Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross stages of dying and phenomenology of grief

Abstract

Birth and death are both natural events but the emotional impact and the personal meanings of these events are vastly different. Birth may be anticipated with excitement and optimism, while the reality of death may be avoided and been denied. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross has been a pioneer in arousing popular and medical interest in the subject of death and dying. A physician who worked with dying patients and encouraged them to talk about themselves and their feelings toward their impending death. She found that most of the patients she had contact with welcomed the opportunity to speak openly about their conditions. After speaking with some 500 terminally ill patients, Kubler-Ross proposed that there were five stages in coming to terms with death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This is a review article.