Written by San Francisco Bankruptcy Lawyer, Jeena Cho
Recently, I was reading an email exchange on a bankruptcy lawyers’ Listserv. One attorney mentioned the “five stages of grief” and his client’s struggle through the stages. Most of us probably have experienced these five stages sometime in our life. When a traumatic event happens, such as a loss of a job, divorce, loss in stock market, death of a spouse, etc. It’s natural to go through these stages.
Here are the five stages of progression.
- Denial - “I’ll avoid opening the mail, answer my phone, just ignore it.” “It can’t be that bad.” “Something will change.” The first stage is only temporary defense.
- Anger - “Why is this happening to me?” “It’s so unfair!” “It’s my ex-boss, ex-wife, ex-husband, children’s fault.” Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue.
- Bargaining - “Maybe I can wait until next year.” “Maybe if I just pay the monthly minimum payment, it will get better.” The third state involves the hope that individual can somehow postpone or delay the situation.
- Depression - “I’m so sad, why bother with anything.” “There is no way out.” During this stage, the person begins to understand the certainty of his or her circumstance.
- Acceptance - “It’s going to be okay.” “There is a solution.” In this last stage, the individual comes to terms with the reality of his or her situation.”
Source: Kübler-Ross model (From Wikipedia)
