Death Anxiety, Loss, and Grief in the Time of COVID-19

Abstract

According to TMT, when thoughts of death are conscious we engage in ‘proximal defences’, which include suppressing these thoughts (e.g. turning off a news report about COVID-19 death tolls), denying one's vulnerability (e.g. thinking "I'm not in a high risk group, so I'll probably be fine"), or trying to prevent death (e.g. cleaning down all home surfaces with antibacterial wipes). [...]as fear of the virus increased, mental health declined. [...]death-related losses arising from COVID-19 are compounded by non-death losses, such as global financial strain, massive unemployment, and financial hardship, all of which are also associated with impoverished mental health (Paul & Moser, 2006). In this form of life-vitiating, protracted, and anguishing response to loss, mourners struggle with turbulent emotions of longing, guilt, loneliness, and desolation which tangibly impair their ability to function in the contexts of family, work, and the social world for many months beyond the death, and not uncommonly, years. [...]ongoing ruminative preoccupation with the lost relationship or the circumstances of the death carries real health risks for a variety of stress-related disorders, cardiac problems, addictions, immune system dysfunction, impaired quality of life, and even suicide (Maercker, Neimeyer, & Simiola, 2016).