Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

User talk:Excogitate32

2024-09-06T19:35:31Z

Pookah0501: /* July 2024 */ Reply

== July 2024 ==

Hi. Regarding [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3APookah0501&diff=1237280335&oldid=1237253186 this edit] to {{User|Pookah0501}}, are you using two accounts? [[User:Tacyarg|Tacyarg]] ([[User talk:Tacyarg|talk]]) 07:48, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
:Hi, I'm still rather confused about your response to my question on Pookah0591's Talk page. Do you use both accounts to edit? [[User:Tacyarg|Tacyarg]] ([[User talk:Tacyarg|talk]]) 22:29, 28 August 2024 (UTC)
:Sorry - I've been out of the country. My account was hacked so Wiki asked me to stop using other account. [[User:Excogitate32|Excogitate32]] ([[User talk:Excogitate32#top|talk]]) 18:36, 31 August 2024 (UTC)
::Who asked you? "Wiki" does not ask anything; only individual editors and nothing suggests that account was compromised; otherwise it would be blocked. [[User:S0091|S0091]] ([[User talk:S0091|talk]]) 18:56, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
:::[[File:Ken Ross compromised password. Sept 6 2024-09-06.png|thumb]]
:::[[User:Pookah0501|Pookah0501]] ([[User talk:Pookah0501|talk]]) 19:35, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

== [[Ken Ross (photographer)]] ==

Interviews are [[WP:primary sources|primary sources]] and not independent so not helpful with establishing [[WP:NBIO|notability]]. What is needed are independent [[WP:secondary|secondary]] reliable sources that have written in-depth ''about him'' (not what he says or about the foundation). [[User:S0091|S0091]] ([[User talk:S0091|talk]]) 18:52, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

Balfour Mount

2024-08-18T01:31:19Z

Pookah0501: correction of year

{{Infobox person
|name = Balfour Mount
|image =
|alt =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|04|14}}
|birth_place = [[Ottawa|Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada
|death_date = 
|death_place =
|other_names =
|known_for = father of [[palliative care]] in [[North America]]
|occupation =
|nationality =
|awards = [[Order of Canada]] [[National Order of Quebec]]
}}
{{Short description|Canadian physician, surgeon, and academic}}
'''Balfour M. Mount''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|OQ}} (born 14 April 1939) is a [[Canadians|Canadian]] physician, surgeon, and academic. He is considered the father of [[palliative care]] in [[North America]].<ref name="OrderOfCanada">{{OCC|1209}}</ref>

Born in [[Ottawa|Ottawa, Ontario]],<ref name="OttawaCitizen">{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=896d005a-fedd-4f50-a2d9-83a95fc56464 |title=A Moral Force: The Story of Dr. Balfour Mount |author=Andrew Duffy |work=[[Ottawa Citizen]] |accessdate=January 1, 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215112019/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=896d005a-fedd-4f50-a2d9-83a95fc56464 |archivedate=15 December 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> he received his medical degree from [[Queen's School of Medicine|Queen's University]] in 1963 and studied surgery and urology at [[McGill University]].<ref name="McGill">{{cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/38/17/convocation/|title=McGill honours and is honoured|work=[[McGill University]]|accessdate=January 1, 2007}}</ref> In January 1973, Dr. Mount, an urologic-cancer surgeon, was influenced by a discussion group of [[Elisabeth Kubler-Ross]]' book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' to lead a study of the conditions at Montreal's [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal|Royal Victoria Hospital]]. After visiting [[Cicely Saunders]]' [[St. Christopher's Hospice]], he helped to create a similar ward within the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1974<ref>{{Cite web|title=Balfour Mount Oral History|url=https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=ped_pal_oral_hist|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629140218/https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=ped_pal_oral_hist |archive-date=2021-06-29 }}</ref> and coined the term "[[palliative care]]".<ref name="OttawaCitizen"/> He became the founding Director of the Royal Victoria Hospital Palliative Care Service, the Palliative Care McGill in 1990 and the McGill Programs in Integrated Whole Person Care in 1999. Dr. Mount is the Eric M. Flanders Emeritus Professor of Palliative Care at [[McGill University]].<ref name="Arche">{{cite web|url=http://www.ss.ucalgary.ca/JArchibald/Mount.html|title=About Dr. Balfour M. Mount|accessdate=January 1, 2007 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061001185241/http://www.ss.ucalgary.ca/JArchibald/Mount.html |archivedate = October 1, 2006}}</ref> In 2021, he published his autobiography, ''Ten Thousand Crossroads: The Path as I Remember It'', which provides an account of his life and explores the early development of palliative care.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ten Thousand Crossroads: The Path as I Remember It |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51582362-ten-thousand-crossroads |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=Goodreads |language=en}}</ref>

==Honours==
In 1985, he was made a Member of the [[Order of Canada]] in recognition for having "founded the first Palliative Care Service at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital". In 2003, he was promoted to Officer in recognition of being "the father of palliative care in North America".<ref name="OrderOfCanada"/> In 1988, he was made an Officer of the [[National Order of Quebec]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=130 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905152648/http://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=130 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-09-05 |title=National Order of Quebec citation |language=French }}</ref> He has been awarded honorary degrees from the [[University of Calgary]],<ref>[https://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/online/may06/convocation.html University of Calgary citation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518184237/http://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/online/may06/convocation.html |date=2007-05-18 }}</ref> Queen's University,<ref>[http://www.queensu.ca/fins/annualreport/2003/ataglance.html Queen's University Honorary Degree Recipients] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417205936/http://www.queensu.ca/fins/annualreport/2003/ataglance.html |date=2008-04-17 }}</ref> and [[Dalhousie University]].<ref>[http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/tools/honorary.htm Dalhousie University - Honorary Degree Recipients, 1986-2004] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522010551/http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/tools/honorary.htm |date=2007-05-22 }}</ref> In 2004, he was featured in the documentary ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pioneers of Hospice : Changing the Face of Dying {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/Pioneers-of-Hospice-:-Changing-the-Face-of-Dying/oclc/56896703 |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=search.worldcat.org |language=en}}</ref> In 2018 he was inducted into the [[Canadian Medical Hall of Fame]].

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Canadian Medical Hall of Fame}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount, Balfour}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian surgeons]]
[[Category:Academic staff of McGill University]]
[[Category:Officers of the National Order of Quebec]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Academics from Ottawa]]
[[Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni]]
[[Category:Canadian urologists]]
[[Category:Canadian oncologists]]
[[Category:Palliative care physicians]]

Balfour Mount

2024-08-18T01:30:30Z

Pookah0501: /* Honours */ added additional honor.

{{Infobox person
|name = Balfour Mount
|image =
|alt =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|04|14}}
|birth_place = [[Ottawa|Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada
|death_date = 
|death_place =
|other_names =
|known_for = father of [[palliative care]] in [[North America]]
|occupation =
|nationality =
|awards = [[Order of Canada]] [[National Order of Quebec]]
}}
{{Short description|Canadian physician, surgeon, and academic}}
'''Balfour M. Mount''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|OQ}} (born 14 April 1939) is a [[Canadians|Canadian]] physician, surgeon, and academic. He is considered the father of [[palliative care]] in [[North America]].<ref name="OrderOfCanada">{{OCC|1209}}</ref>

Born in [[Ottawa|Ottawa, Ontario]],<ref name="OttawaCitizen">{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=896d005a-fedd-4f50-a2d9-83a95fc56464 |title=A Moral Force: The Story of Dr. Balfour Mount |author=Andrew Duffy |work=[[Ottawa Citizen]] |accessdate=January 1, 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215112019/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=896d005a-fedd-4f50-a2d9-83a95fc56464 |archivedate=15 December 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> he received his medical degree from [[Queen's School of Medicine|Queen's University]] in 1963 and studied surgery and urology at [[McGill University]].<ref name="McGill">{{cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/38/17/convocation/|title=McGill honours and is honoured|work=[[McGill University]]|accessdate=January 1, 2007}}</ref> In January 1973, Dr. Mount, an urologic-cancer surgeon, was influenced by a discussion group of [[Elisabeth Kubler-Ross]]' book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' to lead a study of the conditions at Montreal's [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal|Royal Victoria Hospital]]. After visiting [[Cicely Saunders]]' [[St. Christopher's Hospice]], he helped to create a similar ward within the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1974<ref>{{Cite web|title=Balfour Mount Oral History|url=https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=ped_pal_oral_hist|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629140218/https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=ped_pal_oral_hist |archive-date=2021-06-29 }}</ref> and coined the term "[[palliative care]]".<ref name="OttawaCitizen"/> He became the founding Director of the Royal Victoria Hospital Palliative Care Service, the Palliative Care McGill in 1990 and the McGill Programs in Integrated Whole Person Care in 1999. Dr. Mount is the Eric M. Flanders Emeritus Professor of Palliative Care at [[McGill University]].<ref name="Arche">{{cite web|url=http://www.ss.ucalgary.ca/JArchibald/Mount.html|title=About Dr. Balfour M. Mount|accessdate=January 1, 2007 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061001185241/http://www.ss.ucalgary.ca/JArchibald/Mount.html |archivedate = October 1, 2006}}</ref> In 2001, he published his autobiography, ''Ten Thousand Crossroads: The Path as I Remember It'', which provides an account of his life and explores the early development of palliative care.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ten Thousand Crossroads: The Path as I Remember It |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51582362-ten-thousand-crossroads |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=Goodreads |language=en}}</ref>

==Honours==
In 1985, he was made a Member of the [[Order of Canada]] in recognition for having "founded the first Palliative Care Service at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital". In 2003, he was promoted to Officer in recognition of being "the father of palliative care in North America".<ref name="OrderOfCanada"/> In 1988, he was made an Officer of the [[National Order of Quebec]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=130 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905152648/http://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=130 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-09-05 |title=National Order of Quebec citation |language=French }}</ref> He has been awarded honorary degrees from the [[University of Calgary]],<ref>[https://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/online/may06/convocation.html University of Calgary citation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518184237/http://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/online/may06/convocation.html |date=2007-05-18 }}</ref> Queen's University,<ref>[http://www.queensu.ca/fins/annualreport/2003/ataglance.html Queen's University Honorary Degree Recipients] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417205936/http://www.queensu.ca/fins/annualreport/2003/ataglance.html |date=2008-04-17 }}</ref> and [[Dalhousie University]].<ref>[http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/tools/honorary.htm Dalhousie University - Honorary Degree Recipients, 1986-2004] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522010551/http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/tools/honorary.htm |date=2007-05-22 }}</ref> In 2004, he was featured in the documentary ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pioneers of Hospice : Changing the Face of Dying {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/Pioneers-of-Hospice-:-Changing-the-Face-of-Dying/oclc/56896703 |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=search.worldcat.org |language=en}}</ref> In 2018 he was inducted into the [[Canadian Medical Hall of Fame]].

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Canadian Medical Hall of Fame}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount, Balfour}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian surgeons]]
[[Category:Academic staff of McGill University]]
[[Category:Officers of the National Order of Quebec]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Academics from Ottawa]]
[[Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni]]
[[Category:Canadian urologists]]
[[Category:Canadian oncologists]]
[[Category:Palliative care physicians]]

Balfour Mount

2024-08-18T01:26:32Z

Pookah0501: added mention of subjects autobiography

{{Infobox person
|name = Balfour Mount
|image =
|alt =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|04|14}}
|birth_place = [[Ottawa|Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada
|death_date = 
|death_place =
|other_names =
|known_for = father of [[palliative care]] in [[North America]]
|occupation =
|nationality =
|awards = [[Order of Canada]] [[National Order of Quebec]]
}}
{{Short description|Canadian physician, surgeon, and academic}}
'''Balfour M. Mount''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|OQ}} (born 14 April 1939) is a [[Canadians|Canadian]] physician, surgeon, and academic. He is considered the father of [[palliative care]] in [[North America]].<ref name="OrderOfCanada">{{OCC|1209}}</ref>

Born in [[Ottawa|Ottawa, Ontario]],<ref name="OttawaCitizen">{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=896d005a-fedd-4f50-a2d9-83a95fc56464 |title=A Moral Force: The Story of Dr. Balfour Mount |author=Andrew Duffy |work=[[Ottawa Citizen]] |accessdate=January 1, 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215112019/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=896d005a-fedd-4f50-a2d9-83a95fc56464 |archivedate=15 December 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> he received his medical degree from [[Queen's School of Medicine|Queen's University]] in 1963 and studied surgery and urology at [[McGill University]].<ref name="McGill">{{cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/38/17/convocation/|title=McGill honours and is honoured|work=[[McGill University]]|accessdate=January 1, 2007}}</ref> In January 1973, Dr. Mount, an urologic-cancer surgeon, was influenced by a discussion group of [[Elisabeth Kubler-Ross]]' book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' to lead a study of the conditions at Montreal's [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal|Royal Victoria Hospital]]. After visiting [[Cicely Saunders]]' [[St. Christopher's Hospice]], he helped to create a similar ward within the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1974<ref>{{Cite web|title=Balfour Mount Oral History|url=https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=ped_pal_oral_hist|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629140218/https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=ped_pal_oral_hist |archive-date=2021-06-29 }}</ref> and coined the term "[[palliative care]]".<ref name="OttawaCitizen"/> He became the founding Director of the Royal Victoria Hospital Palliative Care Service, the Palliative Care McGill in 1990 and the McGill Programs in Integrated Whole Person Care in 1999. Dr. Mount is the Eric M. Flanders Emeritus Professor of Palliative Care at [[McGill University]].<ref name="Arche">{{cite web|url=http://www.ss.ucalgary.ca/JArchibald/Mount.html|title=About Dr. Balfour M. Mount|accessdate=January 1, 2007 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061001185241/http://www.ss.ucalgary.ca/JArchibald/Mount.html |archivedate = October 1, 2006}}</ref> In 2001, he published his autobiography, ''Ten Thousand Crossroads: The Path as I Remember It'', which provides an account of his life and explores the early development of palliative care.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ten Thousand Crossroads: The Path as I Remember It |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51582362-ten-thousand-crossroads |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=Goodreads |language=en}}</ref>

==Honours==
In 1985, he was made a Member of the [[Order of Canada]] in recognition for having "founded the first Palliative Care Service at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital". In 2003, he was promoted to Officer in recognition of being "the father of palliative care in North America".<ref name="OrderOfCanada"/> In 1988, he was made an Officer of the [[National Order of Quebec]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=130 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905152648/http://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=130 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-09-05 |title=National Order of Quebec citation |language=French }}</ref> He has been awarded honorary degrees from the [[University of Calgary]],<ref>[https://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/online/may06/convocation.html University of Calgary citation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518184237/http://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/online/may06/convocation.html |date=2007-05-18 }}</ref> Queen's University,<ref>[http://www.queensu.ca/fins/annualreport/2003/ataglance.html Queen's University Honorary Degree Recipients] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417205936/http://www.queensu.ca/fins/annualreport/2003/ataglance.html |date=2008-04-17 }}</ref> and [[Dalhousie University]].<ref>[http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/tools/honorary.htm Dalhousie University - Honorary Degree Recipients, 1986-2004] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522010551/http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/tools/honorary.htm |date=2007-05-22 }}</ref> In 2018 he was inducted into the [[Canadian Medical Hall of Fame]].

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Canadian Medical Hall of Fame}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount, Balfour}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian surgeons]]
[[Category:Academic staff of McGill University]]
[[Category:Officers of the National Order of Quebec]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Academics from Ottawa]]
[[Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni]]
[[Category:Canadian urologists]]
[[Category:Canadian oncologists]]
[[Category:Palliative care physicians]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-25T23:57:41Z

Pookah0501: /* Academic career */ capitalization error

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
[[File:Cicely-Saunders & Kübler-Ross at first IWG Meeting, November 1974.jpg|thumb|Cicely Saunders & Kübler-Ross at first IWG meeting, Maryland 1974]]
In the 1970s, Kübler-Ross emerged as a leading advocate for the global hospice movement. She traveled to over twenty countries across six continents, initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross delivered the esteemed Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University, focusing on the topics of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. This movement began gaining traction in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom during the 1970s.

The International Work Group ([https://www.iwgddb.com IWG]) on Death, Dying, and Bereavement, a prominent organization in the field, convened its inaugural meeting from November 14 to 19, 1974, in Columbia, Maryland. Founded by leading experts in death and dying, including Cicely Saunders, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, William Worden, and Robert Fulton, the IWG aimed to advance research and practice in this emerging field. In April 1976, Kübler-Ross, along with Ram Dass and Timothy Leary, participated in a program dedicated to death and dying, which was sponsored by Forest Hospital in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 3, 1976 |title=Chicago Tribune, Page 14 "Dates to Watch"}}</ref> The following year she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition" (LDT) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:22-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-25T20:02:55Z

Pookah0501: /* Academic career */ added more details to this period of Kübler-Ross' life

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
[[File:Cicely-Saunders & Kübler-Ross at first IWG Meeting, November 1974.jpg|thumb|Cicely Saunders & Kübler-Ross at first IWG Meeting, Maryland 1974]]
In the 1970s, Kübler-Ross emerged as a leading advocate for the global hospice movement. She traveled to over twenty countries across six continents, initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross delivered the esteemed Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University, focusing on the topics of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. This movement began gaining traction in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom during the 1970s.

The International Work Group ([https://www.iwgddb.com IWG]) on Death, Dying, and Bereavement, a prominent organization in the field, convened its inaugural meeting from November 14 to 19, 1974, in Columbia, Maryland. Founded by leading experts in death and dying, including Cicely Saunders, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, William Worden, and Robert Fulton, the IWG aimed to advance research and practice in this emerging field. In April 1976, Kübler-Ross, along with Ram Dass and Timothy Leary, participated in a program dedicated to death and dying, which was sponsored by Forest Hospital in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 3, 1976 |title=Chicago Tribune, Page 14 "Dates to Watch"}}</ref> The following year she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition" (LDT) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:22-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-25T19:38:19Z

Pookah0501: /* Academic career */ Added photograph for illustration

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
[[File:Cicely-Saunders & Kübler-Ross at first IWG Meeting, November 1974.jpg|thumb|Cicely Saunders & Kübler-Ross at first IWG Meeting, Maryland 1974]]
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. During the 1970's the "Death with Dignity" movement began to emerge in the United States, Canada, and the UK. A significant group in this field was [https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Awr93NfGo6JmzhYFUsNXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10BGZyMgNzYi10b3AEZ3ByaWQDWFRPeGFZaVBRNnlOSWVvVTVKUHZ5QQRuX3JzbHQDMARuX3N1Z2cDNARvcmlnaW4Dc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAzAEcXN0cmwDMjgEcXVlcnkDSVdHJTIwZGVhdGglMjAxOTc0JTIwZmlyc3QlMjBtZWV0aW5nBHRfc3RtcAMxNzIxOTM0ODgy?p=IWG+death+1974+first+meeting&fp=1&fr=yfp-t&fr2=sb-top&iscqry= The International Work Group (IWG) on Death, Dying, and Bereavement] which had it's first meeting November 14-19, 1974 in Columbia, Maryland. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition" (LDT) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:22-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

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[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-25T19:31:29Z

Pookah0501: /* Academic career */ added further significant event from this period on the history of the death awareness movement

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. During the 1970's the "Death with Dignity" movement began to emerge in the United States, Canada, and the UK. A significant group in this field was [https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Awr93NfGo6JmzhYFUsNXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10BGZyMgNzYi10b3AEZ3ByaWQDWFRPeGFZaVBRNnlOSWVvVTVKUHZ5QQRuX3JzbHQDMARuX3N1Z2cDNARvcmlnaW4Dc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAzAEcXN0cmwDMjgEcXVlcnkDSVdHJTIwZGVhdGglMjAxOTc0JTIwZmlyc3QlMjBtZWV0aW5nBHRfc3RtcAMxNzIxOTM0ODgy?p=IWG+death+1974+first+meeting&fp=1&fr=yfp-t&fr2=sb-top&iscqry= The International Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement] which had it's first meeting November 14-19, 1974 in Columbia, Maryland. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition" (LDT) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:22-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-25T18:42:55Z

Pookah0501: /* Healing center California */ typo correction

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition" (LDT) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:22-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

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[[Category:1926 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-25T18:42:03Z

Pookah0501: /* Healing center California */ typo correction

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:22-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T21:12:55Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ comma correction

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:22-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

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[[Category:1926 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T19:24:52Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ corrected time length

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>), and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:22-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T19:21:19Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ added further information and links

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>), and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

In April of 2024, [[Taylor Swift]] curated a set of Apple Music playlists based on the Five Stages of Grief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millman |first=Ethan |date=2024-04-06 |title=Taylor Swift Soundtracks the Five Stages of Grief With New Apple Music Playlists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-apple-music-1234999955/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/taylor-swift-releases-five-playlists-framed-around-the-stages-of-grief-ahead-of-new-album/ar-BB1l8IDS |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-17 |title=Taylor Swift’s Stages of Grief Playlists on Apple Music Explained: The Joe Alwyn Songs and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-stages-grief-playlists-141124935.html |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

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[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
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[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T18:17:55Z

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{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Harry Santos (2011)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/harryinitiative/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Hugo Dena (2013)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler - Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/hugo-dena/k-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), audio medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, soph (2024)<ref>{{Citation |title=kübler-ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/soph-mcquown/ku-bler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. A song titled, "Kubler-Ross" was released by LettingGo! (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/lettergo_marie/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref> and another by Generations Gap (2017)<ref>{{Citation |title=Kubler Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/generationsgap/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, The Kubler-Ross Model by Keylin Mayfield (2014)<ref>{{Citation |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/keylin-mayfield/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Abie (2019<ref>{{Citation |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/tasty_abie/1-min-test-2a |access-date=2024-07-24 |language=en}}</ref>), and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Dream Cycle" by Kauma (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubler-Ross Dream Cycle |url=https://soundcloud.com/kauma-1/sets/kubler-ross-dream-cycle |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" by BellNotchPeak (2014)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model {{!}} {{!}}DRAFT {{!}}{{!}}{{!}} |url=https://soundcloud.com/bellnotchpeak/sets/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" EP by JDuBTheProducer (2016)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross |url=https://soundcloud.com/jdubtheproducer/sets/kubler-ross |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "The Kübler-Ross Model" by Marcellus Wright (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kubler-Ross Model |url=https://soundcloud.com/marcellus-wright/sets/the-kubler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=SoundCloud |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T06:58:28Z

Pookah0501: /* Selected bibliography */ Added citation

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books, Chapters and Papers |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/books-chapters-and-papers/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T06:57:18Z

Pookah0501: /* Selected bibliography */ added list of published languages

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

Published in a total of 44 Languages ''including - Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bahasa, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T06:53:00Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ better sentence structure and clarifying statement.

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, several albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024), with some of these 5-song EP albums featuring one song named after each stage.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T02:21:21Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ added missing quotation mark

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T02:20:21Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ added another example

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross by Liquid Project (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=III: Endless Negotations, by Liquid Project |url=https://aalp.bandcamp.com/track/iii-endless-negotations |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Liquid Project |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T01:25:26Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ corrections to typos

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>, kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, and Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Further songs were named after her such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T01:23:37Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ added further examples

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref> Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>. Songs named "The Kübler-Ross Model" were released by Matt Elliott (2008<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler-Ross model, by Matt Elliott |url=https://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Matt Elliott |language=en}}</ref>), kaapin (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |title=the kübler-ross model, by kaapin |url=https://kaapin.bandcamp.com/track/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=kaapin |language=en}}</ref>, Nyctophilia (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kübler - Ross Model, by Nyctophilia |url=https://nyctophiliaukofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Nyctophilia |language=en}}</ref>, Manic Mannequin (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model, by Manic Mannequin |url=https://manicmannequin.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Manic Mannequin |language=en}}</ref>. Also songs were named after such as "xxKübler-Ross" by John Malkovitch! (2019), and "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad "The First of Many Dreams About Monsters", a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

In addition to songs, albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross Model" EP by What I Reflect (2016), "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance.

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T01:02:54Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ updated and added more content and examples

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014), Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>. In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Model Waltz" by Tumbledryer Babies (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kübler-Ross Model Waltz, by The Tumbledryer Babies |url=https://thetumbledryerbabies.bandcamp.com/track/k-bler-ross-model-waltz |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Tumbledryer Babies |language=en}}</ref>, 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, albums have been named after her such as "Kübler-Ross Experiments" by Alex Temple (2012), "Kübler-Ross" by lav火山 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anger, by lav火山 |url=https://theotherlavkazan.bandcamp.com/track/anger |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=lav火山 |language=en}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. "Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad 'The First of Many Dreams About Monsters,' a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-24T00:46:15Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ added further example of Kübler-Ross in popular music

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref> focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Blaylock |first=B |date=2005 |title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004 |journal=Families, Systems, & Health |volume=23 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108 |via=EBSCO}}</ref> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref> Elephant Rifle (2010),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref> Dominic Moore (2015),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref> Alp Aybers (2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref> Audio Medic (2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref> O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref> and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref> 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023),<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023),<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref> "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. "Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad 'The First of Many Dreams About Monsters,' a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref> Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref> Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref> Another band with the same name (Dabda) exists in Spain and released an album titled "Five Stages of Grief" on September 4, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five stages of grief, by Dabda |url=https://dabdametal.bandcamp.com/album/five-stages-of-grief |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=DABDA |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

User talk:Pookah0501

2024-07-22T00:28:50Z

Pookah0501:

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: Adding external links in text is contrary to [[WP:MOS]] - and as it reads in current edits looks like advertising as well...

Please take time to read about SPAM and why some of your edits might be considered spam. [[User:JarrahTree|JarrahTree]] 00:48, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

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Thank you - I'm still learning...

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-19T00:01:20Z

Pookah0501: /* Further reading */ added Reading reference

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref>, focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. "Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad 'The First of Many Dreams About Monsters,' a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>. Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023
* ''UPLIFTING: Inspiring Stories of Loss, Change, and Growth Inspirited by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'' by Dr. Katie Eastman, 2024

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-18T23:50:15Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ added additional band name to list

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref>, focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech she made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. "Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad 'The First of Many Dreams About Monsters,' a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>. Additionally, a South Korean math rock band named "[[Dabda]]," an acronym representing the Five Stages of Grief, was formed in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Platform Magazine - Math rock band Dabda on making bright music to tackle darker days |url=https://www.platform-magazine.com/music/korean-math-rock-band-dabda-interview}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-17T00:58:07Z

Pookah0501: /* AIDS work */ divided paragraphs with added chapter heading to divide topics

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref>, focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, – On Death & Dying – "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice – Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963–1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross – Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

=== Prison Hospice ===
During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen – kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University – Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. "Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad 'The First of Many Dreams About Monsters,' a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying – What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-05T07:12:13Z

Pookah0501: created new source/citations requested by Wikipedia

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971, Harvard University Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/}}</ref>, focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, - On Death & Dying - "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. "Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad 'The First of Many Dreams About Monsters,' a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-05T07:10:02Z

Pookah0501: Reorganized paragraph chronologically by date

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

In 1970, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross delivered the prestigious Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingersoll_Lectures_on_Human_Immortality}}</ref>, focusing on her seminal work, "On Death and Dying." By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> In 1999, the New York Public Library named "On Death and Dying" one of its "Books of the Century,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title="The New York Public Library's Books of the Century" |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref> and Time magazine recognized her as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross received over 100 awards, including twenty honorary degrees, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 |archive-date=March 1, 2008 |work=Women of the Hall |publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame}}</ref> Stanford University 's Green Library currently houses her remaining archives which are available for study.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019 |title="What the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross archive means for the Department of Medicine", Department of Medicine News, Stanford Medicine |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, - On Death & Dying - "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref>
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. "Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad 'The First of Many Dreams About Monsters,' a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-05T01:22:54Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ clarified sentence

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross was a 2007 inductee into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222|title= Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame |work=Women of the Hall| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 | archive-date=March 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> was named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/|title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|date=2004|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 }}</ref> and was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> In 1970, she delivered an [[The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] on the theme ''On Death and Dying''. The New York Public Library also named, "On Death & Dying" as one of the "Library's Books of the Century."<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, - On Death & Dying - "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0" />
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. "Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive incorporated excerpts of Kübler-Ross's voice three times in their 13:20-minute rock ballad 'The First of Many Dreams About Monsters,' a 2010 song about grief, death, and the singer's deceased mother."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-05T01:18:04Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ clarified sentence meaning

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross was a 2007 inductee into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222|title= Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame |work=Women of the Hall| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 | archive-date=March 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> was named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/|title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|date=2004|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 }}</ref> and was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> In 1970, she delivered an [[The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] on the theme ''On Death and Dying''. The New York Public Library also named, "On Death & Dying" as one of the "Library's Books of the Century."<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, - On Death & Dying - "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0" />
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" album by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" album by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" album by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive integrated Kübler-Ross's voice three times into their 13:20-minute rock ballad “The First of Many Dreams About Monsters” (2010).<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-05T01:15:44Z

Pookah0501: /* Academic career */ corrected title

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross was a 2007 inductee into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222|title= Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame |work=Women of the Hall| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 | archive-date=March 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> was named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/|title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|date=2004|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 }}</ref> and was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> In 1970, she delivered an [[The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] on the theme ''On Death and Dying''. The New York Public Library also named, "On Death & Dying" as one of the "Library's Books of the Century."<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, - On Death & Dying - "The Dying Patient as Teacher" by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0" />
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive integrated Kübler-Ross's voice three times into their 13:20-minute rock ballad “The First of Many Dreams About Monsters” (2010).<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-05T01:10:31Z

Pookah0501: /* Academic career */ added photograph for illustration of this paragraph

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross was a 2007 inductee into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222|title= Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame |work=Women of the Hall| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 | archive-date=March 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> was named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/|title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|date=2004|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 }}</ref> and was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> In 1970, she delivered an [[The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] on the theme ''On Death and Dying''. The New York Public Library also named, "On Death & Dying" as one of the "Library's Books of the Century."<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:The Chicago Theological Seminary - On Death & Dying Article - December, 1966.jpg|thumb|The Chicago Theological Seminary Register, Volume LVII, Number 3, - "On Death & Dying" Article by Elisabeth Ross M.D., December 1966]]

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0" />
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive integrated Kübler-Ross's voice three times into their 13:20-minute rock ballad “The First of Many Dreams About Monsters” (2010).<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-03T01:47:12Z

Pookah0501: /* Legacy on Popular Media and Culture */ added photo to illustrate concept

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross was a 2007 inductee into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222|title= Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame |work=Women of the Hall| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 | archive-date=March 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> was named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/|title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|date=2004|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 }}</ref> and was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> In 1970, she delivered an [[The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] on the theme ''On Death and Dying''. The New York Public Library also named, "On Death & Dying" as one of the "Library's Books of the Century."<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0" />
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
[[File:Kübler-Ross Album by Kübler-Ross.jpg|left|thumb|"Kübler-Ross" by Kübler-Ross (band) 2023]]
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive integrated Kübler-Ross's voice three times into their 13:20-minute rock ballad “The First of Many Dreams About Monsters” (2010).<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-07-03T01:23:53Z

Pookah0501: Moved image to fit into bibliography section instead of music section

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross was a 2007 inductee into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222|title= Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame |work=Women of the Hall| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 | archive-date=March 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> was named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/|title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|date=2004|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 }}</ref> and was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> In 1970, she delivered an [[The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] on the theme ''On Death and Dying''. The New York Public Library also named, "On Death & Dying" as one of the "Library's Books of the Century."<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0" />
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |website=[[Spotify]] |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive integrated Kübler-Ross's voice three times into their 13:20-minute rock ballad “The First of Many Dreams About Monsters” (2010).<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.
==Selected bibliography==
[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-06-29T21:27:21Z

Pookah0501: /* Healing center California */ Added citation

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross was a 2007 inductee into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222|title= Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame |work=Women of the Hall| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 | archive-date=March 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> was named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/|title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|date=2004|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 }}</ref> and was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> In 1970, she delivered an [[The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] on the theme ''On Death and Dying''. The New York Public Library also named, "On Death & Dying" as one of the "Library's Books of the Century."<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glendinning |first=Chellis |date=September 16, 1979 |title="A Visit to Shanti NiIaya", The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle}}</ref> She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0" />
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive integrated Kübler-Ross's voice three times into their 13:20-minute rock ballad “The First of Many Dreams About Monsters” (2010).<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]

==Selected bibliography==
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2024-06-29T21:22:56Z

Pookah0501: /* Career */ added citation

{{Short description|Swiss-American psychiatrist (1926–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
| image = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg 
| birth_name = Elisabeth Kübler
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|8|24|1926|7|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Scottsdale, Arizona]], U.S.
| residence =
| citizenship = {{hlist|Switzerland|United States}}
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = [[Psychiatry]], [[hospice]], [[palliative care]], [[bioethics]], grief, author
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Zürich]] (MD)
| known_for = [[Kübler-Ross model]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Emanuel Ross|1958|1979|end = divorced}}
| children = [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]] Barbara Ross
| awards = National Women's Hall of Fame, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' "Top Thinkers of the 20th Century", Woman of the Year 1977, New York Public Library's: Book of the Century, 20 Honorary degrees
}}

'''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross''' (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American [[psychiatrist]], a pioneer in [[near-death studies]], and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''[[Five stages of grief|On Death and Dying]]'' (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "[[Kübler-Ross model]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224074917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,689491,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2009|title= Milestones |date=August 30, 2004 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first=Sarah M. | last=Broom}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross was a 2007 inductee into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=222|title= Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|publisher=National Women's Hall of Fame |work=Women of the Hall| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301050227/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php/?action=viewone&id=222 | archive-date=March 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> was named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th century<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/|title=Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|date=2004|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 }}</ref> and was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross had taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.<ref>"Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, ''[[Harper's]]'', July 1982, pages 32–42</ref> In 1970, she delivered an [[The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] on the theme ''On Death and Dying''. The New York Public Library also named, "On Death & Dying" as one of the "Library's Books of the Century."<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 13, 1996 |title=The New York Public Library's Books of the Century |url=https://www.nypl.org/voices/print-publications/books-of-the-century}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of [[multiple birth|triplet]]s, two of whom were identical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gill|first=Derek|date=1980|title=Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|location=United States of America|publisher=Harper & Row|pages=2–3|isbn=0-06-011543-2}}</ref> Her life was jeopardized due to complications, weighing only 2 pounds at birth, but she said she survived due to her mother's love and attentiveness.<ref>Newman, Laura. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/329/7466/627.pdf Elisabeth Kübler-Ross]. (2004). ''British Medical Journal'', '''329''' (7466): 627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2003|title=Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross|url=https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_189.html|access-date=December 11, 2020|website=Changing the Face of Medicine}}</ref> Elisabeth later contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at age 5, during which she had her first experience with death as her roommate died peacefully. Her early experiences with death led her to believe that, because death is a necessary stage of life, one must be prepared to face it with dignity and peace.
[[File:Elisabeth_Kübler,_Eva_Kübler,_Erika_Kübler,_Zürich,_Switzerland,_1930.jpg|left|thumb|Triplets: Elisabeth Kübler, Eva Kübler, Erika Kübler, Zürich, Switzerland, 1930]]
During World War II, at only 13 years of age, Elisabeth worked as a laboratory assistant for refugees in Zürich. From a young age, Elisabeth was determined to become a doctor despite her father's efforts in forcing her to become a secretary for his business. She refused him and left home at 16.<ref name="Auto72-7" /> She began working as a housemaid for a mean woman, where she met a doctor who wished to help her in becoming a doctor. She then worked as an apprentice for a Dr. Braun, a scientist in her hometown, up until he went bankrupt. Here, she remembered getting her first lab coat with her name on it.

On May 8th, 1945, at the age of eighteen, she joined the [[International Voluntary Service]] for peace as an activist.<ref name=":2" /> Two days later, she crossed the border into France, leaving her home of Switzerland for the first time. Her first assignment was to help rebuild the French town of Ecurcey. For the next four years, she continued to do relief work in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

In 1947, she visited the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in Poland, an experience that profoundly affected her understanding of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. The harrowing stories of survivors left an indelible mark on Elisabeth, inspiring her life's mission to assist and heal others. She was particularly moved by the poignant imagery of hundreds of butterflies etched into the camp's walls of the children's barracks. These final expressions of art by those facing death stayed with Kübler-Ross for years and significantly shaped her views on end-of-life care..<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Blaylock|first=B|date=2005|title=In Memoriam: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 1926–2004|journal=Families, Systems, & Health|volume=23|pages=108–109|doi=10.1037/1091-7527.23.1.108|via=EBSCO}}</ref> She was also profoundly affected by the images of hundreds of butterflies carved into some of the walls there. To Kübler-Ross, the butterflies—these final works of art by those children facing death—stayed with her for years and influenced her thinking about the end of life.<ref name="Auto72-7">{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross|url=https://www.biography.com/scientist/elisabeth-kubler-ross|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=Biography|language=en-us}}</ref>

Later, in 1947, she briefly lived with the Romany people near the Polish/Russian border town of Bialystok. During this time, she faced the imminent closure of borders by the Russians. Fortunately, Elisabeth crossed paths with United States officers who facilitated her evacuation on a transport plane from Poland to Berlin.

Then, after returning to Zürich, she worked for a dermatologist named Dr. Kan Zehnder at the Canton Hospital an apprentice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of the Living and Dying |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0684193612}}</ref> After this time, she worked to support herself in a variety of jobs, gaining major experience in hospitals while volunteering to provide aid to refugees. Following this, she went on to attend the [[University of Zurich]] to study medicine, and graduated in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross {{!}} Biography, Grief Model, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
===Academic career===

After graduating from the University of Zurich in 1957, Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continue her studies.

She commenced her psychiatric residency in the [[Manhattan Psychiatric Center|Manhattan State Hospital]] on July 6, 1959, marking the beginning of her career working by creating her own treatments for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient", a term used at the time to reference terminal patients. These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Kübler-Ross also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world.<ref name=":1" /> During this time, Ross was horrified by the neglect and abuse of psychiatric patients as well as the imminently dying. She found that the patients were often treated with little care or completely ignored by the hospital staff. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals. She developed a program that focused on the individual care and attention for each patient. This program worked incredibly well, and resulted in significant improvement in the mental health of 94% of her patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth|url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/elisabeth-kblerross/|access-date=December 12, 2020|website=National Women's Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1962, she accepted a position at the [[University of Colorado School of Medicine]]. There, Kübler-Ross worked as a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but she wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life.<ref name=":1" /> She stated to her students:

<blockquote>Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion – the same compassion that you would want for yourself<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

Kübler-Ross completed her training in [[psychiatry]] in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical [[psychoanalysis]] training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]]'s [[Pritzker School of Medicine]], where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar consisting of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.<ref name=":1" />

By 1966, Kübler-Ross was giving regular weekly seminars on dying patients at her hospital. In late 1966, she wrote a seventeen-page article titled "The Dying Patient as Teacher: An Experiment and an Experience" for the December issue of ''The Chicago Theological Seminary Journal,'' which was themed "On Death and Dying." Although she expressed concerns about her English proficiency, the editor reassured her. Despite the journal's limited circulation, a copy of her article reached an editor at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York City. Consequently, on July 7, 1967, Macmillan offered Kübler-Ross a contract to expand her work into a 256-page book titled "On Death & Dying." Coincidentally, just six days later, on July 13, 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice, the first modern hospice, admitted its inaugural patient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Christopher's Hospice - Our history |url=https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=St Christopher's Hospice |language=en-GB}}</ref> The book was officially registered with the US copyright office on May 19, 1969. Despite delays, the book was eventually published in November 1969 and quickly became a best-seller, profoundly altering Elisabeth's life. Notably, as of December 18, 1976, "On Death & Dying" remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks, listing at #3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 13, 1976 |title=The Miami News, Saturday, December 13, 1976, Page 13}}</ref>

In November 1969, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine ran an article on Kübler-Ross, bringing public awareness to her work outside of the medical community. The response was enormous and influenced Kübler-Ross's decision to focus her career on working with the terminally ill and their families. The intense scrutiny her work received also had an impact on her career path. Kübler-Ross stopped teaching at the university to work privately on what she called the "greatest mystery in science"—death.<ref name="Auto72-7" />
During the 1970's, Kübler-Ross became the champion of the worldwide [[hospice movement]]. She traveled to over twenty countries on six continents initiating various hospice and palliative care programs. In 1970, Kübler-Ross spoke at the prestigious [[Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality|Ingersoll Lecture]] at Harvard University on the subject of death and dying.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ingersoll Immortality Lectures: 1963-1971 {{!}} Harvard Square Library |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/immortality-lectures-1963-1971/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> On August 7, 1972, she spoke to the [[United States Senate Special Committee on Aging]] to promote the "Death With Dignity" movement. In 1977, she was named "Woman of the Year" by ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''. In 1978, Kübler-Ross cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association.[[File:Elisabeth_Kubler-Ross_speech_attended_by_Cardinal_Terence_Cooke.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speech attended by Cardinal Terence Cooke, 1970's|left]]

===Healing center California===
Kübler-Ross was one of the central figures in the [[hospice care]] movement, believing that [[euthanasia]] prevents people from completing their "unfinished business".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paris|first1=John J.|last2=Cummings|first2=Brian M.|date=December 2, 2019|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: A Pioneer Thinker, Influential Teacher and Contributor to Clinical Ethics|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19|issue=12|pages=49–51|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674549|pmid=31746716|s2cid=208184496|issn=1526-5161}}</ref>

In 1977, she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace) on forty acres of land in Escondido, California. At this time, Kübler-Ross began conducting "Life, Death, and Transition (LTD) workshops with the goal of assisting people to resolve their "unfinished business", using Shanti Nilaya as a setting for some of these five-day workshops. She also intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the [[American Holistic Medical Association]] during this time period.

In the late 1970s, after interviewing thousands of patients who had died and been resuscitated, she became interested in [[out-of-body experiences]], [[mediumship]], [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could [[channeling (mediumistic)|channel]] the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074920,00.html Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again] by Karen G. Jackovich. In ''People'', October 29, 1979.</ref> Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards was invited to attend a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/details/to-the-monroe-institute-website-to-the-monroe-institute-archives-table-of-conten/mode/2up "Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"]. ''[[Playboy]]''. May 1981.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131093351/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-1,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |title=Behavior: The Conversion of K |magazine=Time |date=November 12, 1979 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323061347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946362-2,00.html |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>Coleman, Kate (July 30, 1979). ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities''. New West.</ref> Despite the accusation of sexual misconduct Kübler-Ross defended him for over a year.<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=Rachael|first=Cusick|title=The Queen of Dying |work=[[Radiolab]] |time=00:41:33|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying|access-date=July 28, 2021|publisher=WNYC Studios}}</ref> The authorities did not press charges against the Barhams. Then she announced the ending of her association with both Jay Barham and his wife Martha in her ''Shanti Nilaya Newsletter'' (issue 7) on June 7, 1981.

===Investigations on near-death experiences===
Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of [[near-death experience]]. She was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,<ref name=":1" /> serving on the Advisory Board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] (IANDS).<ref name=":0" />
Kübler-Ross reported her interviews with the dying for the first time in her book, ''[[On Death and Dying]]: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families'' (1969).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KHpHlsAM4 ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981)'']. Retrieved March 14, 2014. {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wissenschaft.de/home/-/journal_content/56/12054/62660/ ''Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits?'']. Retrieved March 16, 2014.</ref> Originally, this book had a thirteenth chapter on near-death experiences but her colleagues strongly advised her to remove it for the sake of public acceptance, which she did before the book went to press.

Kübler-Ross went on to write several books about near-death experiences (NDEs). Her book ''On Life After Death'' (1991) was compiled from three lectures she gave:
*"Leben und Sterben" (Living and Dying), a speech he made in Switzerland in December 1982 in the German language.
*"There is no Death", given in San Diego in 1977.
*"Life, Death, and Life After Death", a recorded lecture she gave in 1980.
The English language edition sold over 200,000 copies. The German Language edition also was a best seller with 100,000's sold.

Another book, ''The Tunnel and The Light'' (1999), originally entitled ''Death is of Vital Importance'', was also composed of various lectures she had previously given.

=== Her work with children ===
Throughout her career, Kübler-Ross worked extensively with children and wrote three books called ''The Dougy Letter'' (1979), ''Living with Death and Dying'' (1981) and ''On Children and Dying'' (1983) where she wrote about the unique ways that children perceive, discuss, and recognize death. Written after many patients and readers asked her for a more in-depth look into language that terminally ill children use when conveying their needs, she wrote ''Living with Death and Dying'' in 1981. She states that children recognize death much more than we give them credit for and they discuss it with less hesitation than we assume.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living with Death and Dying |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=0025671103}}</ref> The language that children use is somewhat unique to them, depending on their age. Young children tend to use what Kübler-Ross stated as "Nonverbal Symbolic Language", where the use of drawings, pictures, or objects allows them to talk about their understanding of death, since they likely don't know the words to use.<ref name=":4" /> Even as people age, they may not have the words to describe their needs. That is why Kübler-Ross recognized a second form of language that is typically used by older children, adolescents, and sometimes adults. This is known as "Verbal Symbolic Language", where elaborate stories and bizarre questions are used to express their feelings on death.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Verbal & Non-Verbal Language of the Dying & Fear of Death, 1974 |website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-c6iV5ZQY}}</ref> Children may be fearful of asking direct questions regarding their death, so they may come up with stories or strange questions that will meet their needs.<ref name=":4" />

===AIDS work===
During a time when patients suffering from AIDS were being disowned and discriminated against for their illness, Kübler-Ross accepted them with open arms.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS- The Ultimate Challenge |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |isbn=0025671707}}</ref> She conducted many [[workshops]] on life, death, grief, and [[AIDS]] in different parts of the world, teaching about the disease and working to reduce the stigma surrounding it. In December 1983, she moved both her home and workshop headquarters to her own farm in [[Head Waters, Virginia]], to reduce her extensive traveling. Later, she created a workshop meant solely for patients who had contracted AIDS; even though the majority of people who contracted AIDS at that time were gay men, women and children also contracted the disease. This surprised her, as she had not expected just how many children and babies had contracted the terminal illness. She noted in her book that babies typically contracted the disease through the mother or father or through contaminated blood transfusions, also remarking that older children that had the disease may have contracted it due to sexual assault from someone who was HIV-seropositive.<ref name=":5" />

During this period, Kübler-Ross became developed an interest in the concept of prison hospice care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2023 |title=Open History of Psychology: The Lives and contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers: 21. Kübler-Ross |url=https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ |journal=Pressbooks |volume=15 |via=Press Books}}</ref> In the mid-1980's, the prison facility at Vacaville, California emerged as the primary site for delivering healthcare services to incarcerated individuals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Linder |first=John |date=December 2002 |title=Prison hospice and pastoral care services in California |journal=Journal of Palliative Medicine |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=903–908 |doi=10.1089/10966210260499096 |pmid=12685537 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12685537/}}</ref> In 1984, Kübler-Ross delegated one of her staff members, Irene Smith to conduct an investigative assessment of conditions at this institution. Subsequently, Kübler-Ross enlisted the aid of Nancy Jaicks Alexander, a workshop leader in Kübler-Ross' Life, Death, and Transition (LDT) workshops, to further explore avenues for enhancing end-of-life care for AIDS patients confined at the Vacaville facility. Nancy alongside her husband, Robert went on to co-found the first prison hospice in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Nancy Jaicks |title=Just Enough: Collected Writings of an Old Gangster |date=December 21, 2010 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=9781453891681}}</ref> Concurrently, Kübler-Ross pursued additional prison-related initiatives in Hawaii, Ireland and Scotland throughout the 1980s. In June 1991, she held her first LDT workshop inside a prison at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison (HM Prison).

One of her greatest wishes was to build a [[hospice]] for abandoned infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. Kübler-Ross attempted to set this up in the late 1980s in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In October 1994, she lost her house and many possessions, including photos, journals, and notes, to an [[arson]] fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.kinofenster.de/filmeundthemen/neuimkino/archiv_neuimkino/elisabeth_kueblerross_dem_tod_ins_gesicht_sehen_film/ |website=Kinofenster.de |language=de|title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen - kinofenster.de }}</ref>

=== Legacy and contributions ===
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Street_in_Meilen,_Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Street named after Kübler-Ross in Meilen, Switzerland]]
Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice care, palliative care, [[bioethics]], and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.<ref name=":1" /> Kübler-Ross was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to "treat the dying with dignity".<ref name=":0" /> Balfour Mount, the first palliative care physician in Canada and the person who coined the term ''palliative care'', credits Kübler-Ross with sparking his interest in end-of-life care.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 19, 2019 |title="The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children" |pmc=6886676 |last1=Sisk |first1=B. |last2=Baker |first2=J. N. |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=70–72 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674411 |pmid=31746709 }}</ref> Kübler-Ross wrote over 20 books on death and dying, which have been translated into 44 languages.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring two books with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]] including ''On Grief and Grieving'' (2005).<ref name=":0" /> In 2018 Stanford University acquired the Kübler-Ross archives from her family and has started building a digital library of her papers, interviews and other archival material.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Stanford University - Department of Medicine News |url=https://medicine.stanford.edu/news/current-news/standard-news/Kubler-Ross-Archive.html}}</ref>

Following extensive work with dying patients, Kübler-Ross published the internationally best-selling book ''[[On Death and Dying]]'' in 1969, in which she proposed the now famous "[[five stages of grief|five stages" model]] as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model has since become widely accepted in academia and by the general public. In the graphic that was included in "On Death & Dying", Kübler-Ross mentions other emotions as being a part of this journey including: shock, partial denial, preparatory grief (anticipatory grief), hope, and decathexis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death & Dying |date=1969 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781476775548 |pages=251}}</ref>

The five-stage model has received some criticism by academics who argue against approaches that universally apply it to all bereaved groups or claim that grief should be expressed in a set number of rigidly linear stages. Kübler-Ross, with colleague David Kessler in ''On Grief and Grieving'', even cautioned that the stages "are not stops on some linear timeline in grief. Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Avis, Kate Anne; Stroebe, Margaret; Schut, Henk |date=2021 |title=Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal |journal=Front Psychol |volume=12 |issue=772696 |pages= |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 |pmc=8675126 |pmid=34925174 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Dr. Allan Kellehear responded to the critics in the 40th anniversary edition's introduction to "On Death & Dying" the following, "the so-called “stage theory” that you will read in this book is openly described and discussed as a heuristic device. In other words, these stages are merely a set of categories artificially isolated and separately described so that the author can discuss each of these experiences more clearly and simply. The careful reader will note Kübler-Ross’s own repeated warnings that many of these “stages” overlap, occur together, or even that some reactions are missed altogether. To emphasize this conditional way of taking about stages, the word “stages” was even put in inverted commas to emphasize their tentative nature in the only diagrammatic representation of these ideas in the book."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellehear |first=Professor Allan |title=On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and their own Families |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge Publishing |isbn=9780415463997 |edition=40th Anniversary}}</ref>

In the 1980's, an increasing number of companies began using the five stages model to explain reactions to change and loss. This is now known as the "Kübler-Ross Change Curve"®️ and is used by a large variety of [[Fortune 500|''Fortune'' 500 companies]] in the US and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elite |first=Trademark |title=THE KUBLER-ROSS CHANGE CURVE Trademark of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership. Serial Number: 87664751:: Trademark Elite Trademarks |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.trademarkelite.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-18 |title=The Kubler Ross Change Curve: Understanding The 5 Stages Of Change |url=https://themindsjournal.com/kubler-ross-change-curve/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Kübler-Ross_Huis_Hospice_in_Netherlands_2019.jpg|left|thumb|The first hospice in the Netherlands is named after Kübler-Ross]]
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work through a series of international chapters around the world. She received many awards and honors during her career, including honorary degrees from various universities, and is featured in a photograph exhibit at the Virginia headquarters of the [[Hospice care in the United States|National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/elisabeth-kubler-ross/awards-and-honors/ |website=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation |language=|title=Awards and honors|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref> The ''[[American Journal of Bioethics]]'' devoted its entire December 2019 issue to the 50th anniversary of ''On Death and Dying''. For instance, in his article "Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross," American bioethicist [[Mark Kuczewski|Mark G. Kuczewski]] outlined how Kübler-Ross laid the foundation for clinical bioethics and emphasized the need to listen to patients for understanding their needs and improving their quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Kuczewski, Mark G.|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |title=Everything I Really Needed to Know to Be a Clinical Ethicist, I Learned From Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=2019 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=13–18 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674410 |pmid=31746704 |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1958, she married a fellow medical student and classmate from America, Emanuel "Manny" Ross, and moved to the United States. Together, they completed their internships at Long Island's [[Glen Cove Hospital|Glen Cove Community Hospital]] in New York.<ref name=":2" /> After they married, she had their first child in 1960, a son named Kenneth, and in 1963, a daughter named Barbara.<ref name=":3" /> The marriage dissolved in 1979.<ref name = Noble>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/26/us/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78-dies-psychiatrist-revolutionized-care-terminally-ill.html|title = Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 78, Dies; Psychiatrist Revolutionized Care of the Terminally Ill|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Noble|first = Holcomb B.|date = August 26, 2004|accessdate = August 1, 2022|page = B8|url-access = limited}}</ref> Elisabeth & Emanuel remained friends until his death on December 9, 1992.

===Final years and death===

Kübler-Ross endured a sequence of strokes from 1987 to 1994, none of which imposed lasting physical limitations upon her. Following a Virginia house fire on October 6, 1994, and subsequent transient ischemic attack (TIA), she relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1995 |title=The Roanoke Times |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9504/950410/04100085.htm |work=The Roanoke Times Newspaper |pages=A1}}</ref> During this period, the Healing Waters Farm and the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center ceased operations in Headwaters, Virginia. The following month, she acquired a residence in the desert near Carefree, Arizona. After suffering a larger stroke in May 1995, she found herself living in a wheelchair and wished to be able to determine her time of death.<ref>Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, ''On Life After Death'', Foreword by Caroline Myss p. vii. Celestial Arts. {{ISBN|9781587613180}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Oprah Winfrey]] flew to Arizona to interview Kübler-Ross and discuss with her whether she herself was going through the [[five stages of grief]]. July 2001 saw her traveling to Switzerland to celebrate her final birthday (her 75th) with her three triplet sisters. After the events of September 11, Time Magazine brought her to New York City to potentially cover the city's collective grieving process. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator".<ref name=":0" /> From 2002 until August 2004, she resided in a nursing home under hospice care, spending her final days there.
[[File:Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Photo Gravestone, Scottsdale, Arizona.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' gravesite, Paradise Memorial Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona]]
Kübler-Ross died with her two children at her side in Scottsdale on August 24, 2004, aged 78 of natural causes.<ref name=":0" /> She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Scottsdale.

After Elisabeth's passing, Muhammad Ali shared his reflections on her life in the book, ''Tea With Elisabeth'' saying "“Elisabeth taught us that [[self-realization]] is an important part of understanding the meaning of life… It is not coincidence… that the woman who taught us so much about death and dying as a process was truly the campaign of life.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winters |first=Rose |title=Tea With Elisabeth |date=2005 |publisher=Quality of Life Publishing |isbn=9780981621999 |edition=2009}}</ref>

In 2005 her son, [[Ken Ross (photographer)|Ken Ross]], founded the [https://www.ekrfoundation.org Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation] in Scottsdale, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page - EKR Foundation |url=https://www.ekrfoundation.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=EKR Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> The trademark 'Elisabeth Kübler-Ross,' along with all associated copyrights and other trademarks associated with Kübler-Ross, is managed and controlled by her children through the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Family Limited Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Limited Family Partnership |date=July 31, 2002 |title=Trademark Registration of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |url=https://furm.com/trademarks/elisabeth-kubler-ross-78149397 |website=FURM Trademark Registration}}</ref>

== Legacy on Popular Media and Culture ==
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's influence has been significant in popular culture, particularly within the music industry following her passing. Numerous artists and bands have paid homage to Kübler-Ross through their creative works. Songs such as "Kübler-Ross" have been named after her by artists including: Chuck Wilson (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Spotify |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0Od4Oqx9hX7Rw9vRPF5DzN}}</ref>, Elephant Rifle (2010)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elephant Rifle |date=2023 |title=YouTube.com |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLEeFiQ0Mw}}</ref>, Dominic Moore (2015)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Dominic |date=2016 |title=YouTube.com |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDabpniLz0}}</ref>, Alp Aybers (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aybers |first=Alp |date=2020 |title=Shazam.com |url=https://www.shazam.com/song/1727701594/kübler-ross}}</ref>, Audio Medic (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Spotify.com |url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6OraNfdy7h7M6h8dac5Nka}}</ref>, O SIZE (2022), Kübler-Ross ''the band'' (2020), Norro (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2024 |title=YouTube.com |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86JPD_YxXo}}</ref>, and Mic Lanny & James Rock (2014). In 2008 Matt Elliott release, "The Kübler-Ross Model" on his album, "Howling Songs<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 2008 |title="The Kübler-Ross Model" on Genius.com |url=https://genius.com/Matt-elliott-the-kubler-ross-model-lyrics}}</ref>. 'In 2006, The Gnomes released a song track titled “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has Died.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=SONICHITS.com |url=https://sonichits.com/video/The_Gnomes/Elisabeth_Kübler-Ross_Has_Died}}</ref>

In addition to songs, EP albums such as "Kübler-Ross" by Chine Drive (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2021 |title=Band Camp |url=https://chinedriveuk.bandcamp.com/album/kubler-ross}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross Soliloquies" by Deadbeat (2023)<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2023 |title=Dubiks.com |url=https://dubiks.com/2023/08/17/deadbeat-kubler-ross-soliloquies/#google_vignette}}</ref>, "Kübler-Ross" by Coachello (2024), and "Kübler-Ross (Five Stages of Grief)" by Saint Juvi (2024) have been named in her remembrance. Notably, the Oxford-based band Spring Offensive integrated Kübler-Ross's voice three times into their 13:20-minute rock ballad “The First of Many Dreams About Monsters” (2010).<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 1, 2010 |title=The First of Many Dreams About Monsters |url=https://dreamsaboutmonsters.bandcamp.com/album/the-first-of-many-dreams-about-monsters}}</ref>

Several musical artists have also titled albums based on Kübler-Ross’s books, such as "Beyond the Shores (On Death & Dying)" by Shores of Null (2020)<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2020 |title=Angry Metal Guy |url=https://www.angrymetalguy.com/shores-of-null-beyond-the-shores-on-death-and-dying-review/}}</ref> and “Wheel of Life” by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Sadao |date=June 6, 2003 |title=Sadao.com |url=https://www.sadao.com/en/discography/067-wheel-of-life-sadao-watanabe-2/}}</ref>. Marina's 2019 album "Love & Fear" draws direct inspiration from Kübler-Ross's philosophy, as noted in multiple interviews.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Marina on Her New Album Love + Fear, Her Existential Crisis, and the Paradox of Human Nature, ELLE Magazine |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a27275586/marina-love-and-fear-interview/}}</ref>

Kübler-Ross's impact extends to band names as well, with KÜBLER ROSS, a Swedish punk band founded by a former nurse, and Kübler-Ross, a synth/wave/industrial band from Glasgow, Scotland, whose album “Kübler-Ross” was nominated for Album of the Year in Scotland in 2021<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feregusen |first=Brain |date=September 16, 2021 |title=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scottish-album-of-the-year-the-20-contenders-for-the-2021-prize-are-revealed-3385930}}</ref>.[[File:Tomando un té con Kübler-Ross.jpg|thumb|Kübler-Ross' Spanish language books have sold in excess of 3.5 million copies.]]

==Selected bibliography==
* ''On Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Death And Dying - What The Dying Have To Teach Doctors, Nursess, Clergy And Their Own Families |date=December 31, 2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839387}}</ref>
* ''Questions & Answers on Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Questions and Answers on Death and Dying |year=1997 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9780684839370 |edition=Touchstone}}</ref>
* ''Death: The Final Stage of Growth'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death: The Final Stage of Growth |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839417}}</ref>
* ''To Live Until We Say Goodbye'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=To Live Until We Say Goodbye (Paperback) |date=June 12, 1980 |publisher=[[Fireside Books|Fireside]] |isbn=9780671765477 |edition=}}</ref>
* ''The Dougy Letter – A Letter to a Dying Child'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
* ''Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill)'', (Harper & Row), 1980 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Derek |title=Quest |date=May 31, 1980 |publisher=[[Harper Row]] |isbn=9780345300942}}</ref>
* ''Working It Through'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Working It Through |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839424}}</ref>
* ''Living with Death & Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Living With Death & Dying |date=June 25, 2008 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781439505366}}</ref>
* ''Remember the Secret'' (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Remember The Secret |date=December 31, 1981 |publisher=[[Ten Speed Press]] |isbn=9780890873328}}</ref>
* ''On Children & Death'' (Simon & Schuster), 1985 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Children and Death: How Children and Their Parents Can and Do Cope With Death |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839394}}</ref>
* ''AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge'' (Simon & Schuster), 1988 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge |date=June 8, 1997 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780684839400}}</ref>
* ''On Life After Death'' (Celestial Arts), 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=On Life after Death, revised |date=February 29, 2008 |publisher=[[Celestial Arts]] |isbn=9781587613180}}</ref>
* ''Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn (Every Ending is a Bright Beginning)'' (German Language) 1992 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Jedes Ende ist ein strahlender Beginn |date=May 31, 1992 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783923781669 |language=German}}</ref>
* ''Death Is of Vital Importance'' (''The Tunnel and the Light''), 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Death Is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death, and Life After Death |date=December 31, 1994 |publisher=Station Hill Press |isbn=9780882681863}}</ref>
* ''Unfolding the Wings of Love'' (Germany only – Silberschnur), 1996
* ''Making the Most of the Inbetween'' (Various Foreign), 1996
* ''AIDS & Love'', The Conference in Barcelona (Spain), 1996
* ''The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying'' (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997 <ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying |date=December 31, 1997 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |isbn=9780553505443}}</ref>
* ''Sehnsucht nach Hause (Longing to Go Back Home)'' (Germany Language only), 1998<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Sehnsucht nach Hause |date=1998 |publisher=Die Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=3931652211}}</ref>
* ''Warum wir hier sind (Why Are We Here)'' (Germany Language only), 1999.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Warum wir hier sind |date=August 31, 1999 |publisher=Silberschnur Verlag |isbn=9783931652722 |language=German |trans-title=Why we are here}}</ref>
* ''The Tunnel and the Light'' (Avalon), 1999<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=The Tunnel and the Light: Essential Insights on Living and Dying |date=February 25, 1999 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=9781569246900}}</ref>
* ''Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]], Scribner, 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross & Kessler |first=Elisabeth & David |title=Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living (An Inspiring Guide to Life) |date=August 11, 2014 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9781476775531}}</ref>
* ''On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss'', with [[David Kessler (writer)|David Kessler]]. Scribner, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7432-6628-5}}.
* ''Real Taste of Life'': A photographic Journal, 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kübler-Ross |first=Elisabeth |title=Real Taste of Life: A Journal |date=July 29, 2002 |publisher=Ken Ross |isbn=9781583581582}}</ref>
* Is There Life After Death, Audio/CD, Sounds True, ISBN 9781591793786, 2005
* The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 2019 <ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1, 2019 |title=The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of "On Death & Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics - Special Issue |volume=19 |issue=12 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. {{ISBN|0-345-30094-7}}.
* ''The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement'', by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7734-8302-0}}.
* ''Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying'', by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. {{ISBN|0-7910-8027-7}}.
* ''Tea with Elisabeth: Tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'', compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross. Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-9816219-9-9}}.
* [https://www.ekrfoundation.org/stanforduniversity/ ''Stanford University Acquires the Kübler-Ross Archives''], Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation website, 2019
* [http://www.bioethics.net/2019/11/recollections-of-dr-elisabeth-kubler-ross-at-the-university-of-chicago-1965-70/ ''Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago''] (1965–70), by Mark Siegler, MD. Published by the ''American Journal of Bioethics'', 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegler |first=Mark |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Recollections of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at the University of Chicago (1965–70) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674550 |pmid=31746701 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6886676/ ''The Under-appreciated Influence of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on the Development of Palliative Care for Children''], Bryan Sisk, MD. and Justin N. Baker, MD., National Library of Medicine, 2019
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 ''Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist’s Perspective''] by Daniel O. Dugan, November 20, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dugan |first=Daniel O |date=November 20, 2019 |title=Appreciating the Legacy of Kübler-Ross: One Clinical Ethicist's Perspective |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=5–9 |doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1676591 |pmid=31746700 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue'', American Journal of Bioethics, 2019<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boateng, Aslakson |first=Adjoa, Rebecca |date=2019 |title=Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as Astrophysicist: Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Unlock the Black Hole of Physician Burnout, Moral Distress, and Compassion Fatigue |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |journal=The American Journal of Bioethics |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=54–57|doi=10.1080/15265161.2019.1674423 |pmid=31746718 }}</ref>
* ''Death Education: An Approach from the Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', by João Carlos Macedo, Lambert Academic Press, 2020
* ''Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross'' <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Leota |title=Angels in Alaska: My Adventure with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross |date=May 6, 2020 |publisher=[[Self Published]] |isbn=9798638188405}}</ref>
* [https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/highlights/1236048-the-documentary-on-one-the-life-and-living-lady/ ''Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Ireland''] By RTE Radio 1 Ireland, July 19, 2021
* Open History of Psychology: [https://pressbooks.pub/openhistoryofpsychology/chapter/chapter-15-elisabeth-kubler-ross/ ''The Lives and Contributions of Marginalized Psychology Pioneers, 21. Kübler-Ross''], 2023

'''Viewing:'''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gY-jk7N_Eg To Die Today]'', Filmmakers Library, New York, (1967)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnESKUZFqE People Are Talking]:'' Interview with Oprah and Dr. Kübler-Ross, (1974)
* ''On Death and Dying'', NBC special on the phenomenon of Death, (1974)
* ''Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', BBC, (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UA_lj0JdZo&t=13s Das Ende das Angst]'', Ein Portrat der Stebeforscherin, ''German Langauge'' (1981)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpW5r0iXDsU&t=457s Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Lebens und Sterbehilfe]'', Einen Vortrag an der Universität Zürich, Switzerland, ''German Language'' (1982)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZ97OALEfE ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Speaks to a dying patient'']'', Nova Interview (1983)''
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTxOiq3V7Bw To Live Until We Say Goodbye]'', Interview with Dr. Kübler-Ross, 55 min, (1983)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1k3wpvUog Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Lectures on Children & Death]'', University of Washington, (1983)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xeon0vWmw ''University of Washington:'' Interview by Dr. Thomas McCormick with Kübler-Ross], (1984)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpUxqrZyzpo&t=125s Ärztin Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Spricht über Leben und Tod]'', Telfs, Österreich, ''German Langauge'' (1989)
* ''We're Almost Home Now: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross on Children and Death'', Rites of Passage, (1993)
* ''Oprah: Interview of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'', Filmed at Kübler-Ross home, (1997)
* ''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death'' (''Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Dem Tod ins Gesicht Sehen'') Director & write Stephan Haupt, 98 min, (2003)
* ''Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying'', Madison Deane Initiative, (2004)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ekrfoundation.org/ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation]
* [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13134711 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross papers] housed at [[Stanford Libraries]]
* [https://nb-helveticat.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kübler-ross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=41SNL_51_INST:helveticall&lang=en&offset=0 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kubler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek|Swiss National Library/Schweizerische Nationalbibliotek]]
* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=118567500 Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[:de:Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|German National Library/Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]]
* [https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?motRecherche=Kübler-ross&critereRecherche=0&depart=0&facetteModifiee=ok Publications by and about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross] in the catalog of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|French National Library/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]
* {{IMDb title|0348833|Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen (aka Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Facing Death)}} a 2003 Swiss German documentary
* BBC's ''Witness History'' program – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszmjz "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages of Grief"], 2020
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/queen-dying "The Queen of Dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Five Stages"], ''[[Radiolab]]'', WNYC Studios, July 23, 2021

{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:American medical academics]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:American spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:American spiritual writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:American women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Grief]]
[[Category:Hospice]]
[[Category:Near-death experience researchers]]
[[Category:American parapsychologists]]
[[Category:People from Escondido, California]]
[[Category:Scientists from Zürich]]
[[Category:Persons involved with death and dying]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:University of Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Scottsdale, Arizona]]