Death And Grieving: A Case Study

The first stage in Kubler-Ross’ stages of death, dying, and grieving is denial. During this stage, people react to the death with disbelief and shock (Steinberg, Bornstein, Vandell, & Rook, 2011). The second stage is anger. During this stage, people will show hostility towards their family, friends, and health care providers (Steinberg, Bornstein, Vandell, & Rook, 2011). The third stage is bargaining. During this stage, people will try to extend the time that they have with the person that is dying . They try and say things like “If you just give me more time, I promise to…” (Steinberg, Bornstein, Vandell, & Rook, 2011). The fourth stage is depression. When the person realized that they are not able to bargain for more time, they start to experience the feelings of loss and sadness(Steinberg, Bornstein, Vandell, & Rook, 2011). The fifth and final stage is acceptance.
I got so mad at God and everything else that he was gone. I thought “Why does it have to be my Grandma that got sick and died. It is not fair. He was a good person.” Through bargaining, I prayed that I could have some of the pain and sickness if it would make my grandpa better and healthier. After a couple weeks after he died, it really set in. I finally realized that I was not going to see him and that thought made me really sad. I still miss him very much, but eventually, I understood that it was okay because he was sick and it was his time to leave this earth. I accepted the death.
I learned from this exercise that it is okay to go through all of these stages. I think it is almost healthier if a person goes through these stages after experiencing a death. It is important to get all of your feeling out when someone dies so that you do not bottle all of the feelings up. Exhibiting all of Kubler-Ross’ stages is a healthy way to get your feelings out and express your