Understanding and Treating Death Anxiety

Understanding and Treating Death Anxiety is organized by Institute for Brain Potential (IBP).

Initial Release Date: 11/10/2020 
Expiration Date: 11/10/2023

Duration: A 6-Hour Home Study Program for Health Professionals

Description: 
Death anxiety is pervasive in many patients, family members, and healthcare professionals. This program describes the nature of death anxiety, its impact, ways to effectively cope with end-of-life issues, and how we can use death anxiety to live more fully.

Participants including health professionals working in medical, dental, and behavioral health settings should be able to:
• Identify key characteristics of death anxiety.
• Describe Terror Management Theory and its alternatives.
• Distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive forms of coping concerning death anxiety.
• Name several brain areas that contribute to death anxiety.
• Outline ways to help ensure that patients receive the kind of end-of-life care that fulfills their directives.
• Describe how to channel death anxiety into life-affirming choices and experiences.

Understanding Death Anxiety
“We are the dust of the universe trying to understand itself.” - Pelligrino
• What is Death Anxiety
• Impact of Death Anxiety
• Triggers
• Consequences of Death Anxiety

Coping With Death Anxiety
“The fact of death destroys life; the thought of death gives us life.” - Yalom
• Origins of Death Anxiety
• Mortality Salience and Terror Management Theory
• Maladaptive Coping
• Adaptive Coping

Neuroplasticity and Death Anxiety
“To invent the future is the purview of the prefrontal cortex.” - Fuster
• Existential Neuroscience
• Neuroplasticity

Preparations
“Understand this extraordinary thing called death – not when you are physically dying, but while you are living, while you are laughing, while you are climbing a tree, while you are sailing a boat or swimming.” -Krishnamurti
• An Instructional Design for Dying
• Medico-Legal Decisions
• Endgame Strategy
• Ensuring Advanced Directives are Followed
• Preparation for Dying
• Being Present With Dying Patients

Fulfilling Our Life Purpose
“Those who fear death are the ones who approach it with too much-unlived life inside them.” - Yalom
• Living More Fully
• Living With Serenity
• Mindful Approach to Death Anxiety