KUBLER-ROSS GRIEF/DYING MODEL

Kubler-Ross Grief/Dying Model

Kubler-Ross Grief/Dying Model

Thesis Statement

The link between Kubler Ross Grief model and the concept of death in different religions (Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism).

Introduction

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross an American Psychologist, described the five phases of people suffering from fatal illness/disease in finding the diagnosis i.e. denial, anger, bargaining/trade, depression and acceptance. The author initially related such phases to persons suffering from fatal disease, and afterwards extended its application to people suffering from any form of influential personal mishap or loss such as loss of occupation, earnings, or independence. This might also contain the occurrence of sad incidents like a demise of any close relative, separation, and also the consequences of other mishaps and natural disasters (Gill, 1980).

First stage of this process is Denial. In this stage, a person does not believe that he/she has a potentially fatal disease and starts visiting from specialist to specialist, recheck the data obtained, does the analysis in various clinics. Alternatively, one might experience a shock reaction, and in general no longer refer to the hospital again. (Kubler-Ross, 1975) The second stage is characterized by anger, expressed towards the doctors, society, and family in general. The victim often gets annoyed and irritated on petty issues and loses control upon emotional resilience, gets disinterested, and expresses a pessimistic approach upon most of the issues. In the third stage, the victim adopts an approach to bargain or trading off with the leftover days of life in many ways. For instance, the sufferer could have any unfulfilled worldly or materialistic desire that one would wish to accomplish prior dying. Such wishes could sound very little for others but means a lot for the sufferer and the urge to fulfill them is extreme (Kubler-Ross, 1997). At the fourth stage is of depression in which the sufferer may understand the gravity of situation. The morale and level of motivation of the victims lower to a great extent, stops fighting, starts avoiding most of the friends, leave their usual business, bolt their thinking and lament the fate. In this stage the patient feels useless, has no desires, no longer feels he has a future, gets into isolation, no longer has friends, leaves taking proper meals etc. This isolation can be a time of inner searching for the resource person to get able to face the world but it can also be a time to fickle suicidal ideas and even attempt suicide (Kubler-Ross, 1991). The fifth stage is of acceptance of the reality and it's the most rational psychological reaction, but it is not with which everyone comes across. Patients start mobilizing their efforts in such a manner that despite the disease, they continue to live with it for the benefit of their relatives (Kubler-Ross, 1987).

It should be noted that the above stages does not always occur in the prescribed manner in every case. The patient can stop this process at any stage, or even return to the previous page. However, knowledge of these stages is necessary for ...