The skull beneath the skin: cancer survival and awareness of death

Terror management theory predicts that people made aware of their own mortality (mortality salience) will seek to boost their self-esteem in order to buffer the anxiety they feel. One common resource to achieve this is strengthening social bonds with an admired in-group. It would also seem to predict that cancer survivors and those close to them would be driven to a greater closeness. A similar closeness might be predicted between those with terminal illness and their families and other supporters. Some empirical observations suggest that there are other forms of death-related salience which do not conform to the predictions of terror management theory.We suggest that some of those who have recovered from cancer may be made death salient, while those close to them remain mortality salient. Death salience seems to turn people inward to the resources and challenges of their deep (subconscious and unconscious) minds, and confronts them with the realities of their deep identities. A third form of salience, dying salience, affects those who have terminal illness. Distinguishing between death salience and mortality salience provides one explanation for the frequency with which close relationships break down after recovery from cancer. The distinctive nature of dying salience raises important questions about the inappropriateness of survivors as providers of support for the dying.