Denial

From Drug Rehab Wiki

According to Sigmund Freud, denial is a defense mechanism used by a person who is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept. Instead, he rejects the fact and insists that it is not true, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. There are three main types of denial – simple denial entails disclaiming the existence of the fact in its entirety; minimization – admitting the fact but denying that it is serious; and projection – admitting that the fact exists and is serious, but disclaiming responsibility for the situation. When dealing with addiction, denial is an important concept to understand. Denial is responsible for enabling addicts to continue their negative behavior despite objectively overwhelming evidence that a problem exists. Many addiction professionals refuse to force a person into treatment, believing that denial will often remain and sabotage treatment, even after the person enters rehab. An effective intervention, on the other hand, acknowledges denial and works to reduce or eliminate it so that the person can enter treatment with a more open mind. Denial also plays a major part in self-help and 12-step programs. In fact, overcoming denial is the basis of the first, fourth, fifth, eighth and tenth steps.