The book's most enduring contribution is the identification of five stages that terminally ill patients often experience after receiving a diagnosis. These stages are not strictly linear and may overlap or be revisited:

is a seminal 1969 book by psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross that transformed the modern understanding of terminal illness and the emotional experience of the dying. The Five Stages of Grief

: A state of great sense of loss. This can be reactive depression (loss of job, health, roles) or preparatory depression (quiet preparation for final separation).