Thinking About Death Lately? Here’s How It Affects Your Mental Health
Over the past couple of weeks, people have been talking about the tragic loss of the 9 people who lost lives in the recent helicopter crash. It completely took over the world of sports and you could hardly look at your social media feeds without seeing something about this heartbreaking loss.
One of the overwhelming themes was that this one just felt different, a sentiment that has been shared by multiple patients I have visited with since that time. For some, it was because a beloved sports icon, who seemed invincible, was on board. For others, it was the fact that there were children on board. Then there were those who were struck by the thought of the loved ones left behind to mourn a husband, wife, parent, sibling or child.
While we all know that death is certain (and uncertain), we still tend to think of it as something that will happen when we are much older and have lived a long, full life. We don’t allow ourselves to think about the fact that any of us could die before we get home at the end of the day and we don’t think about the fact that our loved ones could face that same fate. But when tragedy hits, it causes us to face our own mortality and the effect that has on us can either have a positive or negative impact on our mental health.
On the positive side, some people come out of tragedy with a new level of motivation to accomplish their
