10/12/2025
The idea of “stages of grief” came from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s work with people facing their own terminal diagnoses, not those mourning a loss. It was never intended it to be a strict roadmap for experiencing grief but has become widely accepted and misinterpreted. Modern grief research shows it doesn’t unfold in neat, predictable steps. Rather than moving through a fixed sequence, people grieve in ways that are complex, individual, and often messy.