Welcome back to the savvy psychologist. I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson and every week I'll help you

meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

People unfazed by the idea of death are about as common as people who like taxes.

Pretty much everyone has some kind of death-related fear or anxiety.

It may be specific.

We may fear illness, pain, or dying with regrets about how we've lived our life.

We may have seen a loved one suffer and worry the same will happen to us.

Or death may simply be something unpleasant and hopefully far off that we just don't like to think about.

But as they say, no one gets out of here alive.

So, by request from listener Mark from North Carolina, this week will cover common questions

about the physical aspects of death.

Does it hurt? What happens in the final moments?

And since this is a psychology podcast,

what exactly happens in the brain

when you lay down that boogie and play that funky music

till you die?

Now, I'm a psychologist, not a physician, but I do know my way around a

database, so I've dug around in the palliative care and end of life research for the

information in this episode.

So this week, here are the answers to two questions

about what happens when we make like Bon Jovi

and go out in a blaze of glory.

...