Kubler-Ross and the Re-Visioning of Death as Loss

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The experience of loss presents a universal subject that implies similar conditions for all people. However, loss processing is individual, and grieving experiences can significantly differ depending on the distress caused by the loss and the use of coping strategies. Exploring different models of grief can provide valuable insights into the grieving process and the reasons why some people are more affected by a loss. However, most grieving theories prioritize individual experiences without considering the differences in the grieving process across people with different worldviews or cultural backgrounds. This essay will explore the main components of Kubler-Ross’s five stages of grief model and Wanganeen’s seven-phase model to define how the models can develop the modern understanding of the grieving process. Furthermore, the essay will discuss how Kubler-Ross’s five stages of grief model can be augmented to consider the additional context from external sources such as family and culture in grief counseling.

Kubler-Ross’s model of the five stages of grief is a theory well-known to the general audience that follows the natural progression of emotions people experience after loss and applies them to the framework of stages. According to Worden (2018), the stage approach presents one of the most common ways to look at the mourning process. Furthermore, many other specialists developed theories outlining nine to twelve stages of mourning (Worden, 2018). Elizabeth Kubler-Ross dedicated her career to studies of death and dying experiences and specialized in providing care for terminally ill patients. Thus, the theory’s initial goal was to identify grief stages and define appropriate care services to facilitate staff’s communication with terminally ill patients (Ross Rothweiler & Ross, 2019). The theory defines five stages individuals usually go through in facing mortality: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. While Kubler-Ross herself suggested that patients may take different times to progress from one stage to another, the public did not consider the observational nature of the theory and used it to generalize the mourning process (Rothweiler & Ross, 2019). Nevertheless, the model made an important contribution to the discussion of the grief process in defining common emotional experiences and emphasizing the importance of appropriate communication methods for each stage of grief. Moreover, Kubler-Ross explained that human experiences should be prioritized over scientific expertise in grieving (Bregman, 2019). Thus, Kubler-Ross provided an innovative framework for the classification of emotional responses in dying and grieving and emphasized the importance of sensitive communication with patients and their families.

Next, a more extensive consideration of the individual’s family and cultural context is included in the Wanganeen Model of seven phases to integrating loss and grief. Rosemary Wanganeen designed the model based on her experience with cultural discrimination to address the challenges of grief counseling in Aboriginal communities (Healing Centre for Griefology, n.d.). The model follows the assumption that Aboriginal communities face higher risks of mental health problems due to social and health challenges experienced by modern Aboriginal populations. Furthermore, the model focuses on resolving the issues of suppressed grief accumulated through the inter-generational trauma of indigenous people caused by colonization. Dickson et al. (2019) confirm that Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth face higher risks of suicide and self-harm than the nonindigenous population due to racial discrimination and overall emotional and social distress. Thus, the phases outlined in Wanganeen model are associated with seven humanities of mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, sexual, social, and cultural human abilities. Furthermore, the model focuses on three dimensions of integrating loss and grief in the past, present, and future. Different phases of the model focus on developing knowledge about traditional grieving ceremonies used by Aboriginal communities and suppressed grief that can be accumulated through generations. Lastly, the model explains the influence of suppressing grief in childhood and adolescence on adult reactions to grief. Thus, Wanganeen Model of seven phases to integrating loss and grief presents a significant example of modern grief counseling direction in connecting the grieving experience with cultural background and family history of trauma.

Critically discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the most well-known bereavement theory can identify the reasons why modern grief counseling prioritizes the contexts of an individual’s family and cultural background. Thus, Kubler-Ross’s model of the five stages of grief provides several benefits in application to grief counseling. Firstly, the theory significantly contributed to integrating families into care for terminally ill patients. According to Rothweiler & Ross (2019), informing patients about the nature of their illness was not allowed, and family members were prohibited from visiting patients during the time of Kubler-Ross’s practice. Thus, the theory of the five stages of grief presents a significant argument in favor of prioritizing emotional experiences over scientific processes in the overall healthcare system. Therefore, the model provided a foundation for acknowledging the family’s influence on the grieving process in modern grief counseling. Furthermore, Kubler-Ross’s five stages model’s strength lies in being highly applicable to studies in areas involving significant changes. While the emotional stages explained by Kubler-Ross are descriptive in nature and have an insignificant scientific rationale, they can be applied in studies of emotional responses to significant changes. For example, the study conducted by Teh et al. (2023) applied the model to analyze the experience of entrepreneurs who closed their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The model’s applicability to different kinds of losses is further explored in Smith and Delgado’s study of non-death losses (2020). The authors explain that reactions to death and non-death losses can overlap; therefore, grief models such as Kubler-Ross’s five stages model can be used to develop an understanding of needs in clients with non-death losses (Smith & Delgado, 2020). Thus, Kubler-Ross’s five stages model connects the grief process with general human emotional reactions to significant changes and allows broader consideration of different types of losses. From the client’s perspective, Kubler-Ross’s five stages model clearly explains the elements involved in grief processing, such as accepting the new reality and overcoming the pain. In application to grief counseling, learning about Kubler-Ross’s model can assist the client in overcoming other non-death losses. Lastly, the theory considers the family aspect and provides communication recommendations for the client and his family during the grieving period.

Exploring the Wanganeen Model earlier in the paper defined that an individual’s cultural background and family history of trauma play an important role in determining an individual reaction to loss and grieving. However, Kubler-Ross’s model of the five stages of grief does not consider the influence of cultural factors on the process of grieving, which can be viewed as a significant limitation. According to Rosenblatt (2019), cultural sensitivity plays an important role in grief counseling due to its influence on relationships between the client and counselor. Cultural differences present one of the main reasons grief counseling remains uncommon in many worldwide cultures. Thus, a lack of attention to the client’s cultural background can interfere with recognizing the client’s needs. From the client’s perspective, the difference can result in the formation of false expectations from the grief counseling process and its outcomes. One of the possible solutions to the problem proposed by Rosenblatt (2019) focuses on discussing the client’s expectations before counseling. However, the solution prevents counselors from developing cultural knowledge, focusing grief counseling on Western-oriented cultures and forcing Western norms onto other cultures (Harris & Winokuer, 2019). Thus, a significant improvement to Kubler-Ross’s model that will favor the recognition of diversity in grief counseling would be the wider consideration of the client’s cultural, social, and family context. Furthermore, the five stages of grief in Kubler-Ross’s model are primarily based on Western perceptions of emotions from grief. According to Silverman et al. (2020), cultural traditions and rituals such as mourning songs provide alternative methods to counseling by allowing opportunities for emotional release in the bereaved. Moreover, in some cases, violation of cultural mourning traditions can be seen as an offense to social norms and cause public disapproval (Silverman et al., 2020). It is possible that violation of the cultural grieving norms can also cause disagreements in the client’s relationship with the family. Therefore, consideration of the client’s cultural, social, and family background can provide valuable information on important alterations in the diverse clients’ transition from one stage in Kubler-Ross’s model to another. Moreover, cultural consideration can explain why in some cases, diverse clients may skip one or several stages.

In conclusion, the expository essay explored how different bereavement theories help develop the modern understanding of the grieving process. The essay defined that studying individual experiences and emotional reactions to loss often presents the main priority in grieving theories. However, in prioritizing individual emotional reactions grieving theories overlook the influence of cultural, social, and family background on an individual’s grieving process. The orientation on Western social norms in grief counseling remains effective because grief counseling is not widespread in other cultures. However, in the conditions of the modern rapidly changing world where cultures are missed with each other, grief counseling’s focus on Western-social norms is likely to lose its efficiency. Thus, early integration of clients’ broader context in cultural, social, and family backgrounds will allow the development of grief counselors’ cultural knowledge. Therefore, with a more profound understanding of different healing cultures, grief counselors will be able to better identify the needs of diverse clients.

References

Bregman, L. (2019). Kübler-Ross and the re-visioning of death as loss: Religious appropriation and responses. Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, 73(1), 4–8. Web.

Dickson, J. M., Cruise, K., McCall, C. A., & Taylor, P. J. (2019). A systematic review of the antecedents and prevalence of suicide, self-harm and suicide ideation in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(17), 1-26. Web.

Harris, D. L., & Winokuer, H. R. (2021). Principles and practice of grief counseling (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

Healing Centre for Griefology. (n.d.). The seven phases to integrating loss and grief. Web.

Rosenblatt, P. C. (2020). Challenges to cultural outsiders from the culture of grief counseling/therapy. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 25(3), 207-223. Web.

Ross Rothweiler, B., & Ross, K. (2019). Fifty years later: Reflections on the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross M.D. The American Journal of Bioethics, 19(12), 3-4. Web.

Silverman, G. S., Baroiller, A., & Hemer, S. R. (2021). Culture and grief: Ethnographic perspectives on ritual, relationships and remembering. Death Studies, 45(1), 1-8. Web.

Smith, P. H., & Delgado, H. (2020). Working with non-death losses in counseling: An overview of grief needs and approaches. Adultspan Journal, 19(2), 118–127. Web.

Teh, H. L., Ng, S.S., Lim, Y. H., Chong, T.P., & Yip, Y.S. (2023). Business closure and Kubler-Ross’ five stages of grief: A conceptual framework. Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, 172-175. Web.

Worden, J. W. (2018). Grief counseling and grief therapy: A handbook for the mental health practitioner (5th ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

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Kubler-Ross and the Re-Visioning of Death as Loss

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