Death anxiety is persistent, excessive fear or dread related to death and dying.
Every person has some awareness of their own mortality, and a degree of reflection on death is a natural part of human experience. Death anxiety is different. It is characterised by fear that is disproportionate, intrusive and ongoing, and that significantly interferes with the ability to function, find enjoyment in life and engage with the present rather than being consumed by thoughts of its end.

Thanatophobia is the clinical term for a specific, intense phobia of death or dying. It can manifest as fear of one's own death, fear of the process of dying and the suffering it might involve, fear of non-existence or what happens after death, or fear of the death of loved ones. It is one of the most common and most under acknowledged anxiety conditions, partly because death is a subject that many people find uncomfortable to discuss and partly because some level of concern about death is considered socially normal and so the clinical level of distress often goes unrecognised.

Death anxiety can develop at any age. It is common in adolescence when young people first grapple with the concept of mortality, in midlife when the reality of ageing becomes more immediate, and in later life when death becomes statistically closer. It can be triggered by a bereavement, a serious illness, a near-death experience, a health scare, or simply by a period of increased existential reflection. In some cases it develops with no clear identifiable trigger.

The impact of death anxiety on daily life can be profound. It can generate constant background dread, prevent sleep, fuel health anxiety and compulsive medical checking, lead to the avoidance of anything that reminds the person of death, and create a pervasive sense that life cannot be fully enjoyed or engaged with because of its inevitable end. At its most severe, death anxiety can completely dominate a person's inner life and significantly limit what they feel able to do.