thanatology

Description or study of death and dying and of the psychological mechanisms of dealing with them. One influential model proposed in 1969 by the psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (b. 1926) described five basic stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance; however, not all dying persons follow a regular, clearly identifiable series of responses to their situation. Thanatology also examines attitudes toward death, the meaning and behaviours of bereavement and grief, and other matters.

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