of multimorbidity (β = 0.07, P < 0.05), and poorer self‐rated health (β = −0.07, P < 0.001). A further analysis showed that probable depression (β = 0.31, P < 0.001) is also associated with higher death anxiety. Conclusion: About one in four individuals had a strong or very strong fear of death during the pandemic. Several sociodemographic, psychosocial, and health‐related factors are associated with higher death anxiety. This better understanding of the determinants of death anxiety can be relevant for, among others, the affected individuals, informal and professional carers, as well as friends and relatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an argument for the recovery of the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh. I argue that the doctrine accords with creedal and doctrinal tradition (§2), as well as the scriptural witness about the goodness and destiny of human flesh (§3). I then outline what it means to say – minimally – that the flesh (or 'numerically the same body') will be raised (§4). In §5, I argue that the doctrine speaks to the unique predicament of human beings, namely, that our very being (our flesh) is the site and source of our greatest fear – the fear of death. By focusing its proffered hopes on the same flesh in which our deepest fears are located, the promise of resurrection is shown to be a 'peculiar treasure'. Finally, I suggest in §5a‐5c three practices by which the church can inculcate this hope in the face of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the problems related to the ageing society, effective strategies to reduce younger people's ageism towards older adults should be developed. Previous studies incorporated the content of stereotype embodiment theory (SET) into ageism reduction strategy, suggesting that younger participants' ageism eventually has undesirable impacts on their own future (i.e., SET intervention). In the SET intervention, participants read an explanatory text on several empirical findings related to SET. To enhance the versatility of this intervention, two experiments were conducted with younger participants in Japan. Study 1 examined concerns that arise in the practical application of the intervention. Results revealed that the SET intervention had few effects on fear of death and increased state self‐esteem. In Study 2, the SET intervention was combined with interventions to encourage life planning, in which they freely described possible negative/positive events in their future. SET intervention reduced ageism, increased advocacy for policies to support older adults and increased emphasis on life planning and hope for the future. Many previous studies have shown that intergenerational contact‐based interventions are effective in reducing ageism, and future research should be conducted in combination with the SET interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the philosophical debate between materialist humanism and religious belief, focusing on Charles Taylor's argument that materialist humanists secretly long for transcendence. Taylor argues that secular humanists are incomplete without a transcendent foundation, while Feuerbach's materialist humanism emphasizes sensuous receptivity to the world. The author challenges Taylor's conclusions, suggesting that materialist humanists can find value in life without seeking fullness or eternity, emphasizing the importance of openness to the world's multiform values. Ultimately, the article advocates for a perspective that values life in its temporal limitations and finds joy in the present moment, rejecting the need for a transcendent foundation for meaningful living. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: A sense of meaning in life (MIL) is thought to help protect people against experiencing explicit anxiety about death. However, the experience of meaning is complex and subjective and may relate to death anxiety in nuanced ways. We examine how self‐alienation—a feeling of not knowing/being disconnected from one's self—might moderate the relationship between MIL and death anxiety. Method: Across five studies, we tested the hypothesis that MIL would negatively predict death anxiety more strongly for people relatively low in self‐alienation. These studies were similar in design and included exploratory, confirmatory, and pre‐registered tests. Results: A meta‐regression across our five studies (N = 2001) provided clear evidence that MIL was most strongly associated with lower death anxiety at low self‐alienation. We also observed that MIL was positively associated with death anxiety at high self‐alienation. These effects were consistent in direction but inconsistent in strength. Conclusions: We interpreted these results as evidence that MIL is existentially protective when experienced in combination with a relatively strong, clear, and connected sense of self. In contrast, MIL may be existentially problematic when people feel relatively unaware and disconnected from themselves. These findings align with aspects of terror management theory and highlight the potentially complex ways that MIL might relate to death anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The concealment of suicidal ideation (SI) constitutes a significant barrier to reducing veteran deaths by suicide and is associated with fear of negative consequences (e.g., involuntary hospitalization). This study examined whether augmenting informed consent with psychoeducation aimed to help patients achieve a more realistic risk appraisal of consequences associated with disclosure of SI, decreased hesitancy to disclose SI, and related risk behaviors among U.S. veterans. Method: Participants (N = 133) were recruited from combat veteran social media groups and were randomly assigned to a video simulated treatment‐as‐usual informed consent (control) or to one of two psychoeducation‐enhanced informed consent conditions (psychoed, psychoed + trust). Results: Compared with the control group, participants in both psychoeducation and enhanced informed consent conditions reported lower hesitancy to disclose SI, firearm access, and problems with drugs/thoughts of harming others, as well as greater trust and respect for the simulated clinician. Conclusions: These findings suggest that brief psychoeducation regarding common factors that affect hesitancy to disclose SI may be beneficial for increasing trust in providers during the informed consent process and decreasing concealment of SI and firearm access among veterans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic had significant effects on the health and wellbeing of people worldwide. However, in the post‐epidemic era, we still know very little about how disease threat shapes consumer psychology and behavior. To fill this gap in knowledge, the present study explores the effect of disease threat on a particular sensory preference of consumers, that is, a preference for colorfulness. Based on compensatory consumption theory, we propose the following: (1) consumers prefer colorful products and brand logos to compensate for both disease threat and chronically perceived disease threat; (2) the underlying mechanism for this effect is death‐related thoughts, in that disease threat leads to more death‐related thoughts, which in turn enhance colorfulness seeking; (3) the impact of disease threat on consumers' colorfulness seeking diminishes among high sensation seekers. A set of four studies, adopting both lab and survey methods, using various manipulations and measures, and testing diverse samples, provide convergent evidence for these hypotheses. Moreover, six alternative explanations were ruled out to further elucidate the psychological process under examination in this study. This paper contributes to the literature on consumer behavior, sensory marketing, terror management theory, and compensatory consumption. Implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Coronavirus (COVID‐19) is among the most contagious diseases worldwide. During the first peak of the illness, COVID‐19 was considered a considerable crisis for survivors. This qualitative study explored the meaning and lived experience of Iranian COVID‐19 survivors. This qualitative study was conducted in Iran sometime after the onset of the coronavirus in 2020. Methods: This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was performed on twenty survivors of COVID‐19 disease, recruited through the purposeful sampling method via in‐depth semistructured interviews. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and several codes were extracted. Data were analyzed using the MAXQDA software (v. 12). Results: The main themes and subthemes obtained from the data analysis included (1) Taboo and stigma: COVID‐19 as a monster, feelings of social exclusion and loneliness, an obvious sign of shamelessness and maltreatment, (2) God's predestination: God's will and test, COVID‐19 as a wake‐up call to remind low human power, (3) Shadow of death: The fear of death after positive test results, death is closer than the jugular vein, the mourning of a loved one's death, and mourning for an untimely death, (4) Caregivers as an angel: Family as an unrepentant supportive, know the level of family love and attention, and (5) Rebirth and new life: understand the higher value of health and pay more attention to self‐care behavior, and God gives us a golden chance to experience a better life. Conclusions: According to the results of this study, COVID‐19 survivors experience various issues regarding the nature of the disease, coping with the illness, and their social and psychological status affected by COVID‐19. Considering the multidimensional supportive programs, increasing public awareness and changing negative attitudes toward the patients and survivors of the pandemic for better rehabilitation and adjustment is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using cross‐sectional data from N = 4274 young adults across 16 countries during the COVID‐19 pandemic, we examined the cross‐cultural measurement invariance of the perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) scale and tested the hypothesis that the association between PVD and fear of COVID‐19 is stronger under high disease threat [that is, absence of COVID‐19 vaccination, living in a country with lower Human Development Index (HDI) or higher COVID‐19 mortality]. Results supported a bi‐factor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling model where items loaded on a global PVD factor, and on the sub‐factors of Perceived Infectability and Germ Aversion. However, cross‐national invariance could only be obtained on the configural level with a reduced version of the PVD scale (PVD‐r), suggesting that the concept of PVD may vary across nations. Moreover, higher PVD‐r was consistently associated with greater fear of COVID‐19 across all levels of disease threat, but this association was especially pronounced among individuals with a COVID‐19 vaccine, and in contexts where COVID‐19 mortality was high. The present research brought clarity into the dimensionality of the PVD measure, discussed its suitability and limitations for cross‐cultural research, and highlighted the pandemic‐related conditions under which higher PVD is most likely to go along with psychologically maladaptive outcomes, such as fear of COVID‐19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Many factors such as personal and cultural beliefs, misinformation, fear of death and inadequate will registering procedures can influence post‐mortem organ donation. The present study aimed to explore the perceptions, beliefs and information around post‐mortem donation and will expression in different groups of the Italian population, to orient future interventions and raise awareness. Design: Qualitative research with focus groups. Methods: A total of 38 focus groups involving 353 participants including the general population (young adults: 18–39, mature adults: 40–70), local and hospital health professionals, critical area health professionals (emergency room and intensive care), registry office employees and opinion leaders, were conducted in six regions from different parts of Italy between June and November 2021. Thematic analysis was conducted with the use of Atlas.ti9. Results: Five overarching themes were identified: dilemmas regarding donation, resistance to donation, facilitators of donation, difficulties in terms of will expression and proposals to encourage will expression. Possible facilitators were having personal and professional experiences with organ donation, feeling useful for society, having reliable information and trust in the health care system. Potential barriers to donation were doubts and fears about brain death, bodily integrity concerns, religious beliefs, misinformation and distrust in the health care system. Conclusions: These results highlighted the significance of a bottom‐up perspective with regard to identifying the personal perceptions and beliefs with regard to donation, underlining the urgency of creating tailored interventions to sensitize different groups of the population in terms of promoting an informed choice and a culture of donation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will aim to cover military writers' comments upon the psychological, emotional, and motivational aspects of soldiers in the eighteenth century. In recent years, there has been a positive re‐evaluation of the Ancien Régime soldier compared with that of the later citizen soldier of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This article seeks to add to this re‐appraisal by introducing a literature element to the discussion, highlighting and analysing the many passages writers wrote on these psychological topics, such as the fear of death in combat, the world of honour governing the soldier, and nationalistic differences in temperament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explaining what emotions or attitudes it is rational for humans to have toward our own deaths and toward their mortality has been a central task within most philosophical traditions. This article critically examines the rationality of five emotions or attitudes that might be taken toward death: fear, insofar as death can harm us by reducing our overall level of well‐being; the related attitude of existential terror, a feeling of dismay or uncanniness directed at the prospect of our eventual non‐existence; regret, directed at our being constituted as mortals; anger or resentment; and gratitude. Our conclusion is that there is in all likelihood no specific emotion or attitude that we are rationally required to take toward death or mortality. Neither anger nor gratitude are rational attitudes toward death, and while fear, existential terror, and regret are stronger candidates for being rational attitudes toward death, it proves difficult to show that death rationally requires any particular emotions or attitudes on our part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The study aimed to determine the relationship between supportive care needs with coronavirus anxiety and death anxiety of women with gynecologic cancer during COVID‐19. Methods: The population of the study was women with gynecologic cancer who received chemotherapy in a university hospital. The study sample was calculated using G*Power 3.1.9.4 analysis program and completed with 64 patients who agreed to participate and met the research criteria. The personal information form, supportive care needs survey‐short form (SCNS‐SF29Tr), coronavirus anxiety scale (CAS), and death anxiety scale (DAS) were used for data collection. Results: The participants' SCNS‐SF29Tr mean score was 105.7 ± 17.26, CAS mean score was 11.19 ± 3.96, and DAS mean score was 40.13 ± 15.5. There was a positive, very high‐level correlation between the health system and information and psychological needs subscales of SCNS‐SF29Tr and CAS (r = 0.809, r = 0.878, respectively; p < 0.05). In addition, a high‐level relationship was found between the daily life subscale of SCNS‐SF29Tr and CAS (r = 0.674; p < 0.001). A positive low‐level relationship was determined between the health system and information, daily life, and psychological needs (except for the sexuality) subscales of SCNS‐SF29Tr and DAS (r = 0.357, r = 0.252, r = 0.353 respectively; p < 0.05). Conclusion: Gynecologic cancer participants had unmet supportive care needs in all subscales except for the sexuality. The participants had higher supportive care needs, high‐level coronavirus anxiety, and medium‐level death anxiety. In addition, the participants' all supportive care needs have increased as their coronavirus anxiety levels have increased. The participants' supportive care needs have increased, except for sexuality, as their death anxiety levels have increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Research spanning the fields of clinical, social and health psychology suggests that death anxiety is an important construct. However, no comprehensive, psychometrically adequate measure of the construct exists. The current studies outline the development of a new measure of death anxiety, the Death Anxiety Beliefs and Behaviours Scale (DABBS), which is the first measure to specifically assess unhelpful beliefs and behaviours that may underlie fears of death. Methods: In Study 1, items were piloted in a large community sample (N =505). In Studies 2A and 2B, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed using a treatment-seeking (N =200) and non-treatment-seeking sample (N =200). These analyses resulted in the final 18- item scale. Results: The DABBS demonstrated good construct validity, criterion validity, internal consistency and test–retest reliability. In Study 3, the DABBS effectively distinguished participants with clinically significant death anxiety and distress from those without, demonstrating excellent discriminant validity. Conclusions: The present data indicate that the DABBS is a valid and reliable measure of affect, beliefs and behaviours relating to death anxiety, in a community sample of adults and among those seeking mental health treatment. Given the increasing recognition of the importance of death anxiety, the DABBS offers a useful research and clinical tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid‐19 pandemic brought a heightened fear of death and illness, and increased experiences of isolation, loneliness and aloneness. In this article we describe clinical experiences of psychotherapists in Argentina, the UK and Germany in order to explore how the impacts of the pandemic are variously felt and mediated by inner resources. We explore the capacity to relate internally to good experiences of infancy and a secure internal world, and the risks of loneliness, and interpersonal and intrapsychic withdrawal, that lead to vulnerability in patients and therapists. We contrast instances where psychotherapy in response to increased fears of death, infection and isolation is facilitative of change and growth, with situations where perverse, destructive or defensive relating predominate. We ask if we are witnessing and, through our therapeutic activities, contributing to the emergence of new ways of understanding the internal conflicts of this Covid‐19 age, and tentatively identify some key emerging themes; the capacity for facilitative interactions and change; identifications with the powerful virus; an increase in paranoid anxieties and the potential for a more considerate, 'care‐full' way of relating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study, the effect of cognitive‐behavioral therapy (CBT) on death anxiety and depression was investigated in patients with heart failure. Design and Methods: In this quasi‐experimental study, 66 patients with heart failure were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 33) and control (n = 33) groups. Data collection was done using a demographic questionnaire, Templer death anxiety scale, and Beck depression inventory. Findings: It was found that the overall scores of death anxiety and depression in posttest were significantly lower than those at the follow‐up stage in the intervention group. Practice Implications: CBT could significantly reduce death anxiety and depression in patients with heart failure. Therefore, it is recommended to equip nurses with CBT trainings to manage patients with heart failure better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that Hegel's glorification of self‐sacrifice in war is grounded in a commitment to individual freedom. Anticipating the existentialists, Hegel believes that being a human individual—a subject who strives to self‐determination and "infinite uniqueness"—involves a contradiction with one's externally determined finitude, which evokes shame and fear of death. In modern civil society, many individuals experience their finite lives as secure and adequately expressive of their self‐determined uniqueness and are thereby relatively shielded from fear of death. For Hegel, I argue, this experience loses touch with a basic existential condition and coincides with a rigid and "spiritually dead" mindset he calls "self‐will." Patriotism—including the willingness to self‐sacrifice—constitutes Hegel's remedy to this problematic. The state summons its citizens to face their finitude and thereby injects their lives with renewed vitality and sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze implementation of the maternal death surveillance and re)sponse (MDSR) strategy in Chad. Methods: Secondary data analysis of results from a cross-sectional study involving semistructured interviews with decision-makers at central, regional, and district lev)els, health providers, and technical and financial partners, and a document review. Data collection took place from June–July 2017. Results: Maternal death reporting was incorporated into the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system but did not include neonatal deaths nor maternal and neonatal deaths in communities. Underreporting of maternal deaths owing to fear of repercussions was evident, likely associated with maternal deaths reported at monthly meetings held by the country's President with stakeholders in the health sector. Maternal death reviews were only undertaken between 2015 and 2016 in four regions of Chad and ceased in mid-August 2016. Reasons include the departure of foreign obstetricians, lack of motivation among health workers, weak accountability at all levels of the health system, organizational issues, and nonimplementation of review recommendations. Conclusion: Strong action is needed by the Ministry of Health to revive implementa)tion of the MDSR system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: COVID‐19 has adversely impacted the public's mental health. One of the causes of psychopathology during the present pandemic is death anxiety and fear of COVID‐19. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of death anxiety and fear of COVID‐19 in Shiraz city, south of Iran. Methods: This cross‐sectional study was conducted among 982 participants in Shiraz from October to November 2021. Data were collected using Templer's Death Anxiety Scale and the Fear of COVID‐19 Scale. Trained interviewers collected data throughout different city districts. A data‐driven approach (latent class analysis) was applied to categorize the participants and determine the risk factors. Results: Among the participants, 507 (51.6%) were female, and 475 (48.4%) were male. The participants' mean age was 38.26 ± 15.16 years. Based on the analysis, 259 (26.4%), 512 (52.1%), and 211 (21.5%) participants had low, moderate, and severe levels of death anxiety. Also, 393 (40.06%) and 588 (59.94%) of the participants had low and high levels of fear, respectively. Higher death anxiety was significantly associated with being female, having an associate degree, being retired, share of medical expenditure from total expenditure of more than 10%, having a history of hospital admission due to COVID‐19, history of COVID‐19 in relatives, and having fear of COVID‐19. Also, being female, expenses equal to income, history of hospital admission due to COVID‐19, death in relatives, and higher death anxiety were linked to higher levels of fear of COVID‐19. Conclusions: Death anxiety and fear of COVID‐19 are closely associated with each other and affected by various sociodemographic and economic factors. Given this pandemic's unpredictable nature and chronicity, interventions at the community level to support high‐risk groups are crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article argues that David Markson's four last works, often referred to as a quartet or a tetralogy (1996–2007), and Evan Lavender‐Smith's From Old Notebooks (2010) can be classified as collage autothanatographies. Both authors construct their formally experimental books out of brief snippets that combine personal meditations on death with various facts, anecdotes, and self‐reflexive comments. What grants those fragmentary texts a degree of unity is their concern with mortality: the refrain "timor mortis conturbat me" reverberates throughout Markson's tetralogy while Lavender‐Smith's narrator announces that "death is the glue that holds the book together." The article begins with an examination of the collage structure of both works. The formal analysis is followed by a discussion of the ways in which the works in question meet the generic criteria of both autobiography and autothanatography. The concluding part asserts the formal predisposition of collage to represent experiences of personal crisis such as an acute fear of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dominant and insurgent socio‐climatic imaginaries struggle for influence over how the future is envisioned. Africanfuturist imaginaries have huge potential to unsettle racialised and gendered climate narratives. In this article I use Nnedi Okorafor's novel Who Fears Death in order to challenge mainstream climate imaginaries and to imagine new forms of being and becoming in the context of climate change. Drawing on Achille Mbembe's concepts of biopolitics and necropolitics, as well as black feminist traditions of imagining new genres of the human, I argue that Okorafor's "wild necropolitics" illuminates how the forces of "wild nature" have become central features of the deployment of the means of destroying life, especially in the context of climate change. By examining the motifs of change, violence, wilderness and narration, I argue that reading and writing different stories about alternative climate futures is essential to the process of finding new ways of being and becoming human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At birth, the newborn loses something that used to surround, protect, support and nurture it. Of course, we cannot yet speak of an object, but rather a part of the self being lost. This article describes how this lost part of the self, namely, the maternal uterus, gradually acquires the qualities of an object that can be represented, symbolized, introjected, projected and divided into good and bad. Its role in anxiety and especially in fears of death are emphasized, providing new possibilities for containing some of our patients' most archaic fears. In such cases, where the primary object is charged with intense feelings of hate, fear and dependence, the analyst may find it difficult to relate to the patient as the Other and be good enough. Moreover, holding may trigger paranoid fears of entrapment. Implications of this concept for psychoanalytic practice are further discussed by including clinical material of two patients, a male and a female, suffering from extreme anxiety and panic attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aims to explore the current level and associated factors of appetite and death anxiety amongst COVID‐19 patients and also to identify correlation between the two variables. Design: A cross‐sectional study. Methods: Demographic and characteristic questionnaires, templer death anxiety scale, council on nutrition of appetite questionnaire and medical coping modes questionnaire were utilized. Results: The average scores of appetite and death anxiety were 19.46 (4.09) and 6.58, (3.21) respectively. 76 patients (100%) suffered from appetite loss, whilst 27 (35.50%) patients suffered from severe death anxiety. Marital status, COVID‐19 disease condition ranks, educational level and death anxiety were explained 55.20% of the total variance in the appetite regression model (F = 31.83, p <.001), whilst the gender, avoidance coping strategy and appetite level were explained 49.80% of the total variance in death anxiety model (F = 17.80, p <.001). A moderate negative correlation between appetite and death anxiety was also confirmed (r=−.55, p <.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadaveric dissection offers an important opportunity for students to develop their ideas about death and dying. However, it remains largely unknown how this experience impacts medical students' fear of death. The current study aimed to address this gap by describing how fear of death changed during a medical gross anatomy dissection course and how fear of death was associated with examination performance. Fear of death was surveyed at the beginning of the course and at each of the four block examinations using three of the eight subscales from the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale: Fear of the Dead, Fear of Being Destroyed, and Fear for the Body After Death. One hundred forty‐three of 165 medical students (86.7%) completed the initial survey. Repeated measures ANOVA showed no significant changes in Fear of the Dead (F (4, 108) = 1.45, P = 0.222) or Fear for the Body After Death (F (4, 108) = 1.83, P = 0.129). There was a significant increase in students' Fear of Being Destroyed (F (4, 108) = 6.86, P < 0.0005) after beginning dissection. This increase was primarily related to students' decreased willingness to donate their body. Concerning performance, there was one significant correlation between Fear for the Body After Death and the laboratory examination score at examination 1. Students with higher fears may be able to structure their experience in a way that does not negatively impact their performance, but educators should still seek ways to support these students and encourage body donation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine death anxiety levels in nurses and to examine its effect on their approach to dying patients. Design and methods: The study was conducted with 240 nurses. Study data were collected by Personal Information Form, Thorson–Powell Death Anxiety Scale, and Approach to Death and Dying Patients Attitude Scale. Findings: According to the total scores of the nurses included in the study, it was determined that they experienced mild death anxiety and exhibited a moderate attitude of avoidance towards death and dying patients. Conclusion: This study showed that as the death anxiety of nurses increased, their avoidance attitudes towards dying patients decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the multilayered concept of space that has been unveiled during the pandemic and discusses our experience of space, what is safe and unsafe, and how it has become reconfigured and differently considered. The pandemic opens social fractures with regard to race and gender, and with that in mind the concept of space is discussed in terms of race, and also space that becomes gendered, as well as on those occasions when it is regressively experienced. Further elaborated are the ways that the use of space can become perverse, as well as contain creative life‐giving forces in an effort to defy the fear of illness and death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid‐19 pandemic brings into focus both the burdens on individuals, and the effects on the culture and society in general. In our encounters with our patients, we as psychoanalysts have experienced the broad spectrum of possible reactions to the viral threat, just as it is found throughout society: from real fear to panic or, on the contrary, to a denial of the impending danger. We are facing drastic changes which are connected with painful losses but sometimes also with new possibilities in our accustomed lives. Nevertheless, the loss of trust in the preservation of individual and general health and of economic existence as well goes beyond the individual and leads to tensions and even cracks in the supposed social consensus. Thus, in the relationship of the individual to society, the pandemic exacerbates the ambivalence between self‐interest and solidarity, not infrequently to the point of forming hostile attitudes. In this article, the author explores the question of to what extent it is possible to speak about a "new Civilization and Its Discontents" in light of the increasing social tensions under the conditions of the pandemic. It is the task of psychoanalysis to explicitly name the unconscious conflict between striving for pleasure and happiness or the search for security, in order to also contribute to dealing with the resulting aggression and fear of death in times of pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Caregivers often avoid involving people with intellectual disability in end‐of‐life discussions and activities. One reason is fear that the person may become upset or psychologically harmed. Methods: Pre and post a 6‐month intervention about end of life, we assessed depression, anxiety, and fear of death among intervention (n = 24) and comparison (n = 20) participants with intellectual disability. End‐of‐life 'encounters' (conversations/activities about end of life) were monitored, including comfort ratings. Results: Overall, 79% of encounters were rated very comfortable/somewhat comfortable. Participants initiated 69% of encounters. There was no significant pre–post change in depression or fear of death. Anxiety improved significantly. Conclusions: This is the first controlled, longitudinal study providing robust evidence about whether discussing end of life leads to emotional discomfort or psychological harm. Data showed adults with intellectual disability can safely engage in conversations/activities about end of life. The high percentage of participant‐initiated encounters showed participants wanted to talk about end of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Money‐Kyrle's concept of the facts of life, the author takes up the difficulty for a therapist in accepting his mortality and the finiteness of things. He reports two cases of once‐weekly psychotherapy during which he had to take a three‐month period of sick leave. In the first case, the patient created a timeless prison where the therapist and the patient were fused to avoid separation, which meant, to the patient, violent death. The author describes how his own acceptance of the fear of death helped them to face the patient's murderous hatred. The second case is of a patient with a huge and strong body who denied his own need and dependency. The therapist was at first unaware of being caught up in narcissistic competition with the patient. However, the realization that he was envious of the patient enabled him to accept his own weakness, which in turn helped the patient to show his vulnerability. Finally, the author argues that although it is human nature to deny death, we need to face death if we are to face life. He argues that there is perpetual oscillation between acceptance and denial of our mortality and the finiteness of things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim Of the Study: The purpose of this study is to examine the long-term durability of the Toronto stentless porcine valve (SPV) in the aortic position (St Jude Medical, Minneapolis, MN).Methods: We assessed the long-term clinical outcomes of 515 patients with aortic valve replacement (AVR) with the Toronto SPV from 1987 to 2001 at two centers, excluding early (<30 days) death. Median follow-up was 11.5 years (maximum 19.0 years).Results: Average age was 64.2 ± 10.8 years, and females were 34% (173/515). The incidence of prosthesis-patient mismatch was low, 10.9%. Overall survival was 90.7 ± 1.3%, 75.4 ± 2.0%, and 56.8 ± 3.2% at 5, 10, and 15 years, respectively after surgery. Over the follow-up duration, 116 patients (23%) underwent repeated AVR: 90 for structural valve deterioration (SVD), 12 for endocarditis, 10 nonstructural valve dysfunction (10 aortic regurgitation due to aorta dilatation), and four for other reasons. The cumulative incidence of repeated AVR with death as a competing risk was 1.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.6-2.7), 11.1% (95% CI, 8.4-14.2), and 34.4% (95% CI, 28.8-40.2) at 5, 10, and 15 years, respectively. Reoperative mortality was 5.2% (6/116). In SVD, the regurgitation type was dominant (82%).Conclusions: The Toronto SPV is associated with excellent survival and durability during the first decade of follow-up. However, regurgitation type of SVD increases from 10 years after operation with acceptable reoperative mortality. These findings may assist with prosthesis selection and reintervention strategy for failing stentless bioprosthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Older adults with psychiatric disorders have a substantially lower life expectancy than age-matched controls. Knowledge of risk factors may lead to targeting treatment and interventions to reduce this gap in life expectancy. In this study, we investigated whether frailty independently predicts mortality in older patients following an acute admission to a geriatric psychiatry hospital.Methods: Clinical cohort study with a 5-year follow-up of 120 older patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital between February 2009 and September 2010. On admission, we assessed frailty with a frailty index (FI). We applied Cox regression analyses with time to death as the dependent variable, to examine whether the FI was a predictor for mortality, adjusted for age, sex, level of education, multimorbidity (Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for Geriatrics, CIRS-G scores), functional status (Barthel Index), neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), and severity of psychiatric symptoms at admission (Clinical Global Impressions Scale of Severity).Results: Of the 120 patients, 63 (53%) patients were frail (FI ≥ 0.25), and 59 (49%) had died within 5 years. The FI predicted mortality with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.78 (95% CI, 1.06-2.98) per 0.1 point increase, independent of the covariates. Co-morbidity measured by the CIRS-G and functional status measured by the Barthel Index were not significantly associated.Conclusions: Frailty was a strong predictor of mortality, independent of age, gender, multimorbidity, and functional status. This implies that frailty may be helpful in targeting inpatient psychiatric treatment and aftercare according to patients' life expectancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Death anxiety has been implicated theoretically and empirically in mental health and has been proposed to be a transdiagnostic construct. However, it has largely been investigated in relation to specific disorders, such as obsessive–compulsive disorder. Few studies have assessed the relationship between death anxiety and psychopathology using heterogeneous treatment‐seeking clinical samples. Methods: In the present study, the relationships between death anxiety and broad markers of psychopathology were explored in 200 treatment‐seeking participants with various diagnosed mental disorders. Results: Across the sample, death anxiety was a strong predictor of psychopathology, including the number of lifetime diagnoses, medications, hospitalizations, distress/impairment, depression, anxiety, and stress. This relationship was not accounted for by neuroticism. Large to very large correlations were also consistently found between a measure of death anxiety and the symptom severity of 12 disorders. Neither meaning in life nor attachment style moderated the associations between death fears and psychopathology. Conclusions: The findings reveal a strong relationship between death anxiety and psychopathology across numerous disorders, further supporting the transdiagnostic role of fears of death. As such, clinical implications revolve around the potential need for innovative treatments which address death fears directly, in order to produce long‐term improvements in mental health. However, experimental research is needed to ascertain causal relationships. Practitioner points: Across a large treatment‐seeking sample, death anxiety was a significant predictor of broad psychopathology, including distress and number of lifetime diagnoses.Across 12 different disorders, death anxiety significantly predicted symptom severity.Results may suggest the need for novel treatments which specifically target fears of death.Due to the correlational design, future experimental research is needed to establish causal relationships with increased confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Based on the cognitive theory, anxiety arising from the awareness of death and dying may activate dysfunctional attitudes, which may then reduce quality of life. This study examined the interdependence and the mediating role of dysfunctional attitudes on the relationship between death anxiety and quality of life among patients with lung cancer and their caregivers.Methods: From March 2016 to April 2017, 173 pairs of patients and their caregivers enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of psychosocial support. Using the baseline data, actor-partner interdependence modeling was used to analyze the relationships among death anxiety, dysfunctional attitudes, and quality of life.Results: In patients, death anxiety was related to dependency (β = .51) and self-control (β = -.37); achievement (β = -.21) and self-control (β = .34) were related to quality of life. Among caregivers, death anxiety was related to all 3 dysfunctional attitudes of their own (βs = .23 to.32); dependency (β = -.22) was associated with quality of life. Caregiver quality of life was also associated with patient self-control (β = .22) and achievement (β = -.18). Patient self-control mediated the links between patient death anxiety with both patient and caregiver quality of life. The relationship between death anxiety and quality of life was mediated by dependency in caregivers.Discussion: Death anxiety influences dysfunctional attitudes and quality of life of both patients and caregivers. Our results support the relevance of dysfunctional attitudes in understanding the impact of death anxiety and underscore the need for parallel psychosocial interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This paper examines the development and psychometric characteristics of three instruments about end of life, designed for use with adults with intellectual disability ( ID). Respectively, the instruments assess understanding of the concept of death, end-of-life planning, and fear of death. Methods Part 1: instruments were developed or adapted, and pilot tested with 11 adults with ID and 2 disability staff. Part 2: 39 adults with ID and 40 disability staff were assessed on all three instruments. Results We evaluated comprehensibility, internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, subscale: total score correlations, missing data, and withdrawal. Psychometric findings were mostly good. Overall, 23% of participants with ID withdrew at some point. This outcome may have been as much due to assessment fatigue as to sensitive content. There were no adverse events. Conclusions People with ID can reliably complete assessments about end-of-life. Generally, each instrument was found to be comprehensible, reliable and valid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study investigated the relationship between death anxiety (DA) and fear towards patients according to the age and illness of the patient. Methods A sample of 94 undergraduate nursing students from an Australian university were presented with a hypothetical patient, who varied by age (29 years or 71 years) and illness (arthritis, cancer or dementia). They then completed measures of DA and fear towards the patient. Results Older patients with dementia were associated with higher DA compared to all other conditions. Greater fear was associated with patients in the dementia target condition. Conclusion The findings from this study are consistent with terror management theory; specifically, older age and terminal illness are associated with greater DA. Implications are discussed regarding the quality of care provided to older people with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The account of the crime is nearly always a cover up story. Murder occurs concretely in most cases when it has been committed many times previously in daydreams, nightmares and sometimes in unconscious phantasy that has never become conscious. Before the deed, conscious efforts - sometimes unconscious ones, too - are designed and devoted to keeping the murder encapsulation from action. Then something takes place internally that breaks loose the murderousness from it's cordoned off status, so that the whole of the energies of the individual becomes devoted to enacting the murderous deed. In the death constellation there is a psychically traumatic and indigestible experience to do with death. Only with a life threatening trigger, displayed as the fear of death, did they enact their murderousness. Violence is thus a communication about the patient's belief systems about themselves, about their relationships with others and about their origins. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two studies, the authors examined how threat induced by reminders of mortality would moderate the effect of political orientation on moral judgments. In Study 1, university students ( n = 113) categorized their political orientation, were randomly assigned to complete a fear of death or public speaking scale, and then completed a moral foundations questionnaire. In Study 2, university students ( n = 123) rated their political orientations, were randomly assigned to write about their own death or dental pain, and then completed a moral foundations questionnaire. In both studies, mortality salience intensified the moral differences between liberals and conservatives. These findings were primarily the result of the reactions of liberals, who responded to mortality salience with increased ratings of the fairness/cheating virtue in Study 1 and the care/harm virtue in Study 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives According to the terror management health model, conscious thoughts of death motivate productive health behaviours when the targeted behaviour is perceived as an effective route for mitigating the threat and removing death-related thought from focal awareness. The present study thus examined whether messages manipulating the efficacy of a health behaviour moderate health outcomes when participants are presented with a fear appeal that makes death thought conscious. Design A 3 (fear appeal: cancer vs. appearance vs. neutral) × 2 (delay vs. no delay) × 2 (effective vs. non-effective) between-subjects ANOVA was conducted. Methods Beach patrons were randomly assigned to a cancer, appearance, or neutral-threat fear appeal followed by a delay or no delay. Subsequently, they read messages highlighting the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of sun protection behaviours and reported their intentions to engage in those behaviours. Results When fear appeals primed conscious thoughts of death, framing sun protection as ineffective decreased sun protection intentions relative to framing sun protection as effective. In contrast, fear appeals that did not consciously prime death, or appeals followed by a delay that allowed thoughts of death to fade from consciousness, did not interact with efficacy messages. Conclusions The findings revealed that messages impacting sun protection efficacy moderated sun protection intentions only when death was conscious. The findings have implications for understanding the conditions that render certain fear appeals, and accompanying messages of efficacy, more influential than others. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Health communications that arouse fear motivate adaptive health behaviours to the extent that people perceive that the behaviour is capable of being performed (i.e., self-efficacy) and will be effective at preventing the undesired outcome (i.e., response efficacy). According to the terror management health model ( TMHM), health threats associated with mortality activate conscious thoughts of death. Moreover, the TMHM has found that when death thoughts are conscious, the belief that a health behaviour is effective predicts greater prevention intentions in an effort to remove the health threat, and conscious thoughts of death, from focal attention. What does this study add? Framing sun protection behaviours as effective increases sun protection behaviours among individuals exposed to a fear appeal that primes conscious thoughts of death (e.g., skin cancer from sun damage) relative to framing the behaviour as ineffective., Framing sun protection behaviours as effective after a fear appeal that does not prime death-related thoughts (e.g., appearance damage from sun damage) does not affect sun protection behaviours., Framing sun protection behaviours as effective or non-effective has no effect on sun protection intentions when death is no longer conscious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confessional technologies are frequently deployed to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In South Africa, these are most eagerly embraced by activists of the urban-based Treatment Action Campaign, who use speech such as public confession and testimony to overcome pathos. However, fieldwork in the Bushbuckridge area of the South African lowveld shows wide resistance to direct speech about AIDS. In this article I explore reasons for such resistance. In addition to the stigma of labelling and poor treatment options, I argue that villagers feared the innate power of words such as 'HIV' and 'AIDS' to crystalize sickness, and bring fears of death into consciousness. In conclusion, I suggest that rather than insist upon confession, health providers could use speech and silence as alternative modes of dealing with AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terror management theory posits that people are motivated to affirm cultural meaning systems, including political ideologies, to avoid the awareness of mortality. Accordingly, studies show that increasing mortality salience ( MS) intensifies people's attitudes toward political issues and figures. However, whereas in some studies MS increases affirmation of preexisting political ideologies, be they liberal or conservative (supporting a 'worldview-defense hypothesis'), in other studies MS elicits a general shift toward conservatism, regardless of preexisting ideology (supporting a 'conservative-shift hypothesis'). The current study used meta-analysis to assess the overall magnitude of MS effects on explicitly political attitudes and to clarify the nature of these effects by comparing effect sizes for these competing hypotheses. The overall effect of MS on political attitudes was large ( r = .50). The effects of MS-induced worldview defense ( r = .35) and conservative shifting ( r = .22) were significant and statistically equivalent. We discuss the conditions (e.g., contextual salience of political values) under which conservative shifting or worldview defense occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective In light of increased suicidal behaviors among military personnel and veterans since the initiation of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, questions have been raised about the potential causal role of combat. The objective of the current study was to identify any direct or indirect effects of combat exposure on suicide risk through depression symptom severity, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and fearlessness about death, consistent with the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide (Joiner, 2005). Method Structural equation modeling was utilized with two separate samples of deployed military personnel, 1 nonclinical ( n = 348; 89.7% male, mean age = 24.50) and 1 clinical ( n = 219; 91.8% male, mean age = 27.88), to test the effects of combat exposure on suicide risk. Results Greater combat exposure was directly associated with fearlessness about death and PTSD symptom severity in both samples, but failed to show either a direct or indirect effect on suicide risk. PTSD symptom severity was strongly associated with depression symptom severity, which in turn was related to suicide risk directly (in the nonclinical sample) or indirectly through low belongingness and perceived burdensomeness (in the clinical sample). Conclusions In both samples of deployed active duty military personnel, combat exposure was either unrelated to suicide risk or was too distally related to have a measurable effect. Results do not support the interpersonal-psychological theory's hypothesis that combat exposure should be indirectly related to suicide risk through acquired fearlessness of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers tested the hypothesis that the negative impact of recent life events would moderate the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and death ideation in older adults. Participants ( n = 272) completed assessments of death ideation, intrinsic religiosity, and negative impact of recent life events. We confirmed the presence of concurrent moderation and found that older adults with greater negative impact of recent life events and high intrinsic religiosity reported greater death ideation. These relatively surprising findings may be due to reduced fear of death in intrinsically religious older adults, an explanation consistent with previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ideological beliefs have long attracted the attention of social psychologists, who have investigated their genesis as well as their influence on a host of social phenomena. Conservatism, from the Motivated Social Cognition framework, stems from epistemic and existential needs of the individual, and notably the fear of death. However, Terror Management Theory proposes a view of conservatism and its contrary, liberalism, as equivalent cultural worldviews, equally fit to fulfill such needs. In the present contribution, results are presented from five studies, which test the contrasting hypotheses derived from these two perspectives. A new perspective is considered that accounts for these and previous findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the role of pre-trauma, traumatic event, and peri-traumatic psychological characteristics on post-motor vehicle accident (MVA) Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression. Methods: The sample comprised 333 (54% female) hospital accident and emergency attendees who completed a self-report postal screening survey approximately 1-month post-accident and 128 (62% female) participants who completed a follow-up survey at 3-months. Results: Path analysis (Model 1) showed that dissociation partially mediated the relationship between past emotional problems and initial post-MVA distress, as well as between fear of dying and levels of distress. Level of alertness and perceived accident severity had no direct effects on post-MVA distress. However, higher levels of exposure contributed to distress predominantly in the presence of high levels of fear and subsequent dissociative experiences. When ongoing PTSD and depression symptoms were included (Model 2), feeling depressed/sad at 1-month was the strongest predictor of both PTSD and depression symptom severity at 3-months post-MVA, explaining 53% and 40% of the variance, respectively. Dissociation remained an important mediating variable at both time points. Conclusions: These models show the influence of previous emotional vulnerability factors and the important mediating role of peri-traumatic experiences (in the presence of fear due to increased levels of accident severity) on post-MVA morbidity. Additionally, MVA survivors who report feeling depressed/sad 1-month after their accident are at greater risk of developing both PTSD and depression. Depression and Anxiety 28:218-226, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising suicide rates are an increasing concern among military personnel. The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide proposes that three necessary factors are needed to die by suicide: feelings that one does not belong with other people, feelings that one is a burden on others or society, and an acquired capability to overcome the fear and pain associated with suicide. The current study tests the theory's proposal that acquired capability may be particularly influenced by military experience, because combat exposure may cause habituation to fear of painful experiences such as suicide. Utilizing clinical and nonclinical samples of military personnel deployed to Iraq, results of the current study indicate that a greater range of combat experiences predicts acquired capability above and beyond depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, previous suicidality, and other common risk factors for suicide. Combat experiences did not, however, predict perceived burdensomeness or thwarted belongingness. The authors discuss how combat experiences might serve as a mechanism for elevating suicide risk and implications for clinical interventions and suicide prevention efforts. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: 66:1–13, 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most commentators have assumed that Lucretius's symmetry argument against the fear of death is flawed. There remains, however, dispute as to what the flaw is. After establishing what I understand the target of Lucretius's argument to be (a desire for a longer life as such), I argue for a novel interpretation of what the flaw is, namely, that extending one's life into the time before one was actually born would be an uncertain bet for one who wanted to extend his life, whereas extending one's life beyond the time one actually dies is a sure bet. This account of what the flaw is has the particular merit of relying only on simple concepts used in everyday reasoning and thus can explain why Lucretius's argument gains no traction even in the absence of sophisticated philosophical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]