Summary: The Work Of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

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The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
(Word Count: 1540)
Introduction (100)
In this essay the author will discuss the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and some of the findings of her research.
Context of Work
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was a psychiatrist who in the course of her work in Billings Hospital, Chicago in the mid 1960's, became interested in the emotional condition of dying patients. Kübler-Ross was working within a very particular context in which it was normal practice for doctors to avoid any discussion of death (Cameron, 2009). In a 1961 survey of doctors in the Chicago area, 90% said they "preferred not to tell their patients if they discovered they were dying of cancer" (Oken, 1961). Kübler-Ross believed that if, in the medical professions, …show more content…

She called these coping mechanisms the five stages of dying. She maintained however that these stages were not only experienced by dying patients but also could be applied to loss in general (Avioli, Kübler-Ross & Wessler, 1972). It is also emphasised in her work that there is "no typical response to loss, as there is no typical loss" and, importantly, that the five stages are not necessarily experienced sequentially but that 'we can flip in and out of one and then another' (Kessler & Kübler-Ross, …show more content…

The focus shifts firmly to the present and grief that is deeper than a person could have imagined emerges. Life seems pointless, the person becomes lost in their sadness, withdrawn. However Kübler-Ross maintains that there is a benefit to this depression, as it "slows us down and allows us to take stock of the loss" and "takes us to deeper places in our soul that we would not normally explore" (Kessler & Kübler-Ross, 2014). The depression is a tool that can facilitate the state of acceptance (Kübler-Ross,

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