This is a continuing series which began with this post about the stages of grief and continued with a post on “Denial” and then “Anger“. Looking at the diagnosis of a Chronic Illness in the framework of the stages of grief we’ll now look at the third stage which is “Bargaining”.

Some examples of bargaining and chronic illness are someone with Diabetes who believes if they eat sugary foods only on weekends they can control their condition, a woman with Lupus who believes that if she doesn’t spend too much money on clothing won’t have any complications from the disease, or a man with cardiac disease who thinks that if he doesn’t cheat on his taxes he won’t have another heart attack.

Often the realization that chronic illnesses don’t respond to bribes ends this stage quite abruptly.