List and describe the various stages cited by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross regarding people facing impending death.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The answer should include the following information:

The various stages that a person facing impending death goes through are as follows:

Denial: In this stage, people resist the idea that they are dying. Even if told that their chances for survival are small, they refuse to admit that they are facing death.

Anger: After moving beyond the denial stage, dying people become angry-angry at people around them who are in good health, angry at medical professionals for being ineffective, angry at God.

Bargaining: Anger leads to bargaining, in which the dying try to think of ways to postpone death. They may decide to dedicate their lives to religion if God saves them. They may say, "If only I can live to see my son married, I will accept death then."

Depression: When dying people come to feel that bargaining is no use, they move to the next stage: depression. They realize that their lives really are coming to an end, leading to "preparatory grief" for their own deaths.

Acceptance: In this stage, people accept impending death. Usually they are unemotional and uncommunicative; it is as if they have made peace with themselves and are expecting death with no bitterness.