Lets Talk About Denial: not a river in Egypt :: essays research papers

Denial, the topic for this weeks discussion, is unfortunately not a river in Jordan. While not a river, it is a attribute that at times seems to be as resistant to change as the roughly torrent watercourse. Denial has been described as many things in many ways by many people and still I find the Websters Dictionary definition of disaffirmation to be the most meaningful and accuratean assertion that an allegation is falsedisbelief in the existence or reality of a thingself- defense teamand the reduction of anxiety by the unconscious exclusion from the mind of intolerable thoughts, feelings, or facts (1977).The readings and following class discussion illuminated just how varied and long denial can manifest itself, especially with alcoholics and addicts. The discussion concluded that denial may be noticeable in the form of 1) an individual not being able to accept what is in front of him 2) a cope mechanism to deal with facts as presented or 3) the inability to see consequences o f hotshots behaviour. Also based on the class discussion, things a advocator can look for to discern if a person is in denial are 1) if they consistently miss or avoid scheduled sessions, or while in sessions they continually change the subject 2) if clients appear to correct logic or reason 3) clients demonstrate incongruence, that is their non-verbal expression and actions are incongruous with what they say and 4) clients demonstrate the various defense mechanisms associated with alcoholism, addiction, and denial. These defense mechanisms can be in the form of projection, (I dont have a problem you have a problem.) rationalization, (It helps me relax/concentrate/forget or Ill stop as soon as the pressure lets up) justification, (Everyone I know does it) suppression or repression, (forcing down memories of using behavior and negative consequences as a result of that use and behavior) and one that sometimes gets overlooked, geographic escapes (my life is unmanageable but itll get better if I move to another place.)The text also offered some useful information in understanding the phenomenon of denial. On page 30 of the text discernment of Addictive Behavior, Tarter, Alterman, & Edwards (1985) Tarter & Edwards (1986) Tarter, Hegedus, Goldstein Shelly, & Alterman (1984) suggest that neuropsychological deficits among alcoholics, particularly deficits in accurately perceiving innate cues of physiological arousal and emotion and in appraising the significance of environmental events, may underlie what has been described as alcoholic denial (cited in Donovan & Marlatt 1998).