[Blair321]

I have this horrible fear that the people I love are going to die. Whether it be an accident, heart attack, etc. it tears me apart day by day constantly thinking about it and constantly having panic attacks about my mother dying. Is this a phobia of some sort? It scares me so much and I honestly don't know what to do.

[lilypup]

I have this same fear and am getting CBT therapy.

[Dont_Follow]

I feel exactly the same, and just within the past couple weeks have been faced with a grim situation with my mother. My anxiety was already high, but this made me consider checking into a psych hospital. The situation isn't resolved but I am desensitizing to it. The serenity prayer has helped me. Stoicism is helpful as well, it just takes strength to put it into practice.

When you tear yourself apart thinking of it, you are already experiencing it as far as your mind is concerned. When it eventually comes, you will face it with the same mental faculty that you possess today, if not a stronger one. Everyone who has ever been experiences this, and everyone yet to come will as well.

If you are having panic attacks daily because of this you definitely need to get help. Get into therapy so you can get this under control.

[Ladycakes]

This is quite common in anxiety and can also be a symptom of OCD. I have purely obsessional OCD where I am plagued by thoughts of harm coming to my children and my husband. I don't have any compulsions or rituals to try and dispel the thoughts though. You are not alone at all and you can definitely get help for this. Speak to your doctor about your options. I have started medication and seeing a psychologist for cognitive behavioural therapy as well as EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprogramming) which is helping. Good luck!

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[Nike007]

Hello. This is something that is with my OCD. I have to watch people I care about die over and over again. It sucks. I wish this didn't happen to me.

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[-jimi-]

I think I look ahead too much. But that is often the mental ways of an anxious person. To look at too much, take in too much.

I try to live in the present with things as they are. But it is SO HARD not to dwell. All my pets are old. My mom and dad are old.

I don't have the natural ability to zone in on a smaller portion of time. Or a smaller anything. I'm like a sponge. The world falls in on me.

I think it is possible to practice changing thought processes to deal with smaller chunks of life or whatever to call it. But I also think one can be born with the tendency to take in too much. To have no shields and no shelter. We work with what we were born with.

[oblack]

Oh man, I thought I was the only one having these problems, i'm so glad it's not just me. I've just signed to reply to this thread!

It's horrible, so sry you're going through this for me it's like i'm a hypochondriac but for other people. I'll notice symptoms in my parents and jump to conclusions and dwell on them for weeks. I drive my self crazy with these thoughts and at times have paralyzing stress and sadness. My anxiety can be triggered by anything, i can be having agood day and if I just see the words cancer, death or something I go sick to my stomach my day is ruined. It's wearing me down to the core, its been dragging on for about 5 months and I'm even feeling triggered by some posts in this thread (thats my own fault i guess). It's crazy how something as little as a word can give u such paralyzing anxiety

that's just the gist of what it's like for me anyway. Again i'm sorry you're going through this, sending my warmest sympathies to you

Originally Posted by Dont_Follow

I feel exactly the same, and just within the past couple weeks have been faced with a grim situation with my mother. My anxiety was already high, but this made me consider checking into a psych hospital. The situation isn't resolved but I am desensitizing to it. The serenity prayer has helped me. Stoicism is helpful as well, it just takes strength to put it into practice.

When you tear yourself apart thinking of it, you are already experiencing it as far as your mind is concerned. When it eventually comes, you will face it with the same mental faculty that you possess today, if not a stronger one. Everyone who has ever been experiences this, and everyone yet to come will as well.

If you are having panic attacks daily because of this you definitely need to get help. Get into therapy so you can get this under control.

i hope your situation with your mom improves.

((((((hugs))))))

[MusicLover82]

Sounds like an OCD symptom. I would see a psychiatrist and/or a counselor to talk about the issue soon. I hope you find ways to stop worrying so much. I struggle, too, but thankfully I have medication that keeps it somewhat under control. Also, I take NAC, a natural supplement (3,000 mg a day) when my obsessive thoughts are more intense. Good luck!

[Emotionally Dead]

Some of it is a phobia and some of it is just the fact that it's inevitable. I fear death in general. Whether it be myself, my friends, my family, my pets or really anyone or anything in my life. It's a scary thing. But I think we have to try to put it in the back it our mind. We all think about it sometimes, but we can't let it control us. If it does, then were we really living to begin with? I totally get where you're coming from though.

i've never told anyone this, but a friend of mine (sort of) runs a radio station- by himself

and i constantly wonder when it's off air, is he just having issues with the server, or is he been involved in an accident- is he still alive?

on the site i'm on to talk about the station, i've often thought about asking him, "if you die, what will happen to the station". but it sounds stupid.

he's in his 60's and i obsess over it sometimes

[Buccable]

This happened to me when I was around 8. I realized everyone was going to die and it could be anytime. Got sent into a deep depression over it. Now my apathy about living stops me from caring much. When I do have those thoughts I kind of let them float by.

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[ComfortablyNumb5]

Originally Posted by Blair321

I have this horrible fear that the people I love are going to die. Whether it be an accident, heart attack, etc. it tears me apart day by day constantly thinking about it and constantly having panic attacks about my mother dying. Is this a phobia of some sort? It scares me so much and I honestly don't know what to do.

My mom passed away when I was 9 and after that I feared everyone I loved would die. I read a horoscope one time that said something bad was going to happen on a certain day. Well that day my dad was leaving to go up north. I held on to him and tried my all to get him to stay home. I was convinced he was going to die.

Have you lost someone close to you or had trauma? I think this fear is common in people that have.

[passionfruit3]

I have this too about my parents mainly but it seems now after fighting it so much through suicide attempts to have calmed down i guess i felt like i wouldn't be able to take care of myself without them as im disabled i also feel like i don't want to feel pain when they die and dying myself would allow me not to feel that so i wanted to kill myself. Now it's changed now i don't want to live because i fear god taking me out by some god awful diseases or car accident id rather take myself out and know

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[Pikku Myy]

I am dealing with this now with my sister. My mom is terminal with ALS. I and you know we are all going to die, just like we were born. Somehow, our society in my mind has made it, death, so taboo and sad. I have been thru a lot of grief and focusing on death is not the answer. You go on and try to make every minute better TC

[avlady]

this post is a great one, i just learned one of my relatives has 7 months to live. i don't know how i will handle it when it happens!!! please pray for her!!!

[*Laurie*]

This is such a helpful thread. I, too, have obsessive thoughts about loved ones dying. That includes my pets. I have lost so many people and pets over the years...I think part of the death fear is PTSD.

[sartorius7]

I have had this fear since I was little, one of my earliest dream memories was of seeing my parents' skeletons. I lost both my parents 4 and 6 years ago and felt like the "well the worst happened." But now one of my cats isn't doing so well and I'm a total wreck. I eat when I can, with a swig of pepto. I've been on some klonopin but I still feel the worry, the klono just stops the horrible physical anxiety like burning skin etc. It's so so hard for me not to catastrophize even though the vet says to be optimistic because her condition often just goes away.

[Quen]

I thought I was the only one having these problems. My anxiety can be triggered by anything too. I pray and ask God for comfort. And I felt much calmer, but I have this horrible fear that the people I love are going to die – I have this thought too often. Although there are so many dangers in the world. Stoicism is helpful as well, as Vedism and Christianity, it just takes strength to put it into practice!

[Nimitri]

That's my greatest fear. For me, I feel like the only person I can count, the only reason I can continue to go on is because my mom. Everything else has failed me or hurt me and when I think that she will die, when I imagine it I feel like somebody cut me in half slowly.

With my therapist, I had been able to lower it a little. I don't run to the stairs when I hear her cough, I don't imagine hearing the police when she comes late, I no longer have nightmares of waking up alone and facing the world. I had talked it to her and she supports me but want me to simply accept that I can do it alone and that just life.

But just today I heard about an accident in my hospital and the first thing I thought about was "Was my mother in a car accident?" and I felt cold and alone.

It's hard. It's so very hard because you love them. Because they are part of you and something withing yourself wants you to be prepared, to "soften" the punch by having pain tomorrow but it doesn't work It never works and it's something that you will simply not be ready when it happens and you can survive it, but it's so scary.

Even with my brothers I feel the same and we can barely speak with each other. With them is the fact that I love them but they are so toxic that being near them hurts me so much.

So yeah, so many people with anxiety feel like that and can trigger us like nothing else. But you can get better. Not about being prepared when they go, but to live every day as special as is and remember:

Nothing can take your moments with them. No matter what, they will be with you to the end. That helps me and doing mindfulness and breathing ho oponopono.

[handheart]

This its a result of anxiety .What help you search ? therapists ,medication .If the thought of your will continue try to search for help at therapists etc .The are specialized for this .Also a tehnique that helped me its to reapeat to you .Its just a tought ,disapear from my mind you not afect me .Repeat this when you feel bad

[Prism Bunny]

I get physical ill over the thought of someone close passing away because I have what they call Adult Separation Anxiety Disorder. What makes me fear it, even more, is the constant talk from my mother who truly believes she is dying or will die soon, despite any evidence of declining health outside of aging, and she tells me every chance she gets to give me advice on what to do when she passes away.

"Make sure to delay the 911 call, be sure to take my jewelry off, and grab all my belongings in my room before people try to take anything from you." I know it by heart now at this point.

But before everyone says their opinion, please read why she is like this:

Possible trigger:

My mother lost her husband, my step-father, three years ago when he had a major heart attack in the bathroom. He was never unhealthy, kept himself in shape, and was a sweet guy. He had been coughing all morning and said his chest was a bit on fire. My mother rushed from the bed to her husband when she heard loud thuds, and he was just laying there crumpled on the floor. He was gone before the medics arrived. He was 54 years old.

So, my mother wants to join him and be free from this life.

Thank you for anyone who read it.

[Eve1989]

After my son died, I fear people I know dying. He was my first experience with death so getting close to people is hard because I wonder if they will die too. I totally understand the fear.

[Prism Bunny]

I am so sorry, Eve. That is so heartbreaking and traumatic.

[brokenandalone1234]

I have an extreme fear of death in general. Anything to do with death even the word is enough to cause me to have a panic attack. I can't go to funerals without talking an anti anxiety medication or I flip out. I have had this fear since I was 12 years old. I remember at 12 running to my grandpa and jumping in his arms screaming I don't want to die. Even typing this is cause my anxiety to go up.