When you lose a loved one, your own life significantly changes. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross provided a framework for understanding the grieving process when she first identified the profound responses of patients with terminal illness. The emotional stages they experienced—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—can also explain how people grieve a loved one’s death. This five-part CareNote series on the stages of grief provides landmarks for your own road to healing.

Breaking Through Your Denial: Breaking through denial is an essential beginning to the grieving process. You must open yourself to the vast array of often convoluted and incoherent emotions filling your being.

By Karen Katafiasz