Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Pioneers of Human Behaviour: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
A Gateway to Her Life, Theories, and Legacy

Few thinkers changed the way we face death as profoundly as Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. At a time when hospitals hid dying patients behind curtains and silence, she pulled up a chair and asked the bravest question in medicine: “What is it like to be dying?” From those bedside conversations came a new language for loss — not as a failure, but as a deeply human passage that deserves honesty, dignity, and love.

This concise yet powerful volume distils Kübler-Ross’s life and work into clear, engaging chapters. From her wartime volunteer days in Switzerland to the landmark seminars at Billings Hospital, from the five stages of grief to a legacy that helped build modern hospice and palliative care, this book offers both a portrait of the person and a gateway into ideas that still shape how we live — and how we say goodbye.

Alongside an accessible exploration of Kübler-Ross’s theories, you’ll discover:

• How the five stages emerged from listening to patients — and why they were never meant to be a rigid sequence.

• Why “life review” can bring meaning, reconciliation, and peace at the end of life.

• The ways her insights travelled from hospital wards to families, classrooms, disaster response, and cross-cultural rituals.

• The key criticisms (and misuses) of the stages — and what Kübler-Ross herself clarified.

• The stories and symbols (including her beloved butterfly) that made her teaching unforgettable.

Part biography, part theory guide, and part reflection on compassion in practice, this book is a gateway to Kübler-Ross’s enduring influence. It’s written to be fully accessible without oversimplifying, for students, professionals, and any reader who wants to meet death — and life — with greater courage.

The Pioneers of Human Behaviour series celebrates the lives and legacies of psychology’s greatest minds, presenting timeless insights in a format designed to inspire, inform, and endure.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is right

I learned a great deal. The most impressive thing was that she did not believe her stages of grieving were linear. I always thought they were, I was wrong.