Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross introduced the most commonly taught model for understanding death in the 1969 book,On Death and Dying. She theorized that people often go through predictable stages when they are coping with inevitabledeath. These are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Not everyone goes through every stage, and certainly not always in order, but most dying people will experience a stage of anger and resentment.

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Older man with angry look

Dealing With a Dying Person’s Anger

Anger is easily projected onto others, so it’s only natural if your loved one’s anger is directed at you. If you find yourself dealing with an angry dying person, here are five tips to help you help them.

5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Tyrrell P, Harberger S, Schoo C, Siddiqui W.Kubler-ross stages of dying and subsequent models of grief. In:StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022.Hospice Foundation of America.Anger and Grief.National Clinical Guideline Centre.Care of Dying Adults in the Last Days of Life.American Cancer Society.Emotions and Coping As You Near The End Of Life.Zhan J, Ren J, Sun P, Fan J, Liu C, Luo J.The neural basis of fear promotes anger and sadness counteracts anger.Neural Plast. 2018;2018:3479059. doi:10.1155/2018/3479059

5 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Tyrrell P, Harberger S, Schoo C, Siddiqui W.Kubler-ross stages of dying and subsequent models of grief. In:StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022.Hospice Foundation of America.Anger and Grief.National Clinical Guideline Centre.Care of Dying Adults in the Last Days of Life.American Cancer Society.Emotions and Coping As You Near The End Of Life.Zhan J, Ren J, Sun P, Fan J, Liu C, Luo J.The neural basis of fear promotes anger and sadness counteracts anger.Neural Plast. 2018;2018:3479059. doi:10.1155/2018/3479059

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Tyrrell P, Harberger S, Schoo C, Siddiqui W.Kubler-ross stages of dying and subsequent models of grief. In:StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022.Hospice Foundation of America.Anger and Grief.National Clinical Guideline Centre.Care of Dying Adults in the Last Days of Life.American Cancer Society.Emotions and Coping As You Near The End Of Life.Zhan J, Ren J, Sun P, Fan J, Liu C, Luo J.The neural basis of fear promotes anger and sadness counteracts anger.Neural Plast. 2018;2018:3479059. doi:10.1155/2018/3479059

Tyrrell P, Harberger S, Schoo C, Siddiqui W.Kubler-ross stages of dying and subsequent models of grief. In:StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022.

Hospice Foundation of America.Anger and Grief.

National Clinical Guideline Centre.Care of Dying Adults in the Last Days of Life.

American Cancer Society.Emotions and Coping As You Near The End Of Life.

Zhan J, Ren J, Sun P, Fan J, Liu C, Luo J.The neural basis of fear promotes anger and sadness counteracts anger.Neural Plast. 2018;2018:3479059. doi:10.1155/2018/3479059

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