fear of death Fear of annihilation psychotherapy psychoanalysis

Fear of annihilation psychotherapy psychoanalysis

Fear of annihilation psychotherapy psychoanalysis

fear of death: Fear (fear of death) is the first feeling that shakes man from the womb. That is, even where everything is regulated automatically and the fetus does not need to do anything to continue living. But even there we see through imaging applications, that the fetus gathers when there is some threat such as when the mother smokes.

Fear is about existence. The fact that initially the body calls you to maintain and develop it. If the conditions for life exist then fear diminishes and the development of the ability to do, to create, emerges. On the other side there is death and the tendency to go backwards. Life is the force of existence. However it wouldn’t need to be possible if there wasn’t a death drive at the same time. Simply put, life grows, evolves, and creates not only to exercise its right to express itself but also to posit itself as a force against the opposing trend, one that will make use of its own rights if given the space to do so. So life is there and lives through the relationships we make with the main and protagonist, the infant’s relationship with the mother figure. We call that figure who takes care of the baby a mother figure. This mother figure offers herself as an auxiliary ego to the baby who at that time does not have a self of his own. He has only one biological complex which works together with the mother while he is in the womb and which when he comes to the world outside the womb he absolutely needs to continue to live in fusion with her. So the self in the beginning is “we”. There is no separate baby. The baby inside is fused and attached to the figure. It will be like this for the first two months of life and then it will slowly start to show the first signs of communication. So initially life goes on as if it were inside the womb, even though a big event (the birth) has happened. But the fear is always there, the fear of annihilation is there and it is extinguished by the mother coming into contact with the baby’s skin and by the sense of smell which is the same and has not changed. Touch and smell are those senses that protect us. As an envelope they create an emotional membrane that resembles the protective framework of the womb and that creates a feeling of “connection”. This connection, which is hypothesized by the release of the hormone oxytocin making the mother softer to the touch, helps her to sense the baby’s needs and respond in an appropriate way to absorb the fear of annihilation and pass it into oblivion, of deep primary repulsion.

*Republication of the article is prohibited without the written permission of the author

See also: Anxiety Relationships Therapy

The process of psychotherapy requires commitment, dedication and is only for those who seriously see that they need to change their lives. If you are thinking of starting this journey, call me at 211 71 51 801 to make an appointment and see together how I can help you

Mixalis Paterakis
Psychologist Psychotherapist
University of Indianapolis – University of Middlesex
I accept by appointment
Karneadou 37 Kolonaki (Next to Evangelismos)
Tel: 211 71 51 801
www.mixalispaterakis.gr
www.psychotherapy.net.gr