Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. (July 8, 1926 - August 24, 2004) was a 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.

Kübler-Ross was born in Zürich, Switzerland and graduated from the University of Zürich medical school in 1957. She moved to the United States in 1958 to work and continue her studies in New York.

As she began her practice, she was appalled by the hospital treatment of patients who were dying. She began giving a series of lectures featuring terminally ill patients, forcing medical students to confront people who were dying. Her extensive work with the dying led to On Death and Dying in 1969. She wrote over 20 additional books on the subject of dying.

She also proposed the now famous Five Stages of Grief as a pattern of phases, most or all of which people tend to go through, in sequence, after being faced with the tragedy of their own impending death. The five stages of grief, in sequential order, are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The five stages have since been adopted by many as applying to the survivors of a loved one's death, as well.

She did not found the hospice care movement, but its adherents credit her with encouraging it. Kübler-Ross completed her degree in psychiatry at the University of Colorado in 1963 and has also received more than 20 honorary doctorates.

Though very respected for her early works, she got so involved in the "Death 'n' Dying" culture that it may have clouded her judgement. In the early 80's she was caught in the middle of a sexual scandal as a result of a workshop in her mountaintop retreat in Escondido, California. The workshop, intended for grieving widows who were visiting her retreat, had as main attraction a self-proclaimed medium who had the abillity to channel "afterlife entities", and facilitate their having sex with the widows. After the widows came down with similar vaginal infections and the light was turned on during a session, the scandal erupted.

Kübler-Ross suffered a series of strokes in 1995 which left her partially paralyzed on her left side. In a 2002 interview with The Arizona Republic, she stated that she was ready for death. She died in 2004 at her home in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Selected bibliography

 * On Death & Dying, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969
 * Questions & Answers on Death & Dying, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972
 * Death: The Final Stage of Growth, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974
 * To Live Until We Say Goodbye, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978
 * The Doughy Letter -A Letter to a Dying Child, (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
 * Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill), (Harper & Row), 1980
 * Working It Through, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone),1981
 * Living With Death & Dying, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone),1981
 * Remember The Secret, (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press)1981
 * On Children & Death, (Simon & Schuster)1985
 * AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge, (Simon & Schuster)1988
 * On Life After Death, (Celestial Arts)
 * Death is of Vital Importance, (Out of Print- Now The Tunnel and the Light) 1995
 * Unfolding the Wings of Love (Germany only - Silberschnur), 1996
 * Making the Most of the Inbetween, (Various Foreign) 1996
 * Aids & Love, The Conference in Barcelona, (Spain) 1996
 * Longing to Go Back Home, (Germany only - Silberschnur), 1997
 * The Wheel of Life, (Simon & Schuster/Scribner),1997
 * Why Are We Here, (Germany only - Silberschnur), 1999
 * The Tunnel and the Light, (Avalon), 1999
 * Life lessons, (With David Kessler), 2001
 * Real Taste of Life: A photographic Journal

Resources

 * "Home Page". Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.
 * "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross". Women's International Center (WIC).