In "Thanatophobia in Contemporary America: Consequences, Causes, and Combatants", the structure of thanatophobia, the fear of death, is investigated within the understanding of American culture and religious history. The extent to which Americans deny death is the root of dysfunction for a wide variety of concerns in contemporary society, with this denial’s causes dating all the way back to the first Protestant and Catholic settlers arriving directly after important theological shifts. This Protestant and Catholic basis of American culture has now manifested itself into the ‘American Dream’ where materialism and financial success achieved through hard work are valued over all else. This, however, does not hold up well in contemporary modern society. People are dying unhappy and unfulfilled because of the cognitive dissonance between the American Dream, the Protestant Work Ethic, and the reality of American economics and politics. There is still hope, however, as there are productive strategies in which people can promote the open thought and discussion of death in a culture that tries to shut it out. Strategies including proper representation of death in media, the promotion of living with and discussion of the tension of mortality, and the use of spirituality to help cope with death can lead Americans to die with fewer regrets and their families to continue living with less grief. This investigation into American thanatophobia was conducted through research of religious history, American values, U.S. traditions and trends, and reflections on modern social phenomena. This research is the first to link the fear of dying to historical roots and the first to trace this ideology through the eras of the U.S.