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On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
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On Death and Dying (original 1969; edition 1973)

by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3,364323,841 (3.9)31
I was recently at a talk given by Claire Tomalin, the biographer, who told us that the best advice her mother-in-Law had ever given her was to remember that our unconscious can’t accept that we are mortal. This is at the heart of this book and how our conscious mind has to be allowed to navigate the way when we we are dying.

This book was one of those recommended texts when I was a medical student and I’m very familiar with her “stages of grief” but I had never actually read this book before. It is dated in many ways and I struggled a bit with the gendered writing, but it still has a lot to say to us. This is especially true currently when we seem unable to say that someone has died but refer to their passing or some other way of avoiding the terms death and dying, which is hardly going to help. ( )
  awomanonabike | Mar 20, 2018 |
English (27)  Portuguese (Brazil) (2)  French (1)  Hungarian (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (32)
Showing 1-25 of 27 (next | show all)
Interesting book ( )
  BookReviewsCafe | Apr 27, 2023 |
One of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century, On Death and Dying grew out of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this remarkable book, Dr. Kübler-Ross first explored the now-famous five stages of death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Through sample interviews and conversations, she gives the reader a better understanding of how imminent death affects the patient, the professionals who serve that patient, and the patient's family, bringing hope to all who are involved. Selected Reading Questionnaire.
  ACRF | Oct 24, 2022 |
When I took a death and dying class in college, my professor often quoted from this book. It is interesting to finally read it now during this pandemic. The bulk of this book consists of interviews with patients who know they will die soon and their families. These conversations are insightful and heartwarming. Expanding our views on death will help us cope when we and/or our loved ones are facing the end, and Kubler-Ross's work has certainly done that for me. ( )
  JosephVanBuren | May 17, 2022 |
How do you look someone in the eye and tell them they are dying? Sure, every single one of us is dying by increments every single day. Some of us will die tomorrow, without warning. No fanfare. But, how do you tell someone they will die in a month? In a week? Days? On Death and Dying is exactly that, a chance to talk to terminally ill patients; to have a candid talk about what it means to moving towards death sooner rather than later. Kubler-Ross and her students interviewed over 200 patients towards this end. I think it is safe to safe we know what emerged from this seminal work:
Stage One: Denial and Isolation
Stage Two: Anger - the "Why Me?" stage.
Stage Three: Bargaining - not a lot to say about this stage except to say it is very childlike in believing you can strike a deal with a higher power to avoid death.
Stage Four: Depression (the stage I think I would live within the longest).
Stage Five: Acceptance. This is the most difficult of all the stages to reach. Even after achieving acceptance, it is easy for the patient to revert back to an earlier stage such as anger or denial. Stage five is also difficult for the patient's loved ones. How many families see a patient's acceptance as resignation or a loss of will to live? One must remember there are defense mechanisms as well as coping mechanisms at play.
My biggest takeaway from reading On Death and Dying is how the more training and experience a physician had, the less ready he or she was to become involved in Kubler-Ross's interviews. It is as if they lost the ability to see the patient as a human with a right to know their terminal future. We need to bring compassion back at every level of care. ( )
  SeriousGrace | Feb 28, 2022 |
One of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century, On Death and Dying grew out of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this remarkable book, Dr. Kübler-Ross first explored the now-famous five stages of death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Through sample interviews and conversations, she gives the reader a better understanding of how imminent death affects the patient, the professionals who serve that patient, and the patient's family, bringing hope to all who are involved.
  PSZC | Apr 23, 2020 |
five stages of death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Through sample interviews and conversations, she gives readers a better understanding of how imminent death affects the patient, the professionals who serve that patient, and the patient's family, bringing hope to all who are involved.
  StFrancisofAssisi | Mar 19, 2020 |
llth printing
  PAFM | Oct 19, 2019 |
It was hard for me to read the book— which I haven’t only now just finished: it’s just that I deleted the review that I wrote upon that occasion, as it was very critical— without being critical of how our society treats death. It obviously treats death as something to deny, to close your eyes to, as the ultimate misfortune and a cosmic mistake, the part of the life cycle that should be abolished somehow. It’s hard not to get a little annoyed at unthinking and ignorant critiques of God and Nature, at these attitudes which are mostly the same now as they were then, the book and its labors notwithstanding.

But as I’ll probably read it again eventually, I’ll try to be more patient with them then.
  smallself | Sep 29, 2018 |
I was recently at a talk given by Claire Tomalin, the biographer, who told us that the best advice her mother-in-Law had ever given her was to remember that our unconscious can’t accept that we are mortal. This is at the heart of this book and how our conscious mind has to be allowed to navigate the way when we we are dying.

This book was one of those recommended texts when I was a medical student and I’m very familiar with her “stages of grief” but I had never actually read this book before. It is dated in many ways and I struggled a bit with the gendered writing, but it still has a lot to say to us. This is especially true currently when we seem unable to say that someone has died but refer to their passing or some other way of avoiding the terms death and dying, which is hardly going to help. ( )
  awomanonabike | Mar 20, 2018 |
Dated but valuable read. ( )
  rastamandj | Jun 14, 2017 |
I have read this book twice and got more out of it the second time than the first. Even though it was written in 1969, the information is not dated. A few references to the Vietnam War, but 99 percent of the information is as good today as it was then. ( )
  Luke_Brown | Sep 10, 2016 |
A must read for therapists and others who counsel folk dealing with the grieving process. Takes us through the various stages in the process and exposes us to how different people react to death/dying in different ways. ( )
  dbsovereign | Jan 26, 2016 |
A study of how people react towards death. The commonly known 'five-stages' model is outlined here, and many case studies and examples and described in depth. Morbid and necessary reading, to understand the psychology of our own grief and extinction. ( )
  HadriantheBlind | Mar 30, 2013 |
This is the original work that first introduced the idea of the five stages of dealing with death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
  AmronGravett | Feb 11, 2013 |
Rated: B
Classic work becoming a little dated with the passage of time and shifts in social norms. Her research and writings were in the 60's. Today, the awareness or disinterest in dying and death make it less taboo; however, we all will face it in our own way someday. Experiencing the death of my daugher and parents as well as various friends over the years allowed me to relate to many situations she revealed. While I was familiar with the five stages, what I didn't know was her observation that Hope transcends all stages.

"The one thing that usually persists through all these stages is hope. Just as children in Barracks L 318 and L 417 in the concentaration camp of Terezin maintained their hope years ago, although out of a total of about 15,000 children under fifteen years of age only around 100 came out of it alive.

The sun has made a veil of gold
So lovely that my body aches
Above, the heavens shriek with blue
Convinced I've smiled by some mistake.
The world's abloom and seems to smile.
I want to fly but where, how high?
If in barbed wire, things can bloom
Why couldn't I I will not die!
1944, Anonymous
"On a Sunny Evening" ( )
  jmcdbooks | Jan 28, 2013 |
At times I couldn't put this book down even though I had tears filling up my eyes. What a compelling book and how I wish I'd read it before my dad passed away. "Death belongs to life as birth does… The walk is in the raising of the foot as in the laying of it down." - Tagore ( )
  shandysgirl0517 | Apr 11, 2012 |
THE book on the subject, which should be read in a positive way by all. An amazing woman. ( )
  scubasue59 | Feb 5, 2012 |
This is a very thought provoking and thorough book on the subject of death. It helped me to stop thinking of death in terms of something to be avoided, and more in terms of something that will happen just as surely as birth happened. It is not just anecdotal, there is a lot of "data" to back up the different claims. ( )
  AlexPearson | Feb 13, 2011 |
A classic book!

One of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century, "On Death and Dying" grew out of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this remarkable book, Dr. Kübler-Ross first explored the now-famous five stages of death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Through sample interviews and conversations, she gives the reader a better understanding of how imminent death affects the patient, the professionals who serve that patient, and the patient's family, bringing hope to all who are involved.

About the Author:

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-born psychiatrist and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying, where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model. She is a 2007 inductee into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees and by July 1982 had taught, in her estimation, 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.
  saraswati_library_mm | Mar 15, 2010 |
A classic book!

One of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century, "On Death and Dying" grew out of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this remarkable book, Dr. Kübler-Ross first explored the now-famous five stages of death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Through sample interviews and conversations, she gives the reader a better understanding of how imminent death affects the patient, the professionals who serve that patient, and the patient's family, bringing hope to all who are involved.

About the Author:

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-born psychiatrist and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying, where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model. She is a 2007 inductee into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees and by July 1982 had taught, in her estimation, 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.
  Saraswati_Library | Feb 17, 2010 |
This is THE book on death and dying. ( )
  rmyoung | Nov 13, 2009 |
Perused book by chapters. Too late for help with family, read as self-help material.
  provasnik | Nov 17, 2008 |
"This remarkable book ON DEATH AND DYING, can help us face, professionally and personally, the end of life."
  oaklutheran | Nov 2, 2008 |
Modern Americans have negated grief and this book reminds us it is a living, tangible reaction to loss. Loss of one's own life or anothers...it occurs whether acknowledged or not and the process is a given. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross writes with empathy, wisdom and concrete eveidence. A classic in wholistic writing. ( )
  maiadeb | Jun 13, 2008 |
The classic on grief. Significant also in any form of change which is perceived negatively. ( )
  dmstraker | Jan 19, 2008 |
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