A client with terminal cancer is planning to build a new home. This behavior most commonly indicates which stage of grief?

A client with terminal cancer is planning to build a new home. This behavior most commonly indicates which stage of grief?

• A. Acceptance
• B. Bargaining
• C. Anger
• D. Denial

Answer: (D)

When someone faces a terminal diagnosis, denial can serve as a protective response that helps them avoid fully facing the reality of the situation. Seeing them plan a major future project, like building a new home, suggests they’re not accepting the prognosis and are still acting as if life can proceed as usual. That ongoing preoccupation with long-term plans is a hallmark of denial, a way of coping by clinging to beliefs that life will continue unchanged. If they were moving into other stages, bargaining would involve making deals or promises in exchange for more time, anger would show as frustration or resentment, and acceptance would reflect acknowledging the reality and choosing how to spend the remaining time.

When someone faces a terminal diagnosis, denial can serve as a protective response that helps them avoid fully facing the reality of the situation. Seeing them plan a major future project, like building a new home, suggests they’re not accepting the prognosis and are still acting as if life can proceed as usual. That ongoing preoccupation with long-term plans is a hallmark of denial, a way of coping by clinging to beliefs that life will continue unchanged.

If they were moving into other stages, bargaining would involve making deals or promises in exchange for more time, anger would show as frustration or resentment, and acceptance would reflect acknowledging the reality and choosing how to spend the remaining time.