Death and Dying
On Death and Dying By Elisabeth Kubler-Ross For my book review, I read On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Dr. Kubler-Ross was the first person in her field to discuss the topic of death. Before 1969, death was considered a taboo. On Death and Dying is one of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century. The work grew out of her famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this paper, I give a comprehensive book review as well as integrate topics learned in class with Dr. Kubler-Ross' work. Like Piaget's look at developmental stages in children, there are also stages a person experiences on the journey toward death. These five stages are denial/isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. On Death and Dying can be used as an aid to doctors, nurses, clergy, and the patient's family. Issues such as unfinished business, therapy, and hope for a cure for the terminally ill are discussed within this book. Each chapter uses interviews with patients to express the key factors surrounding their illness. Every patient knows that they are destined to die, and Kubler-Ross uses one-on-one therapy to help in the healing process. To understand the process of death, it helps to have had someone close to you decease. When I was nine, my grandmother had been suffering from a series of strokes and heart disease. She had also been a smoker for most of her life and was an alcoholic. The poor woman was not in such good health. I watched her go through these stages with pain in my eyes. Before the strokes and the heart disease struck, she was very much in denial of facing the inevitable. I remember her being angry and depressed about her situation, but did not like to express much emotion. In one section of the denial analysis, Kubler-Ross states that it is usually a temporary defense and will soon be replaced by partial acceptance (53). In relation to the experience with my grandmother, who had a partial acceptance