The 5 Stages Of Grief
“Given a choice between grief and nothing, I’d choose grief.” – William Faulkner
Grief is something every individual experiences in his/her lifetime, and it is something that is at the same time significant and predestined. There are 5 stages of grief that every individual goes through and it holds universally valid. Once one goes through all these 5 stages, one is able to fully recover from the mental strain the grief causes. But while one may take less time in achieving this, another may take more time or get stuck in any one stage in between and in such case, full recovery or healing gets stagnated. Enlisted and discussed here are 5 stages of grief. Read on.
1. Denial
The first stage is denial. At this stage, an individual does not accept the misfortune or disaster that has caused the grief in the first place. One refuses to rationalize and understand that something bad has happened. Instead, one justifies the denial by acting as though nothing has happened. This happens especially when some loved one dies. One does not accept the death; instead talks and behaves as if the person is still alive, will come back home soon, will have dinner and so on.
2. Anger
Once an individual comes to accept the hardship or tragedy, he/she enters the second stage: anger. At this stage, one is unable to cope with the tremendous change that has occurred – this change refers to a drastic change in one’s world of affairs as things may never be or are never the same again. This happens when one suddenly loses a loved one in an accident, or someone close is diagnosed with some terminal illness, or when someone loses one’s job and so on. This emerges in the form of irrational anger one feels towards someone who is not responsible in any way. One may even express anger over the deceased, on inanimate objects (manifests in breaking objects in sight), on one’s children, even on God.
3. Negotiation
The third stage is negotiation or bargaining. Here one feels the desperate urge to regain control of the situation as things seem to be going out of hand and the feeling of helplessness and despair appear to be overwhelming. This is the stage where one tries to strike deals – sometimes with a partner who is about to break up the relationship, or even with God – in a bid to stop the inevitable from happening or to change things which are irreversible.
