On Death and Dying is also the title of the1969 written book by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. In this classic book, Kubler-Ross first introduced her model for the Stages of Grief, which offers a guide in understanding how we cope with grieving. Her idea for this model came out of observations she made from conversations with terminally ill patients.
Kubler-Ross' ideas on grief challenged the way people traditionally dealt with death. Especially eye-opening was her idea that the grief-stricken suffer emotional harm when they force themselves to keep a stiff upper lip instead of attempting to deal with their feelings. The grieving process allows emotional healing to take place and everyone moves through the stages in a different way. Kubler-Ross even suggested that a person could be in more than one stage at once.
Not all psychiatrists have agreed with Kubler-Ross' Stages of Grief, but the model was so successful that it was widely adapted for use in other social situations where a person suffers a loss.
Reference: http://www.thegatewaycenter.com/Elizabeth.html