Episode 3: Midnight

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Episode Summary:

This episode deals with death anxiety.

Night has come, darkness follows. Death indeed is a scary thought–but what happens if that thought became a constant reminder, daily? Daud and Sabrina explores death anxiety that steadily rose with COVID-19. As they meditate on grief and mortality, Daud reaches a morbid conclusion.

Episode Details:

Since the early days of Covid-19, we have been bombarded by disheartening news of death cases increasing. A constant reminder that death could happen at any time, Daud faces his biggest challenge; the death anxiety. Pandemics, plagues and in times of calamities, Camus have pointed out the nature of people to become overwhelmed by life-changing events such as this (John, 2020). The possibility that we can lose our lives in a split second dawns on Daud as he goes through this journey. From terror management theory, this anxiety has been termed as 'mortality salience' (Knoll, 2020). Observably, World Health Organization reported a 25% increase in mental health illnesses due to the pandemic (2022).

In trying to reconcile with the fact that lives could slip away in mere moments, in this episode tension builds as Daud confronts the universal experience of death anxiety...

Find out more in the podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Qek7lZ8ZsNIMupmO4rlVC?si=64d94af190a64911

Special Thanks:

1. Ustaz Rafieudin: executive director at SPJM (guest speaker)

Find out more about SPJM by clicking on the links below!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkuadPengurusanJenazahMalaysia/

Website: https://spjm.my/

Listen to the PREVIEW below and check out our instagram: @inthemourning

Episode Sources:

• Malaysia reports first two COVID-19 deaths as country enters partial lockdown (2020)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz3ay3Jo1l8&ab_channel=CNA

• Covid-19: 1295 new cases, seven deaths (2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EaRHzGtOOg&ab_channel=KiniTV

• 'Photos of bodies stacked at hospitals are real': Covid-19 deaths soar in Malaysia (2021) (Malay)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1hKGKBavyI&ab_channel=TheStraitsTimes

• Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia breach 2,000 mark (2021) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPJ0b3rAUkM&ab_channel=TheStar

• Malaysia sees rise in suicides amid prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns (2021)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=847ZteRcOQo&ab_channel=CNA

• COVID-19: Malaysian doctors decry lack of support (2021)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuHdOU0dfEo&ab_channel=CNA

• Covid-19: Malaysia has highest deaths per capita in region (2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xay1N3Yyo0A&ab_channel=KiniTV

References:

• CHOONG, J. (2021). Funeral director says Covid-19 makes grieving harder for families. Malay Mail. Retrieved 30 April 2022, from https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/06/15/funeral-director-says-covid-19-makes-grieving-harder-for-families/1982269.

• John, M. (2020). Albert Camus in the time of coronavirus. The Week. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://www.theweek.in/leisure/society/2020/04/17/albert-camus-in-the-time-of-coronavirus.html.

• Knoll IV, J. (2020). Panic and Pandemics: The Return of the Absurd. Psychiatric Times. Retrieved 25 April 2022, from https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/panic-and-pandemics-return-absurd.

• Mandai, S. (2020). This is why you’re bored in quarantine. Retrieved 23 April 2022, from https://www.trtworld.com/perspectives/this-is-why-you-re-bored-in-quarantine-35002.

• COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. WHO.int. (2022). Retrieved 5 May 2022, from https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide#:~:text=Wake%2Dup%20call%20to%20all,mental%20health%20services%20and%20support&text=In%20the%20first%20year%20of,Health%20Organization%20(WHO)%20today.

• Kassim, M.A.M., Pang, N.T.P., Mohamed, N.H. et al. Relationship Between Fear of COVID-19, Psychopathology and Sociodemographic Variables in Malaysian Population. Int J Ment Health Addiction (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00444-4

• Davies, E. (2021). Malaysian volunteer undertakers struggle to cope as COVID cases surge. Reuters. Retrieved 13 April 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/world/malaysian-volunteer-undertakers-struggle-cope-covid-cases-surge-2021-05-28/.

• AP PHOTOS: Malaysian cemeteries face coronavirus surge. AP NEWS. (2021). Retrieved 20 April 2022, from https://apnews.com/article/malaysia-coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-6e3da2cd570659736bf80df7a4bc2e6e.