Elizabeth Kubler Ross
The work of
Elizabeth Kubler Ross deals
with those who are dying and has identified 5 stages that the dying individual
will go through.
These are:
“It can’t be true” she sees this
as a healthy response as the death must be put aside, life goes on.
When the individual seeks a
justification as to why it is happening to them. This can be displaced and
projected onto others, i.e. Doctor, members of the family, better candidates for
death.
This can be secretive and subtle.
Bargaining with God, “let me live and I’ll be a good person who will help
others. Another type of bargaining will take the form of shutting the stable
door i.e. I discovered I had cancer and stopped smoking.
Brought about because the denial can
no longer be sustained, for example, because of deterioration in the condition
on surgery has taken place or the individual has faced the enormity of what they
are about to lose i.e. everything and everyone they know.
At which time the individual
“knows” what is about to happen. This should not be confused as the
individual is happy with the inevitability of death.
The individual may go through each of the stages a number of
times and in various orders, before death takes place.
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