History Main / FiveStagesOfGrief

* In a ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode, Monk rapidly goes through the stages of grief when his psychiatrist retires. And thanks to his [=OCD=], he goes through them over and over again throughout the episode.

*** This is debatable for the last stage, though, [[TheDogBitesBack since he later got revenge on his colleagues as the Green Goblin]].

* In [[WhamEpisode episodes 18 and 19]] of ''Anime/CodeGeass R2'', Lelouch was going through this when [[spoiler:Nunnally was presumably killed during the FLEIJA explosion]].

-->'''Lowell''': ''I'M ANGRY AS HELL AT WEEB FOR DYING!'' But I'd trade anything to get him back. ''(crying0'' Oh, what's the use! It's hopeless! He's gone! ''(recovering)'' But what are you gonna do? Life goes on.

-->'''Hibbert''': You can expect to go through five stages. The first is denial.\\
'''Homer''': No way, because I'm not dying!\\
'''Hibbert''': Second is anger.\\
'''Homer''': ''Why you little-- [[{{Angrish}} Da—! Guuuuuh! Yaaaaah!]]''\\
'''Hibbert''': After that, comes fear.\\
'''Homer''': ''(paranoid)'' What's after fear? What's after fear?!\\
'''Hibbert''': Bargaining.\\
'''Homer''': Doc, you've got to get me out of this. I'll make it worth your while!\\
'''Hibbert''': And finally, acceptance.\\
'''Homer''': ''(relaxed smile)'' Well, we've all got to go sometime.\\
'''Hibbert''': Mr. Simpson, your progress astounds me!

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': As it is explained in the video by WebVideo/SuperCarlinBrothers, Marlin goes through the five stages of grief when coming to terms with the death of most of his family and the abduction of his surviving son Nemo. First he acts as though he is fine, since he still has Nemo, and that they are happy when in reality he is sheltering Nemo too much (denial); then he gets angry at Nemo for disobeying him and putting him in a situation where a worst case scenario could happen (anger). After Nemo is captured by the diver, Marlin tells himself that he will find Nemo and goes out to find him, allowing himself to put up with Dory and the dangerous situations they get into together. When Marlin and Dory get stuck inside the mouth of a whale, Marlin gives up hope and sinks to the bottom, defeated (depression). When the whale is about to blow, Marlin doesn’t want to let go of the taste bud to which he's clinging, because he believes that the whale will eat him and Dory, but she convinces him to let go and that just because something bad ''could'' happen doesn’t mean it ''will''; and Marlin lets go, symbolizing him finally letting go of his grief (acceptance). This stage is later shown again twice; when Marlin accepts that Nemo is (presumably) dead, and when Marlin lets Nemo save Dory and the other fish, once again accepting that he cannot continue to hold onto his grief and live in fear of losing Nemo.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In "Spelling Bee My Baby", Stan and Roger try to get Hayley to go through the five stages as they want her to umpire their badminton game but she's stuck in Denial over her husband Jeff's AlienAbduction. Roger pushes her into Anger by giving her a front {{Wedgie}} (getting his ass kicked as a result), they don't know what Bargaining means so they skip it and force her into Depression by playing a slide show of photos of Jeff. When Hayley later gets [[ItMakesSenseInContext shot in the neck with a dart by a ninja]], she has an epiphany while unconscious and reaches Acceptance. And then she steals Stan and Roger's shuttlecock because it was their fault that Jeff was abducted in the first place. This causes Roger to go through the five stages in rapid succession, although he then points out that [[TheGreys his species]] has a sixth stage of grief, and then [[GroinAttack kicks Stan in the balls]], but when asked by Stan if that was the sixth stage, simply says "Nope!"

** Steve, however, acts as the grief counselor, trying to help the group get out of their funk, sending Natasha to Clint and so on. Nothing for nothing, the first thing we see him doing post-time skip is leading a literal Group Therapy Session.
* Also near the end of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' when [[spoiler:Natasha dies to sacrifice herself for the Soul Stone]] the remaining Avengers goes through at least one of these stages again.

** Depression: Steve Rogers just cries over [[spoiler: the lost of his closest original Avenger friend that he been through the most with.]]
** Acceptance: Tony Stark once again accepts the situation and ask if [[spoiler:she had any family to contact because having a family now himself he would want them to know what happened to him if he died.]]
* ''Film/SpiderMan1'': Norman Osborne's reaction to the Oscorp board terminating him can be considered as him going through the five stages of grief in a matter of seconds :

** Anger: "''[[MemeticMutation Do you know how much I've sacrificed??]]''"

** Acceptance, after being told for the last time that he is out : "Am I..."

'''Mandy:''''''He's stuck on "Anger".

* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' has Blanche go through them slightly out of order after the death of her father, "Big Daddy." After first refusing his request to come home and visit him because she's more concerned with planning a festival ball she's hosting, when she gets the news he's died, she first doesn't believe it and assumes he's merely playing a cruel prank for not visiting when he called ('''Denial.''') Eventually she breaks through this and breaks down sobbing at the kitchen table while admonishing herself for not going when he asked ('''Sadness.''') Before the funeral, she picks a fight with her sister Virginia and stubbornly refuses to attent the ceremony if she's gonna be there ('''Anger'''.) Later, while visiting his grave, she states that she would give everything she thought meant anything for ten more minutes with him ('''Bargaining'''.) When Dorothy arrives, all Blanche can do is meekly declare "I'm nobody's little girl anymore." ('''Acceptance.''')

* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls" has Blanche go through them slightly out of order after the death of her father, "Big Daddy." After first refusing his request to come home and visit him because she's more concerned with planning a festival ball she's hosting, when she gets the news he's died, she first doesn't believe it and assumes he's merely playing a cruel prank for not visiting when he called ('''Denial.''') Eventually she breaks through this and breaks down sobbing at the kitchen table while admonishing herself for not going when he asked ('''Sadness.''') Before the funeral, she picks a fight with her sister Virginia and stubbornly refuses to attent the ceremony if she's gonna be there ('''Anger'''.) Later, while visiting his grave, she states that she would give everything she thought meant anything for ten more minutes with him ('''Bargaining'''.) When Dorothy arrives, all Blanche can do is meekly declare "I'm nobody's little girl anymore." ('''Acceptance.''')

In pop culture, when the idea of these stages appears, all five stages of grief are displayed, always in this order, and if PlayedForLaughs [[SequentialSymptomSyndrome all within ten seconds of each other]]. Also, these stages tend to apply to all grieving characters, although Kübler-Ross's work, again, was with those actually dying themselves and not, say, the bereaved; later research suggests that the bereaved typically accept the death right away -- within ''seconds'' of a loved one's passing--and rarely engage in denying the death (if you are not mentally ill in some way, denial is sort of pointless: if you are a stable person it's simply better to get it out of the way to minimize personal suffering and learn to go with it, sure you can miss someone but you can make an effort to remember the good moments and be amused even if you can't make more such memories with them). Of course, [[HollywoodPsych in Hollywood]], the stages will likely only be applied to those grieving someone else's death. See also StagesOfMonsterGrief, where formerly human characters adapt to their new condition.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAjEEHzoxCo One episode on]] ''Webvideo/ImAMarvelAndImaDC'' had SilentSnarker Comicbook/ManThing holding signs noting his 'opponent' Comicbook/SwampThing going through those.

** Depression: Once he's done doubting whether it was all a dream and finally realizes that [[spoiler:Ace is dead]], Luffy [[DespairEventHorizon breaks down]] and [[spoiler:nearly considers giving up his journey to become Pirate King]].
** Acceptance: After Jimbei tells him that they can never be brought back and that [[spoiler:he still has his crew]], Luffy comes to accept his fate and continue his journey.
* Mallow in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon'' goes through this. She went through both Denial and Anger as a little girl when she realized her DelicateAndSickly mother was going downhill healthwise, not leaving enough time to be with her. She spent the next few years going through Depression, barely even thinking about Bargaining when given the chance to reunite with her spirit due to her PartingWordsRegret. After Mallow's mother forgives her and Shaymin (implied to be a reincarnation of her) comes into her life, she reaches Acceptance at the end of the series as she allows Shaymin to reach Sky Forme and reunite with its friends.

** Rainbow Dash goes through the five stages in the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E5TanksForTheMemories Tanks for the Memories]]" when she learns of her pet tortoise Tank's impending hibernation for the upcoming winter. Amusingly, her version of the "bargaining" stage involves trying to stop Tank from hibernating by ''stopping winter itself''. As for depression, Fluttershy [[InvokedTrope provokes her into crying]] when it's clear she's not going to do it on her own.

* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4614235/1/Five_Stages Five Stages]]'' shows [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4 Old Snake]] reacting to his aging.