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Posts Tagged ‘denial’


Aug 22

You’re in Denial, and That is Final

By Jay Slupesky
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Psychology 101

Dino?The defense mechanism of denial is is mentioned often in everyday speech. For example, we might say “Fred is in denial” when talking about a man who has a weight problem but won’t admit it.  However, there is another defense mechanism, repression, which is usually a more accurate description of what we see in ourselves and others.

So what is the difference between denial and repression? If something was once known, but is now not being thought about, it is being repressed. So assuming that Fred really does know that he is overweight, but just avoiding thinking about it, he is using repression, not denial, to avoid the unpleasant reality of his large size.

In true denial, information is instantly disregarded. As an example, if Wilma’s doctor tells her she has terminal cancer with only a few months to live, she might say, “that can’t be true” and go on behaving as if she is in perfect health.

Now that you know the distinction between denial and repression, you’ve got a bedrock of knowledge about defense mechanisms.