Death Anxiety Therapy in Adelaide

Signs the fear of death is taking up too much room

• You lie awake afraid you’ll die, or picturing a loved one’s death.
• You avoid hospitals, funerals and death-related news, because they set it off.
• When family are late home, your mind jumps to an accident.
• Thinking about death brings physical symptoms, like a racing heart or shortness of breath.
• It’s hard to enjoy good times, because you know they’ll end.

Some fear of death and dying is part of being human. It’s worth looking at therapy for death anxiety when the anxiety and fear crowd out daily life.

What is thanatophobia, or death anxiety?

Thanatophobia means an intense fear of death or the process of dying. Psychologists usually call it death anxiety. It isn’t listed as a separate phobia or anxiety disorder in the main psychiatric manual, the DSM.

Unlike a phobia of spiders or flying, it’s an existential fear. It isn’t tied to one place, so you can’t simply steer around it. It can sit alongside health anxiety, panic, OCD or low mood.

What causes this fear, and why it grows

It often starts after the death of a loved one, an illness or a near miss. Becoming a parent can set it off too, because suddenly more is at stake.

For some people it’s the idea of death itself, a fear of the unknown. For others it’s the dying process, or leaving loved ones behind. These existential concerns are normal, but they can grow loud.

The mind then tries to solve a problem that can’t be solved: everyone will die one day. You check, search and avoid. That avoidance brings brief relief, and the relief teaches your brain to keep the behaviour going.

How hypnotherapy can help with a fear of dying

We can’t remove the fact of death. What we can work on is the alarm that fires each time the thought arrives.

In hypnosis you’re relaxed, focused and awake, and you can stop at any time. In that calm state you practise holding the thought without the panic. You notice your thoughts and feelings, then bring your focus back to the present moment. Time Line Therapy and NLP are some of the tools I’ve found useful here. If a frightening memory sits behind the fear, Rewind lets us soften it. You picture it at a distance, like a film. You don’t need to share details.

You also learn self-hypnosis, a simple self-help way to manage anxiety at night. You don’t need to overcome death anxiety completely to live well. The aim is greater acceptance, with less alarm.

How death anxiety therapy works: by video or in person

Most of my sessions happen by video, on Google Meet. If you live in Adelaide, SA, and would rather meet in person, we can arrange that.

1. 1Book your free call

   A free consultation, fifteen minutes on the phone. You tell me what’s been happening, and I tell you straight if I think I can help. You can also ask me anything about hypnosis, like what it feels like or whether you stay in control.

2. 2Your first session: your plan

   We talk about when the fear shows up, what you do when it hits, and what you’d like more room for. You leave with a plan, usually 6 to 12 sessions, and we start the hypnotic work that same day.

3. 3Follow-up sessions, spaced to suit you

   Each one is a short chat, then hypnosis in a chair, eyes closed. For online sessions you need a quiet room, a steady connection and headphones. If the video drops, I ring you back. You take a recording home, plus a simple self-hypnosis routine.

Still weighing it up? Ring-back within 24 hours, at a time you pick. Fifteen minutes, and you can ask me anything.

Or call 0427 218 092

What the research says about hypnosis for death anxiety

Some researchers call this fear transdiagnostic. A 2014 review in Clinical Psychology Review says it may sit behind a range of mental health conditions. These include health anxiety, panic disorder and depression. It’s a review, not a trial.

A 2019 study of 200 adults seeking mental health care found a link. Stronger death fears went with more severe symptoms, across 12 conditions. It can’t show cause.

Your GP can refer you to a psychologist for psychotherapy, such as CBT. My sessions can sit beside that care, never instead of it.

Is hypnotherapy for death anxiety safe?

For most adults, yes. No medicine is involved, and you stay aware the whole time. You might feel tired or emotional for a short while afterwards.

If the fear follows a recent loss, you may be grieving too. Please tell your GP, who can check how you’re going. If you live with psychosis, or a serious mental illness without support yet, see your GP first.

Keep seeing your GP or psychologist while we work. Thoughts of ending your life? Call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 000 in an emergency.

What death anxiety therapy costs in Adelaide: $1,500 to $3,000

Your first step is a 90-minute session for $300. In it we build your treatment plan together, and you hear the full cost before you commit to anything.

Who you’ll be working with

Ernest McLeod

Clinical hypnotherapist, Adelaide and online

Hi, I’m Ernest McLeod, Adelaide’s Hypno Coach since 2012 and a clinical hypnotherapist for fourteen years, based in South Australia. Before this I spent twenty years writing software, so I like plain answers and practical steps.

Fellow, Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists (ASCH) · Certified NLP Practitioner · Time Line Therapy® Practitioner · Trainer: AHA-approved CPD courses

What I’m not: hypnotherapy is not a registered health profession here. So I’m not AHPRA-registered, and I’m not a psychologist. My memberships are voluntary. I also teach other hypnotherapists. The Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association has approved my smoking, vaping and gambling cessation courses for professional development (CPD).

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