For the past few years, I have had this overwhelming feeling that I am going to die imminently; that I am going to die young; that terminal illness is waiting for me; or that I am going to have a long and drawn out death. This feeling has been with me consistently for about 2 years, but I have had this feeling for most of my life.

I am almost 30 years old and when I was young, I was exposed to death quite early in my childhood. Last year, my uncle passed away after a long and likely painful death as a result of liver cancer. My father passed away two months later suddenly and without warning.

I now live with a fear, almost PTSD in nature, that haunts me at every turn. Interestingly enough, I am a registered mental health first aid interventionist with the Mental Health Commission of Canada. While I am capable of recognizing symptoms of underlying mental health issues in other people, as well as myself, I am unable to take the advice I provide to others and apply it to my own life.

Sometimes the best form of therapy is to hear that you are not alone. Anyone else suffer from nagging thanatophobia (fear of death?) What is your story?