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aris_ada t1_iv0l9mk wrote

Reply to comment by WrongSubFools in How accurate are the "5 stages of grief" to model behavior during the loss of an important person? by pororoca_surfer

> is not a normal response to a loved one dying. (If someone insists their spouse isn't actually dead, that is not normal grief but a severe delusion.)

I agree with all you said especially that the "stages of grief" have been widely used out of any scientific context. But I definitively remember being in denial of my father's death during half of the car trip. I did not try bargaining obviously, after I saw his body all I had was sadness and anger.

However I think these stages work with other emotional events like a separation. Bargaining is definitively within the range of emotional responses to your partner's announcing they're leaving, along with anger, sadness or denial.

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WrongSubFools t1_iv0n7qc wrote

Oh, I think it makes sense to react with denial to the news of a loved one's death. Just not to the death itself. I suppose when TV etc portrays the five stages, they too are talking about reacting to news, initially unconfirmed, of the death.

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PurpleHooloovoo t1_iv1b48t wrote

I think there is a bit of denial, in that the brain sometimes doesn't really process it. You don't really truly believe it, even after you've seen irrefutable proof, because to acknowledge it is to bring about that grief.

It isn't a logical, true, actual denial, but a (subconscious) denial by the brain of dealing with it. I've seen that personally happen. Rationally you know, but that pain is so great, the brain doesn't want to go there right away.

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mcnathan80 t1_iv26eea wrote

"Honey sit down. So-and-so is dead"

"WhAt!?!?" [denial]

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