Abstract
Time structures personal and social life and stores its meaning, becoming a buffer against death anxiety and giving people sense of self-continuity. The article explores the connection between death attitudes and time perspectives in patients with various experience of suicidal behavior. Studies conducted in Russia and Netherlands reveal qualitative changes in patterns of defense mechanisms against the fear of death pertaining to intensity of suicidal wishes and quantity of the attempts, which lead people from repulsion of the act to actual welcoming death as an escape from unbearable existence.
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Notes
- 1.
Some animals seem to be aware of their upcoming death, for instance elephants. Claims that animals commit suicide have not been acknowledged (the lemmings story is made up).
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van Beek, W., Chistopolskaya, K. (2015). Friend or Foe? Escape from Death, or Death as an Escape?. In: Stolarski, M., Fieulaine, N., van Beek, W. (eds) Time Perspective Theory; Review, Research and Application. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07368-2_30
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