Are the 5 stages of grief a real thing? How can every human experience the same emotions in the same order after a tragedy?

Question

Are the 5 stages of grief a real thing? How can every human experience the same emotions in the same order after a tragedy?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Quoting from – yeah I know – [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_stages_of_grief):

>The model was introduced by Swiss-American 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’s medical school.
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>Kübler-Ross later noted that the stages are not a linear and predictable progression and that she regretted writing them in a way that was misunderstood. “Kübler-Ross originally saw these stages as reflecting how people cope with illness and dying,” observed grief researcher Kenneth J. Doka, “not as reflections of how people grieve.”

In real life, it’s more like expressions of grief than distinct stages. It’s highly conditional and individual, up to and including people starting with acceptance within the first five minutes of hearing the news.