KblerRoss Elisabeth

Swiss psychiatrist and author who is noted for her work with death and the dying. Her first book, "On Death and Dying," 1969, introduced the five stages of dying; denial, isolation, anger, bargaining and depression, before acceptance; all efforts to maintain power over ones own death. Throughout her life, she has assisted perhaps 20,000 people through their transition into an afterlife. With total belief in the continuity of life spirit through the experience of death, she hit upon a ground breaking method of counseling, listening to the patient first and then continuing with the medical techniques. Kübler-Ross was the first born of triplet girls, a mere two pounds with survival uncertain. She was almost an alter ego to her identical triplet Erika who was very sick as a teenager. At 18 she left home alone to see what she could do for the war-ravaged people of France and then Poland. Against the wishes of her father she struggled to become a physician. Her dad was a tyrannical bureaucrat who refused to recognize her desire to become a doctor, starting her lifetime of bucking authority. When she finished school and would not go to work for her dad, he threw her out of the house. She spent years working as a lab assistant while going to medical school. As WW II ended, she did volunteer work through ravaged Europe. As a young doctor, she married Emanuel Ross, an American neuropathologist. Following two miscarriages, they had a son, Ken, 1960; two more miscarriages and a daughter, Barbara, 1964. At the hospital where she worked, she was most affected by the dismissal and lack of support for terminal patients. With her determination and dedication, she brought many of them back to health. Eventually she was drawn to those most truly abandoned by our society, namely the dying. At the University of Colorado, Kübler-Ross began lecturing about the process of dying. By the time the family moved to Chicago, her lectures were attracting standing-room-only. She felt strongly that people often clung to life because of unfinished business and once they brought their affairs into order, making amends, saying goodbyes and concluding their mundane arrangements, that they could have a peaceful, even happy death. Her impact was revolutionary. Though a world- traveler for her lectures, her personal style offended many. Certainly inspirational and indisputably charismatic, she was also known as abrasive and critical of the medical profession. Her compassion and love of humanity shone through, but her detractors found her downright arrogant. When she went public with her belief in the spirit world and in the late 70s began speaking of her own "spooks," the medical establishment labeled her a kook. Over the years, she reported several out-of-body experiences, including two near-death events (due to a bowel obstruction, and to cardiac fibrillation). She personally reported on the light, the peace, the overwhelming love of the experiences. During one endless night of agony, she felt that she was reliving the deaths of all her patients, and after going through the pain and fear, emerged with cosmic consciousness. Kübler-Ross was an ardent hiker, mountain climber and skier. She admitted to a short fuse, great highs and lows and an overly idealistic nature. She had an excellent memory, nearly total recall, and she was a workaholic. In 1979 she caused concern amongst her colleagues with her interests in the occult. She began an association Read less