While the nature of bad news may differ, people react in
strikingly similar ways when they receive it. In her 1969 book
entitled On Death and Dying, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a Swiss
psychiatrist who had studied behavior-coping patterns related to
death and other life-changing events, introduced the “Five
Stages of Grief" concept. Her model was based on extensive
research with more than 500 patients who had been told that they
would soon die. The five stages are: All of these stages aren’t
necessarily experienced by all people—or in the same sequence.
For example, some may experience anger before denial. Others may
go through just two or three stages. Some may even become stuck
in one stage and never move into another. The individual
behavior model put forth by Kübler-Ross resembles one developed
in the 19th century by Dr. Arthur Schopenhauer to describe
acceptance of new ideas that challenge the status quo.
Schopenhauer said that such an idea is first ridiculed, then
rejected—sometimes maliciously—as suppor