Why aren't people medicated to fear death less?
Isn't the fear of death a kind of torture that should be alleviated with medication?
'If I am, then death is not. If Death is, then I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?' - Epicurus
Because it sounds like a psychological/attitude issue to solve with counselling.
That said, for general anxiety (which would include frequent thoughts of fear of death) there are tons of medications doctors give...
And most people don't fear death that much, except rarely. I mean they might fear it when they think deep about it, but they don't care about it most of the time...
Shouldn't it be the opposite? Most common psychological problems are created by the hostile environment people are living on. More meds would be the equivalent of pumping up the volume on the radio on a car whose engine make more concerning and intense noises every day.
Don't get me wrong, your question is totally valid and interesting, but I think we forgot we need to feel both good things and bad things not only for have a more complete experience of life, but also to value even more those good parts we have on them.
If some people fear of death because they are going to die due to an illness, probably they have more pain than fear, and if they fears it due to their long are, they shouldn't: They must be doing enjoying that little or that much they have remaining.
This question reminds me of something I read in the below article. In short, overcoming fear of death is thought to be one of the steps taken on the mental journey towards suicide. Fearing death keeps us alive.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/bering-in-mind/being-su...
Step 6: Disinhibition
We’ve now set the mental stage, but it is of course the final act that separates suicidal ideation from an actual suicide. Baumeister speculates that behavioral disinhibition, which is required to overcome the intrinsic fear of causing oneself pain through death, not to mention the anticipated suffering of loved ones left behind to grieve, is another consequence of cognitive deconstruction. This is because it disallows the high-level abstractions (reflecting on the inherent “wrongness” of suicide, how others will feel, even concerns about self-preservation) that, under normal conditions, keep us alive.
"Brave New World" is not supposed to be a manual.
"Remember one cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy sentiments."
It's why people invented religion
"Isn't the fear of death a kind of torture that should be alleviated with medication?"
Depends on the degree of fear. The general answer is "no". People who have an abnormal fear of death that interferes with their daily lives could use some sort of intervention.
Psychedelics can help with that; anguish and fear of death also makes relatives suffer all that more, it's inhumane that valuable drugs are denied and stigmatized by big pharma and gov agencies.
What course of medication alleviates fear of death? What are the side effects?
I want to point out that this is a plot point of recent Netflix movie WHITE NOISE.
I’m the only sober man in this bar OP, they’re medicated. Self medicated :-)
- Greg
Sent from my iPhone
Do you mean people with terminal illness?
Fucking hell, read a book.
Thankfully there are much more interesting and positive ways to get over the fear of death than drugs: philosophy (existentialism etc.), humanistic psychology, religion (this one didn't work for me, but it seems to work for many people), literature.