[tioga]

Interesting comment - One form of denial is “fear". My DH was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His younger brother was diagnosed with it months prior and his was stage 4. My DH was the fourth one in his immediate family to get this diagnosis. He procrastinated for over a year before getting treatment. Only early stage prostate cancer is curable. I know he was afraid, but he was so into denial that he did nothing, despite my begging and crying.

[Salvation]

The stages/phases of grief as put forth by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her book "On Death and Dying.":

Denial
Bargaining
Anger
Depression
Acceptance
and then Reaching Out to others.