Healing through Death Café: The Psychosocial Impact of Philosophical Reflection on Mortality

In contemporary psychological and medical practice, death is often treated as a source of anxiety to be avoided, rather than an existential reality that shapes meaning, identity, and emotional life. This study examines the Death Café as a transdisciplinary space where philosophical reflection and psychological experience converge to facilitate psychosocial healing. Two cohorts—general public participants and university students—attended facilitated Death Café sessions employing Socratic dialogue to explore mortality. Data were collected through written reflective narratives and observational notes, followed by thematic analysis and pre–post descriptive indicators of death anxiety, existential agency, meaning reconstruction, and death literacy. Quantitative findings revealed a ۴۰% reduction in death anxiety, ۵۸.۵% increase in existential agency, ۵۹% increase in meaning reconstruction, and ۶۰% increase in death literacy, with the student cohort showing the highest gains in death literacy (۸۵%). Thematic analysis identified four core themes: philosophical reframing, meaning construction, emotional catharsis, and institutional critique. Participants reported that the non-clinical, dialogical setting enabled authentic reflection and emotional expression. Findings suggest that Death Cafés offer a practical, humane, and evidence-based framework for integrating philosophical reflection into psychosocial practice, promoting resilience, life-affirmation, and existential literacy.

کلیدواژه ها:

Death Café ، death anxiety ، existential reflection ، meaning-making ، philosophical counseling ، psychosocial intervention