It is a response of grief serves as an important facet of possibly coming to terms with such an announcement. These patients can consider the possibility of their own death for a while, but then have to put this consideration away in order pursue life. I emphasize this strongly since I regard it as a healthy way of dealing with the uncomfortable and painful situation with which some of these patients have to live for a long time. Denial is usually a temporary defense and will soon be replaced by partial acceptance. It also can be a part of a person's path to acceptance.
Anger is one reaction to the realization that life as one has known it is coming to an end.
People get angry at God, at family, at friends, or at a hospital staff. Again, it is one more possible response to the announcement of death. A sense of great loss may come to replace stoicism or anger or numbness. Depression is the preparatory grief that the terminally ill patient has to undergo in order to prepare himself for his final separation from this world. But, Dr. Kubler-Ross distinguished two different kinds of depression.