The Effects of Death Contemplation Practices on Mental Health and Life Awareness

Abstract

In this study, which investigates the effects of contemplation of death on mental health, the initial aim was to develop a unique and applicable model of contemplation of death. This model, which is the first of its kind in the literature, was applied to the designated intervention group to investigate the effects of contemplating death on mental health. The study, conducted using a mixed research method, began with the assessment of participants' mental health status based on the symptoms measured by the SCL-90 test. A sample consisting of a ten-person intervention group and an eight-person control group, selected on a voluntary basis from Erciyes University students, participated in an eight-session death contemplation group study. The SCL-90 test was administered to all participants before the study, after the study, six mounth later and the data were analyzed using SPSS. At the end of the study, the findings of the intervention and control groups were compared, and significant differences were observed in favor of the intervention group at the P<0.05 significance level for mental health symptoms such as anxiety, depression, paranoid, and phobic symptoms, as well as additional symptoms; and at the P<0.01 significance level for somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, and general symptom indices. In conclusion, it was determined that the applied death contemplation model had positive effects not only on mental health but also on life awareness.