Many people are worried and frightened by the very thought of death. However, scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say that in this case the expectation of danger is much worse than the danger itself: people who are close to death can treat it calmly and unexpectedly (for themselves) is positive. Researchers led by Kurt Gray compared the emotions of 25 terminally ill people and 50 healthy people and found that the concept of death seems scarier than the fact that it is approaching.
The research team found on the Internet blogs of patients with cancer or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and had no hope of recovery. These two diseases were chosen because they are characterized by the preservation of mental functions. There were over 2600 entries in 25 blogs. Then the experts asked 50 healthy people to imagine that they have an incurable cancer, and that they describe what happens to them in their online diary. This group of participants was then tasked with writing a post on their blog. After that, another group appreciated the emotional coloring of the "real" and "fantasy" recordings.
It turned out that the diaries of really dying people carried more positive emotions, and the further the disease progressed, the more positive the entries became. The fact that the dying themselves are more relaxed about death was also confirmed by other experiments, during which scientists asked 150 people what their last words would be if they were to die soon, and compared them with the last words recorded in the cells of prisoners. preparing for the death penalty. These prisoners also perceived the future more calmly. Kurt Gray noted that the heroic efforts that doctors make to save a patient are often needed not by the patient himself, but by his family and friends - and, perhaps, the realization that death for a dying person may not be as terrible as for his environment. help people who love him to let him go when the time is right,with peace of mind.