Question

Dying of cancer, Janice promises God that she will devote her life to the church if He lets her live. According to Kübler-Ross, Janice is exhibiting which of the five typical responses to the prospect of death?

Answer 1

Answer:

Bargaining

Explanation:

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross developed a theory according to which people go through 5 different stages in the process of dying and grief:

1. Denial: First, the person cannot accept the diagnosis from the doctors or can think there is a mistake and that he/she cannot be dying.
2. Anger: In this stage, the person gets angry, usually at God, and gets upset and often wonders why is this happening to him/her.
3. Bargaining: During this stage, the person says she would do anything in exchange for not dying, he/she will make promises (go to church, be a better person) to survive. These promises are usually made to God.
4. Depression: The person accepts that bargaining will not work and will start a process of sadness, starting to recognize the reality of death.
5. Acceptance: The person has come to terms with the fact that he/she is going to die and starts saying her goodbyes and reviews the life he/she has lived and makes arrangements referring to her/his death.

In this example, Janice is dying of cancer and she promises God that she will devote her life to church if he lets her live. We can see that she is bargaining and promising something in exchange for not dying. Therefore, we can see that she is exhibiting the response of bargaining.