‘SI VIS VITAM, PARA MORTEM’ terror management theory and psychosocial healthcare practice

Abstract

Terror management theory (TMT) contends that the need to manage the anxiety evoked by the awareness of one's own mortality, through proximal and distal defenses, lies at the heart of any human motivation. Proximal defenses aim at dismissing death awareness. Distal defenses aim at keeping them out of frame. The terror management health model (TMHM) applies TMT to issues of health and illness. TMT and TMHM are both explored mainly through empirical positivist research and theoretical discussions. Very few publications relate to the implementation of TMT. This article suggests further applications of the TMHM in social work practice.