These stages help describe the emotional process when facing these life-changing events.
This article explains the five stages of grief.
DABDA is an acronym for the five stages identified by Kubler-Ross.
Verywell / Andrea Hickey
While Kubler-Ross used the stages to discuss death, they also may apply to other events.
She later explained that the theory was never meant to be linear nor applied to all persons.
People move through the stages in their own unique ways.
Reactions to illness, death, and loss are as unique as the person experiencing them.
Denial
We all want to believe that nothing bad can happen to us.
Subconsciously, we might even believe we are immortal.
They may flat-out disbelieve what the doctor is telling them and seek out second and third opinions.
They may demand a new set of tests, believing the results of the first ones to be false.
This stage of denial is usually short-lived.
Soon after entering it, many begin to accept their diagnosis as reality.
The patient may come out of isolation and resume medical treatment.
Extended denial isn’t always a bad thing; it doesn’t always bring increased distress.
However, this isn’t always true.
Unfortunately, this anger is often directed out at the world and at random people.
Even strangers aren’t immune to the brunt of this emotion.
It is important to understand where this anger is coming from.
you’re free to hear my voice.
I am not dead yet!'"
For some people, this stage of coping is short-lived.
Again, however, some people will continue in anger for much of the illness.
Some will even die angry.
Most of us have already tried bargaining at some point in our lives.
Often, this means trying to bargain with God.
Other people may bargain with doctors or with the illness itself.
It may be expressed overtly as panic or manifest with an inner dialogue or prayer unseen by others.
The implied return favor is that they would not ask for anything more if only their wish was granted.
Depression, in turn, may creep in.
Kubler-Ross explains that there are really two types of depression in this stage.
The woman feels a deep sense of loss with each one of these events and slips into depression.
The second jot down of depression is dubbed “preparatory depression.”
Most people will spend this time of grieving in quiet thought as they prepare themselves for such complete loss.
Depression is considered the stage without which acceptance is unlikely.
With that being said, one can feel many different losses during the same event.
Weeding out those feelings may take time, during which a person may rebound in and out of depression.
Acceptance
The stage of acceptance is where most people would like to be when they die.
It is a stage of peaceful resolution that death will occur and quietexpectation of its arrival.
If a person is lucky enough to reach this stage, death is often very peaceful.
People who achieve acceptance have typically given themselves permission to express grief, regret, anger, and depression.
They may have had time to make amends and say goodbye to loved ones.
These stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Kubler Ross, Elisabeth.On Death and Dying.
Huntington’s Disease Society of America.Kubler Ross.
2024;48(7):738-752. doi:10.1080/07481187.2023.2272960
Tyrrell P, Harberger S, Siddiqui W.Stages of dying.
Updated May 16, 2020.
