Kubler-Ross Stages of Grieving

Psychologist Elizabeth Kubler Ross identified common stages that individuals go through when they lose someone dear to them. While these stages are common, everyone grieves differently.

Denial

• A person who has experienced a loss sometimes acts as if the loss did not occur. You might attempt to put the loss out of your mind. You may want to isolate yourself.

Anger

• Anger might grow against the individual who passed away or an individual who is perceived as responsible for the loss. A loss may also leave you with a vague, feeling of unexplained anger.

Bargaining

• Bargaining involves asking a higher power or fate to bring back the loved one in exchange for a deal. You may feel guilty and believe that one of your actions caused the loss.

Depression

• Sadness, lethargy and feelings of hopelessness can occur. The depression may be mild and pass or it could become clinical, requiring psychiatric treatment.

Acceptance

• Though you may never recover fully from the loss of a loved one, you may eventually come to accept death as inevitable. In doing so you are able to continue to live with the loss and to move beyond it.