Psychogenic death, the phenomenon of “thinking” yourself to death

Re:Psychogenic death, the phenomenon of “thinking” yourself ... by PragmaticPulp on Thursday January 06, 2022 @09:47AM (#29824127)

There are numerous such stories, but I tend to think it’s more selection bias than anything.

Accomplished people are almost always accomplishing things, even into late life. By definition, the last thing they accomplish is their final accomplishment. Even if deaths were randomly distributed, you’d expect to find a lot of these people dying shortly after finishing their last accomplishment.

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Re:Psychogenic death, the phenomenon of “thinking” yourself ... by lelag on Thursday January 06, 2022 @09:57AM (#29824265)

It does not need to about doing something incredible. Older couples are known to live longer than surviving spouse whose life-long partner has passed away. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

I don't find it too hard to believe that someone with a reason to live will actually live longer than someone without one...

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Re:Psychogenic death, the phenomenon of “thinking” yourself ... by jl6 on Thursday January 06, 2022 @12:31PM (#29826627)

Agreed, but I also wonder whether the couple situation increases survival because they've got someone to watch their back, e.g. if one has a fall, the other is there to call for help.

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Re:Psychogenic death, the phenomenon of “thinking” yourself ... by joconde on Thursday January 06, 2022 @12:55PM (#29827031)

Or they do it themselves by getting depressed and not taking care of themselves. Physical exercise and healthy meals take motivation.

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