On Death and Dying By Elisabeth Kubler-Ross s Foreword by C. murray Parkes Acknowledgments Preface Section Titl On the fear of Death II Attitudes Toward Death and Dying... III First Stage: Denial and Isolation IV Second Stage: Anger V Third Stage: Bargaining VI Fourth Stage: Depression VII Fifth Stage: Acceptance Ⅴ III Hope The Patient's Family X Some Interviews with Terminally I'll Patients XI Reactions to the Seminar on Death and Dying XII Therapy with the Terminally Ill F rd by C. Murray Parkes I wish I could tell people how nice it can be to die of cancer. These surprising words were spoken to me recently by a woman who died peacefully a few days later. She never met Dr. Kubler-Ros but I do not doubt that, had she been a patient in Billings Hospital, she would have been glad of the opportunity to talk about dying at Dr. Ross's seminar and to have attempted to exorcise the irrational fears to which doctors and clergy as well as patients and their relatives are subject Not that it is entirely irrational to fear death. whatever we believe is to come after death, the loss of so many of the things that we prize must be painful, and since our own death gives grief to others it is natural that we feel sad on their behalf. But the relinquishment of life is possible (particularly if, through illness, our body has lost its appetite for living ), and grief can pass. Those who have the privilege of caring for the person who is about to die know that the final phase of life can be a time of peaceful acceptance, a time of calm which contrasts with the tensions and frustrations of the battle for survivalOn Death and Dying By Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Contents: * Foreword by C. Murray Parkes * Acknowledgments * Preface Section Title Page I On the Fear of Death .................. II Attitudes Toward Death and Dying .................. III First Stage: Denial and Isolation .................. IV Second Stage: Anger .................. V Third Stage: Bargaining .................. VI Fourth Stage: Depression .................. VII Fifth Stage: Acceptance .................. VIII Hope .................. IX The Patient's Family .................. X Some Interviews with Terminally I'll Patients .................. XI Reactions to the Seminar on Death and Dying .................. XII Therapy with the Terminally Ill .................. ========================= Foreword by C. Murray Parkes °I wish I could tell people how nice it can be to die of cancer." These surprising words were spoken to me recently by a woman who died peacefully a few days later. She never met Dr. Kubler-Ross, but I do not doubt that, had she been a patient in Billings Hospital, she would have been glad of the opportunity to talk about dying at Dr. Ross's seminar and to have attempted to exorcise the irrational fears to which doctors and clergy as well as patients and their relatives are subject. Not that it is entirely irrational to fear death. Whatever we believe is to come after death, the loss of so many of the things that we prize must be painful, and since our own death gives grief to others it is natural that we feel sad on their behalf. But the relinquishment of life is possible (particularly if, through illness, our body has lost its appetite for living), and grief can pass. Those who have the privilege of caring for the person who is about to die know that the final phase of life can be a time of peaceful acceptance, a time of calm which contrasts with the tensions and frustrations of the battle for survival