Dr Rachel Menzies
- Exploring the role of death anxiety and other existential issues in mental illnesses, through both a clinical social psychological lens (i.e., Terror Management Theory)
- Improving the efficacy and scalability of online psychological treatments
- Evaluating the comparative efficacy of transdiagnostic treatment approaches to mental health problems
- Identifying and testing causal mechanisms underpinning anxiety-related disorders, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- PSYC3018 - Mental Health Conditions
Supervision:
- Supervising Honours, Masters, and PhD students
Board of Directors, International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology (ISSEP)
NSW Committee, Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy (AACBT)
Member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS)
Mark & Evette Moran Nib People's Choice Prize (2022)
Alex Buso Shortlist Prize (2022)
The Australian Psychological Society (APS) Award for Excellent PhD Thesis (2021)
The University of Sydney School of Psychology 2019 Publication Prize (2021)
Australian Clinical Psychology Association (ACPA) Postgraduate Student Prize (2019)
The University of Sydney PsychFest Award for Excellence (2016)
Dick Thompson Prize for Best Empirical Thesis in Social Psychology (2015)
| Project title | Research student |
|---|---|
| Anxious for Change: The Role of Eco-Anxiety in Shaping Pro-Environmental Action | Jack BOYSE |
| Cross-cultural Comparisons of Gender Perceptions in Pakistani Residents and Expats | Hamna KHAN |
| The relationship between death anxiety and addiction-related behaviours. | Dennyson VELOSO |
Selected publications
(Australian Academic Press, 2019)
Publications
Books
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2019). Tales from the Valley of Death: Reflections from psychotherapy on the fear of death. Sydney: Australian Academic Press.
Edited Books
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R., Iverach, L. (2018). Curing the Dread of Death: Theory, Research and Practice. Samford Valley: Australian Academic Press.
Book Chapters
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2020). Emotional Pain and Suffering: The Search for Global Solutions. In Paul Rhodes (Eds.), Beyond the Psychology Industry: How Else Might We Heal?, (pp. 11-22). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. [More Information]
- Menzies, R. (2018). Cognitive and behavioural procedures for the treatment of death anxiety. In R.E. Menzies, R.G. Menzies & L. Iverach (Eds.), Curing the Dread of Death: Theory, Research and Practice, (pp. 167-184). Samford Valley: Australian Academic Press.
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2018). Fear of death: Nature, development and moderating factors. In R.E. Menzies, R.G. Menzies & L. Iverach (Eds.), Curing the Dread of Death: Theory, Research and Practice, (pp. 21-39). Samford Valley: Australian Academic Press.
Journals
- Sharpe, L., Richmond, B., Menzies, R., Forrest, D., Crombez, G., Colagiuri, B. (2024). A synthesis of meta-analyses of mindfulness-based interventions in pain. Pain, 165(1), 18-28. [More Information]
- Menzies, R. (2024). Alone together: the role of existential concerns in symptoms of relationship obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clinical Psychologist, 28(2), 122-130. [More Information]
- Mazidi, M., Zarei, M., Ahmadi Bouyaghchi, Z., Ranjbar, S., Menzies, R. (2024). Evaluation of the death anxiety beliefs and behaviors scale in Iranian adolescents. Death Studies. [More Information]
Magazine / Newspaper Articles
- Iverach, L., Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2016). Fear of death underlies most of our phobias. The Conversation.
2024
- Sharpe, L., Richmond, B., Menzies, R., Forrest, D., Crombez, G., Colagiuri, B. (2024). A synthesis of meta-analyses of mindfulness-based interventions in pain. Pain, 165(1), 18-28. [More Information]
- Menzies, R. (2024). Alone together: the role of existential concerns in symptoms of relationship obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clinical Psychologist, 28(2), 122-130. [More Information]
- Mazidi, M., Zarei, M., Ahmadi Bouyaghchi, Z., Ranjbar, S., Menzies, R. (2024). Evaluation of the death anxiety beliefs and behaviors scale in Iranian adolescents. Death Studies. [More Information]
2023
- Liu, C., Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2023). A Systematic Review of Existential Concerns in Borderline Personality Disorder. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. [More Information]
- Sims, M., Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2023). A systematic review of the relationship between death anxiety, capability for suicide, and suicidality. Death Studies. [More Information]
- Richmond, B., Sharpe, L., Menzies, R. (2023). Are Fear Campaigns Effective for Increasing Adherence to COVID-Related Mitigation Measures? International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30(5), 714-730. [More Information]
2022
- Zuccala, M., Menzies, R., Hunt, C., Abbott, M. (2022). A systematic review of the psychometric properties of death anxiety self-report measures. Death Studies, 46(2), 257-279. [More Information]
- Dudeney, J., Sharpe, L., McDonald, S., Menzies, R., McGuire, B. (2022). Are psychological interventions efficacious for adults with migraine? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Headache, 62(4), 405-419. [More Information]
- Menzies, R. (2022). Can memento mori help set us free? The Psychologist, 35(10), 58-61.
2021
- Menzies, R., Sharpe, L., Helgadóttir, F., Dar-Nimrod, I. (2021). Overcome Death Anxiety: The Development of an Online Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Programme for Fears of Death. Behaviour Change, 38(4), 235-249. [More Information]
- Menzies, R., Sharpe, L., Dar-Nimrod, I. (2021). The effect of mortality salience on bodily scanning behaviors in anxiety-related disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 130(2), 141-151. [More Information]
- Pradhan, P., Sharpe, L., Menzies, R. (2021). Towards a stepped care model for managing fear of cancer recurrence or progression in cancer survivors. Cancer Management and Research, 13, 8953-8965. [More Information]
2020
- Menzies, R., Zuccala, M., Sharpe, L., Dar-Nimrod, I. (2020). Are anxiety disorders a pathway to obsessive-compulsive disorder? Different trajectories of OCD and the role of death anxiety. Nordic journal of psychiatry, 75(3), 170-175. [More Information]
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2020). Death anxiety in the time of COVID-19: Theoretical explanations and clinical implications. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 13, 20000215. [More Information]
- Menzies, R., Neimeyer, R., Menzies, R. (2020). Death Anxiety, Loss, and Grief in the Time of COVID-19. Behaviour Change, 37(3), 111-115. [More Information]
2019
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2019). Tales from the Valley of Death: Reflections from psychotherapy on the fear of death. Sydney: Australian Academic Press.
- Menzies, R., Sharpe, L., Dar-Nimrod, I. (2019). The relationship between death anxiety and severity of mental illnesses. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(4), 452-467. [More Information]
2018
- Menzies, R. (2018). Cognitive and behavioural procedures for the treatment of death anxiety. In R.E. Menzies, R.G. Menzies & L. Iverach (Eds.), Curing the Dread of Death: Theory, Research and Practice, (pp. 167-184). Samford Valley: Australian Academic Press.
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R., Iverach, L. (2018). Curing the Dread of Death: Theory, Research and Practice. Samford Valley: Australian Academic Press.
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2018). Fear of death: Nature, development and moderating factors. In R.E. Menzies, R.G. Menzies & L. Iverach (Eds.), Curing the Dread of Death: Theory, Research and Practice, (pp. 21-39). Samford Valley: Australian Academic Press.
2017
- Menzies, R., Dar-Nimrod, I. (2017). Death Anxiety and Its Relationship With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126(4), 367-377. [More Information]
2016
- Iverach, L., Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2016). Fear of death underlies most of our phobias. The Conversation.
2015
- Menzies, R., Menzies, R., Iverach, L. (2015). The role of death fears in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Australian Clinical Psychologist, 1(1), 6-11.
2014
- Iverach, L., Menzies, R., Menzies, R. (2014). Death anxiety and its role in psychopathology: Reviewing the status of a transdiagnostic construct. Clinical Psychology Review, 34(7), 580-593. [More Information]
Selected Grants
2022
- Targeting death anxiety with an online intervention to improve outcomes in anxiety-related disorders, Menzies R, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Investigator Grant
In the media
Media articles:
How to get more comfortable with death.
August, 2023. Psyche.
Barbie has death anxiety. Here’s what it means.
July, 2023. Yahoo! Life US.
Thanatophobia (fear of death): Symptoms and treatment.
July, 2023. Forbes Health.
How you can subdue your fear of death and live a fuller life.
February, 2022. Men’s Health.
4 ways that older people can bolster or improve their mental health.
November, 2021. The Washington Post.
Why do some people delay getting vaccinated or pretend COVID doesn’t exist? Paradoxically, denial of death.
October, 2021. The Conversation.
‘It’s a normal part of life’: Tackling death anxiety with apps, body bags and video games
August, 2020. Triple J: Hack
Death anxiety: Body bags, catastrophic thinking, and facing the inevitable.
July, 2020. The Guardian
Five times a day, Rachel gets a text saying she’s going to die
September, 2019. The Sydney Morning Herald
Death Anxiety: The Worm at the Core of Mental Health
December, 2018. InPsych magazine
Fear of Death Underlies Most of Our Phobias
May, 2016. TheConversation
Podcasts:
“HOW TO FACE YOUR FEAR OF DYING”, How To!, interviewed by Charles Duhigg
“HOW OUR FEAR OF DEATH SHAPES THE WAY WE LIVE”, Better Than Yesterday, interviewed by Osher Gunsberg
“CAN WE GET BETTER AT ACCEPTING DEATH?”: BBC World Service: Crowd Science, interviewed by Caroline Steel
“ADELAIDE WRITERS’ WEEK: MORTALS”: Adelaide Writers' Week, interviewed by Rick Sarre
“DEATH TO EVERYONE”: Deep Trouble, interviewed by Dr Mark Halloran
“DEATH ANXIETY & DEALING WITH AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS”: Single Minded, interviewed by Hannah Furst