<P> The Kübler - Ross model (otherwise known as the five stages of grief) postulates a progression of emotional states experienced by both terminally ill patients after diagnosis and by loved - ones after a death . The five stages are chronologically: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance . </P> <P> The model was first introduced by Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler - Ross in her 1969 book On Death and Dying, and was inspired by her work with terminally ill patients . Motivated by the lack of instruction in medical schools on the subject of death and dying, Kübler - Ross examined death and those faced with it at the University of Chicago medical school . Kübler - Ross' project evolved into a series of seminars which, along with patient interviews and previous research, became the foundation for her book . </P>

The first stage in kubler-ross’s five stages of the dying process is