Getting Bad News
We get “bad news” many times in our lives. The news can be life-altering and we can be very vulnerable when this news is received. In the Links for Perspective portion of this site there is a video from the Cleveland Clinic. No matter what the “bad news”, there are predictable stages of grief that we go through. Although, keep in mind that these stages may not necessarily be gone through exactly the order in which they are listed. People go back and forth or get stuck in one of the stages for a prolonged period of time. In addition stages can be skipped. Therefore, there is this variability but the end goal is to get to “acceptance” as the final stage.
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has written a classic book, “On Death and Dying”, which I believe should be required reading for anybody in the medical profession. As a result, it is a great aid for anyone:
- Patients
- Family
- Friends
- Counselors
The stages are seen below in a flow chart format.
In the book that I have written, I Want to Live, the Power We Have, I develop each one of these stages in a little more detail. These stages seem to really apply when it comes to our health, but there are so many other situations causing the same sequence of reactions.
A Roadmap for Hope
To summarize this post, I want to share with you six principles, a roadmap to keep in mind during all of the stages augmenting hope.
For more detail and information about this, visit “I Want to Live”
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