Can a pill make people less afraid of death? A recent study tested this.
Jeff Greenberg (professor of psychology at The University of Arizona) and colleagues had American college students think about death or another aversive topic. They then rated people's psychological defenses in response to death salience. Specifically, they had participants evaluate anti and pro American essays.
According to terror management theory, people cope with death awareness by clinging more strongly to their beliefs and values. As such, people should defend their beliefs more (rate the pro US essay as better and the anti- US essay more negatively) when death is salient.
Replicating dozens and dozens of past studies, they found that Americans who were reminded of death became more pro-US. However, what was interesting about this study, was that the participants also took a pill before being reminded of death. Half of the participants were told this pill blocks anxiety, and half that it enhances memory.
The participants who were told they took an anxiety blocking pill did not show the typical psychological reactions to death salience, suggesting the pill reduced mortality concerns.
So can a pill take away death anxiety? Well, no, if by that you mean there has been a pill tested to specificallly have this effect. But, in a sense, this study does suggest that people are not as threatened psychologically by death salience when they have something to attribute their anxiety to.
If this is a pill, then yes, it can reduce death concerns (at least short term).
What I think is really interesting is the potential application of this finding to the terminally ill. I don't think it is ethical to lie to these people and tell them they are taking an anxiety blocking pill when they are not.
That is not my suggestion. But, maybe it could be that people at the end of life could benefit by having something to (mildly) worry about, because they could attribute their death concerns to those worries (just like the pill did for the study participants).
Of course, this is all speculation about end of life patients, this study, and death concerns. But, if these findings apply to this population (which is an assumption of course until tested), then we could be onto something.
I know firsthand that two Hospices locally strongly discourage doing anything that could cause the dying person to worry (like telling one of them you have a dying relative). But maybe, just maybe, that does an element of harm to these individuals.
