Necrophobia

almostnever

From Wiki:

Necrophobia or thanatophobia is the fear of death or dead things (e.g., corpses) as well as things associated with death (e.g., coffins).

Does anybody else have this? Personally,I can't deal with corpses or coffins at all. Or even the thought of burial scares me,and it has nothing to do with the fear of being buried alive or anything,for me it's about the...rotting. I really can't look at cadavers or anything. At funerals,I stay as far away as possible. Whereas my sister can go over and touch the body or whatever. I have no real reason to feel this way,though. I think I'm a generally anxious person anyway,I have many phobias and the vast majority are irrational. It's just really difficult to explain to people that I have necrophobia,I think they assume I make it up.

So,does anyone else have the same problem?

oMega_2093

Hi,

I don't think phobias are usually rational, so there's nothing to blame. I don't spend so much time thinking about this, but thinking of being buried alive is something scary (creepy?).

Maybe you won't want to read this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalepsy catalepsy is and illness which makes people look like if they were dead, but they aren't. Nowadays, nobody is buried alive because of catalepsy, or I have read so on many websites, which say coffins which cameras or even a button inside are used, just in case medicine fails...

I would say don't think too much about it, I don't do, and it's not likely to be buried alive

Regards.

Ainm

I have the same fear of corpses, absolutley cannot look at one or be in the same room as one. My granny died last year and I got so many disapproving looks from people who thought I was being disrespectful that in the end I went into the room simply to avoid a scene when they were saying the rosary but couldn't look at the coffin at all. The whole time I was there I was shaking like a leaf.

Luckily my parents understand completely and when my grandad died a few months back my mam had a word with any of the nosy aunts/neighbours etc who felt compelled to comment. It still makes me angry just thinking about it though, that they would see it as me being rude or disrespectful. I was very close to both my grandparents and they knew about my phobia and would never have expected me to go in.

star-pants

Aye I have this feeling too! (gosh I've a few now lol)

But seriously, can't deal with coffins or dead people (I don't care how close they were), I caught sight of my dead nannys face & yuck I had to leave. My aunts were touch her and kissing her, yuck yuck. My mother's the same, possibly worse as she was shaking in the corner (twas my dad's mother who'd passed away).
I hate coffins / dead people /graves / thoughts of being buried alive / thoughts of getting old/dying etc. I used to have awake nightmares where these things would happen and it upset me greatly as a child where I'd be crying for ages and couldn't get to sleep.

orourkeda

Can you trace it back to anything

VinnyTGM

My nan passed away recently, and the thing that freaked me out was how cold she was in the coffin.

mayobumblebee

this is my absolute worst fear. when i see a person in a coffin i just freeze i get very worried and get sweaty hands i just hate funerals the whole process just makes me feel sick.
most of all i worry that the person will just sit up i know this probably sounds nuts but its the gray area for me either your dead and gone or your alive. this area of being in front of me but not with us is just horrid. i expect them to just blink or talk and then i would just collapse i recon

warning this may be very worrying i know it is for me:(
for me it started when

a close friend died and the family were all kissing her on the head and offered me to i couldnt they must have thought me a cow but i couldnt do it if it were my own mother its just so frightning

its such a huge part of culture here aswell everyone sitting round like nothing and me having to leave in tears

star-pants

I don't think it's worrying, you'll see I posted above with a similar feeling.
When my nanny passed, all my aunts were kissing her and stroking her hair and putting their lipstick on her. That just gave me the creeps, thoughts of doing what they were doing - Ugh (I know that sounds awful but it wouldn't matter who it was).
To me when someone is dead, they're dead, I don't want to go near them, don't want to see them, certainly don't want to touch them. Can't handle it. Even coffins creep me out, thoughts of the dead person inside. It's like the person becomes a 'thing' to me- I just don't want anything to do with it.

I was glad my grandas' coffin was closed, I was much closer to him and I couldn't have coped seeing him dead like that.
I think some people have to see the body for closure or to believe it's true, and I understand that. I just can't do that.

mayobumblebee

thanks for the reply its good to hear im not alone in this.
i suppose everyone copes differently and thankfully its not ever noticed to much or made a big deal of as the occasion itself has everyone not themselves.