Overcome Death Anxiety: The Development of an Online CBT Program for Fears of Death

Emerging research suggests that death anxiety is a transdiagnostic construct, which may underpin a number of mental illnesses. Although CBT has been found to be the most effective treatment for death anxiety, no self-guided treatments for this construct exist at present. Further, there is a growing need for accessible, scalable, and cost-effective psychological treatments. To address these gaps, we created Overcome Death Anxiety (ODA), an online CBT-based program which specifically targets fears of death. ODA was designed to be a fully automated, standalone, yet individualised online treatment. The present study outlines the development and structure of this program, using responses from two users to illustrate feasibility. Research is needed to examine the efficacy and usability of ODA with a larger clinical sample.