Grief is Not Linear
I don’t think I ever heard of the stages of grief growing up. It was not something anyone talked about. In hindsight, I wish I knew something about grief or the process of grieving before losing one of the most important people in my life; followed by my firstborn child.
The first time I saw the stages of grief was in a pamphlet I received after my mom died. I remember briefly looking at the list but what I felt did not quite fit.
The Stages of Grief:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
The stages of grief came from the 1969 book On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD. It was not intended as a road map for the bereaved but the 5 stages of grief were interwoven in everything I experienced when trying to get help after my losses. My ob-gyn, hospitals, two counselors, a social worker, grief groups, and two funeral homes. The list was everywhere.
I read this article recently on the 5 stages of grief indicating, “that the model is not science-based, does not…
