Death Distress and Religiosity Among Spanish Patients Diagnosed With Depression and Anxiety

Abstract

Death is a common source of uncertainty and fear for humans. Religious beliefs are among the strategies that alleviate such discomfort. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation between Death Distress and religious practices while considering other associated variables (near-death experiences, death of loved ones, and psychiatric diagnoses). The Death Anxiety Scale, Death Depression Scale-Revised, and Death Obsession Scale were administered to 400 Spanish psychiatric outpatients. Anxiety was found to be crucial for the development of Death Distress across all associations. A relation between Death Distress and Catholicism was found, albeit significantly mediated by the frequency of practice.

Keywords

fear of death death anxiety death distress death obsession religiosity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abdel-Khalek

A. M.

(1998). The structure and measurement of death obsession. Personality and Individual Differences, 24(2), 159–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(97)00144-X

Abdel-Khalek

A. M.

(2003). Death anxiety in Spain and five arab countries. Psychological Reports, 93(2), 527–528. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.2003.93.2.527

Abdel-Khalek

A. M.

(2004). Death anxiety, death depression, and death obsession: A general factor of death distress is evident: A reply. Psychological Reports, 94(3_suppl), 1212–1214. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.94.3c.1212-1214

Abdel-Khalek

A. M.

Al-Arja

N. S.

Abdalla

(2006). Death obsession in Palestinians. Death Studies, 30(3), 203–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481180500493302

Abdel-Khalek

A. M.

Neimeyer

R. A.

(2017). Death anxiety scale. In Zeigler-Hill

Shackelford

(Eds), Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences. (pp. 1–4). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_21-1

Aday

R. H.

(1985). Belief in afterlife and death anxiety: Correlates and comparisons. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 15(1), 67–75. https://doi.org/10.2190/GYPP-VBG3-M3AY-1ML9

Aguiar Fernández

F. X

. (2010). Ansiedade, depresión e obsesión ante a morte en estudantes universitarios. Doctoral dissertation, Universida de de Vigo. Dialnet Database. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/tesis?codigo=157866

Anitha

Chaitanya

(2014). Death anxiety: A comparative study across religion. International Journal of Recent Scientific Research, 5(3), 632–641.

Armas-Arráez

M. M.

(2015). Sentido de la vida y afectividad negativa en pacientes con ansiedad y depresión. Doctoral dissertation. Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca. Dialnet Database https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/tesis?codigo=56676

10.

Bardera

M. P.

García-Silgo

Pastor

(2014). Gestión de estrés en las fuerzas armadas. Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos (IEEE), 4, 1–24. https://revista.ieee.es/article/view/303.

11.

Barnett

M. D.

Anderson

E. A.

Marsden

A. D.

(2018). Is death anxiety more closely linked with optimism or pessimism among older adults? Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 77, 169–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2018.05.003.

12.

Boelen

P. A.

Lenferink

L. I. M.

(2020). Associations of depressive rumination and positive affect regulation with emotional distress after the death of a loved one. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 27(6), 955–964. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2482

13.

Burke

B. L.

Martens

Faucher

E. H.

(2010). Two decades of terror management theory: A meta-analysis of mortality salience research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(2), 155–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309352321

14.

Cabaco

A. S.

(2008). Aportación de la Psicología al conocimiento del hombre. En I. Murillo (Dir.). Ciencia y hombre (pp. 141–153). Ediciones Diálogo Filosófico. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/libro?codigo=378603

15.

Cohen

A. B.

Pierce

J. D.

Chambers

Meade

Gorvine

B. J.

Koenig

H. G.

(2005). Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, belief in the afterlife, death anxiety, and life satisfaction in young Catholics and Protestants. Journal of Research in Personality, 39(3), 307–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2004.02.005

16.

Cooper

D. P.

Goldenberg

J. L.

Arndt

(2011). Empowering the self: Using the terror management health model to promote breast self-examination. Self and Identity, 10(3), 315–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2010.527495

17.

Duran-Badillo

Vidales

M. A. M.

Aguilar

M. D. L. L. M.

Sánchez

G. G.

&Alpirez

H. Á.

(2020). Miedo ante la muerte y calidad de vida en adultos mayores. Enfermería Global, 19(2), 287–304. https://doi.org/10.6018/eglobal.364291

18.

Edo-Gual

Tomás-Sábado

Aradilla-Herrero

(2011). Miedo a la muerte en estudiantes de enfermería. Enfermería Clínica, 21(3), 129–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enfcli.2011.01.007

19.

Finch

E. C.

Iverach

Menzies

R. G.

Jones

(2016). Terror mismanagement: Evidence that mortality salience exacerbates attentional bias in social anxiety. Cognition and Emotion, 30(7), 1370–1379. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1065794

20.

Florian

Mikulincer

(1997). Fear of personal death in adulthood: The impact of early and recent losses. Death Studies, 2, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/074811897202119.

21.

Fortuin

N. P.

Schilderman

J. B.

Venbrux

(2019). Religion and fear of death among older Dutch adults. Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 31(3), 236–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528030.2018.1446068

22.

González

J. C.

(2014). Salud mental y resiliencia en estudiantes de arte. Universidad de los Andes. [Doctoral dissertation, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid]. UAM Database https://repositorio.uam.es/handle/10486/665626.

23.

Greenberg

Pyszczynski

Solomon

(1986). The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In Baumeister

R. F.

(Ed), Public self and private self (pp. 189–212). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9564-5_10

24.

Harville

Stokes

S. J.

Templer

Rienzi

(2004). Relation of existential and religious variables to the death depression scale-revised. OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying, 48(2), 165–184. https://doi.org/10.2190/C2MJ-5DXN-EU6C-N2XR

25.

Iverach

Menzies

R. G.

Menzies

R. E.

(2014). Death anxiety and its role in psychopathology: Reviewing the status of a transdiagnostic construct. Clinical Psychology Review, 34(7), 580–593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2014.09.002

26.

Jessop

D. C.

Albery

I. P.

Rutter

Garrod

(2008). Understanding the impact of mortality-related health-risk information: A terror management theory perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(7), 951–964. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208316790

27.

Jonas

Fischer

(2006). Terror management and religion: Evidence that intrinsic religiousness mitigates worldview defense following mortality salience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(3), 115. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.3.553

28.

Jong

Halberstadt

Bluemke

(2012). Foxhole atheism, revisited: The effects of mortality salience on explicit and implicit religious belief. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(5), 983–989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.03.005

29.

Kosloff

Anderson

Nottbohm

Hoshiko

(2019). Proximal and distal terror management defenses: A systematic review and analysis. In Routledge

Vess

(Eds), Handbook of terror management theory (pp. 31–63). Elsevier Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811844-3.00002-0.

30.

Lester

(2003). Death anxiety, death depression, and death obsession. Psychological Reports, 93(3), 695–696. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.2003.93.3.695

31.

López-Castedo

Sueiro

López

M. C.

(2004). Ansiedad ante la muerte en la adolescencia. Revista Galego-portuguesa de Psicoloxía e Educación, 9(11), 241–254. https://ruc.udc.es/dspace/handle/2183/6996

32.

López-Pérez

M. E.

Pino-Juste

Campos

(2020a). Image of death and attitude towards death. North American Journal of Psychology, 22(4), 701–710.

33.

López-Pérez

M. E.

Pino-Juste

Campos

(2020b). Mental imagery and anxidiety towards death in adolescence. Death Studies, 28, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2020.1864683

34.

Mallet

Price

J. H.

Jurs&Sleker

S. G. S.

(1992). Relationship among burnout, death anxiety, and social support in hospice and critical care nurses. PsychologicalReport, 68, 1347–1359. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1991.68.3c.1347.

35.

Martínez

E. F.

Presa

C. L.

Soriano

M. M.

Alfonso

A. L.

(2019). Miedo a la muerte y su relación con la inteligencia emocional en estudiantes de enfermería. Medicina Paliativa, 26(3), 205–210. https://doi.org/10.20986/medpal.2019.1063/2019

36.

McMordie

W. R.

(1979). Improving measurement of death anxiety. Psychological Reports, 44(3), 975–980. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1979.44.3.975

37.

Menzies

R. E.

Sharpe

Dar-Nimrod

(2021). The effect of mortality salience on bodily scanning behaviors in anxiety-related disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 130(2), 141–151. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000577

38.

Mohammadzadeh

Ashouri

Vahedi

Asgharipour

(2018). Death distress dimensions: Death anxiety, death depression, and death obsession. Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health, 20(6), 517. https://doi.org/10.22038/jfmh.2018.11754

39.

Moreno

A. I.

Krikorian

Palacio

(2015). Malestar emocional, ansiedad y depresión en pacientes oncológicos colombianos y su relación con la competencia percibida. Avances en Psicología Latinoamericana, 33(3), 517–529. https://doi.org/10.12804/apl33.03.2015.10

40.

Moreno

M. V.

(2013). Sentido de la vida y afectividad negativas (ansiedad, depresión y obsesión ante la muerte) en universitarios. Doctoral dissertation, Universidad de Extremadura. http://hdl.handle.net/10662/1362

41.

Nelson

L. D.

Cantrell

C. H.

(1980). Religiosity and death anxiety: A multi dimensional analysis. Review Religious Research, 21(1), 148–157. https://doi.org/10.2307/3509880

42.

Peace

H. G.

Vincent

P. A.

(1988). Death anxiety: Does education make a difference? Death Studies, 12(3), 337–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481188808252250

43.

Pyszczynski

Solomon

Greenberg

(2015). Thirty years of terror management theory: From genesis to revelation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 52, 1–70. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aesp.2015.03.001

44.

Robles

Morales

Jiménez

L. M.

Morales

(2009). Depresión y ansiedad en mujeres con cáncer de mama: El papel de la afectividad y el soporte social. Psicooncología, 6(1), 191–201. https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/PSIC/article/view/PSIC0909120191A

45.

Rys

(2008). The sense of life as a subjective spiritual human experience. Empirical study. Psychologie, 2(2), 12–24. https://e-psycholog.eu/article/17

46.

Schwerdtfeger

K. L.

Ruhlmann

L. M.

(2013). The interpersonal paradox of trauma. In van Leeuwen

Brouwer

(Eds), Psychology of trauma (pp. 183–196). Nova Science Publishers. https://www.worldcat.org/title/psychology-of-trauma/oclc/855019780

47.

Shushan

(2017). The afterlife in early civilizations. In Nagasawa

Matheson

(Eds), The Palgrave handbook of the afterlife (pp. 21–40). https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48609-7_2

48.

Soleimani

M. A.

Bahrami

Zarabadi-Pour

Motalebi

S. A.

Parker

Chan

Y. H.

(2020). Predictors of death anxiety among patients with heart disease. Death Studies, 44(3), 160–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2018.1527416

49.

Steinman

C. T.

Updegraff

J. A.

(2015). Delay and death-thought accessibility: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(12), 1682–1696. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167215607843

50.

Taubman-Ben-Ari

Noy

(2010). Self-consciousness and death cognitions from a terror management perspective. Death Studies, 34(10), 871–892. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2010.496685

51.

Templer

D. I.

(1970). The construction and validation of a death anxiety scale. Journal of General Psychology, 82(2), 165–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.1970.9920634

52.

Templer

D. I.

(1972). Death anxiety. Extraversion, neuroticism, and cigarette smoking. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 3(3), 53–56. https://doi.org/10.2190/WNKU-JW13-8MFU-XXX5

53.

Templer

D. I.

Harville

Hutton

Underwood

TomeoRussel

M. M.

Mitroff&Arikawa

D. H.

(2002). Death depression scale- revised. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 44(2), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.2190/32L3-DPDA-M4U3-7L81

54.

Torales

O’Higgins

Castaldelli-Maia

J. M.

Ventriglio

(2020). The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(4), 317–320. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020915212

55.

Upenieks

Liu

(2021). Does religious participation predict future expectations about health? Using a life course framework to test multiple mechanisms. Journal of Religion and Health, Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01441-0

56.

Yetzer

A. M.

Pyszczynski

(2019). Terror management theory and psychological disorder: Ineffective anxiety-buffer functioning as a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor for psychopathology. In Routledge

Vess

(Eds), Handbook of terror management theory (pp. 417–447). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811844-3.00018-4

57.

Yildirim

Güler

(2021). Positivity explains how COVID-19 perceived risk increases death distress and reduces happiness. Personality and Individual Differences, 168, 110347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110347.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.52 MB