The Five Stages Of Death

Stages of Death Death can occur at any time or place throughout life. There are five stages that typically occur within the dying process. Although there is no specific order or amount of time spent within each stage, this process was created to raise awareness about the different emotions one may experience as death approaches. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is a Swiss-American psychiatrist who introduced the five stages in her 1969 book, titled Death and Dying. There are five distinct stages most people will experience when facing death. The first stage is denial. Denial is remaining unaware to reality or simply rejecting the truth. When in denial, one may respond at first by “being paralyzed with shock or covered with numbness” (Kubler-Ross and Kessler 8). The world becomes “meaningless and overwhelming” (Kubler-Ross and Kessler 10). For example, one may feel as though life does not make sense. He may appear to be in disbelief. Denial can also come in the form of questioning. Is this true? Is this really happening to me? Denial
Bargaining is the act of negotiating one thing for another. In this stage, the person is willing and over-eager to do anything to change the circumstances. He wants life to return to normal. He might want to go back in time to rediscover the situation and try to stop it from progressing. Bargaining can fill gaps that stronger emotions generally dominate. It can also be “a way station that gives our psyche the time it may need to adjust” (Kubler-Ross and Kessler 19). Bargaining is a key stage and can be an important reprieve for a dying soul (Kubler-Ross and Kessler 19). A spiritual individual will try to bargain with God. He will vow to do the right thing if God changes the situation. He will most certainly begin praying more than usual. “Prayer is food, comfort, and strength for the dying” (Kalina 37). Bargaining through prayers can provide a temporary sense of