30/01/2022
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTS ABOUT FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF
The concept that there are “stages of grief” was developed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and has been adopted by many mental health professionals worldwide.
Kübler-Ross, (1969) argued that terminally ill patients go through 5 stages of grief when faced with their imminent death. Additionally, subsequent contemporal publications suggests the replica application of the Five stages of grief to those who have lost loved ones as echoed in 'On Grief and Grieving' Kessler, (2005). The original concept of the five stages are;
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
Kübler-Ross and Kessler explain how the concept of the 5 stages of grief works:
Our grief is as individual as our lives. Each person is unique in how they cope with feelings of grief because each person has unique DNA and a unique personal history (including their relationship with the deceased).
Not everyone will go through all of the 5 stages of grief.
Not everyone will go through them in a prescribed order. In other words, the five stages of grief do not have a predictable, uniform and linear pattern. One can switch back and forth between each of the five stages of grief.
The 5 stages of grief are simply tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling.
Having introduced the Five stages of grief, the next article on will explain each stage starting with Denial.
Psy. Humphrey Kailu
