Does ‘denial’ really cover our everyday experiences in clinical oncology? A critical view from a psychoanalytic perspective on the use of ‘denial’

The concept of ‘denial’ emanates from psychoanalytic psychology. Within this framework it is regarded as a primitive defence mechanism related to personality disorder. The concept has been adopted by coping research but invested with quite other implications. Different researchers operationalize ‘ denial’ in different ways which contributes to this confusion. This paper views ‘denial’ from the different perspectives of psychoanalysis and coping research and, based on a previous qualitative study, it proposes a reconceptualization which distinguishes between three different processes: ‘avoidance’, ‘disavowal’ and ‘denial’. ‘Disavowal’, self‐deception in the face of accurate perception, is, more than ‘denial’, regarded as the appropriate concept covering everyday experiences of patients dealing mentally with their strain

Confusion · Coping (psychology) · Denial · Epistemology · Operationalization · Personality · Perspective (graphical) · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Psychotherapist · Trustworthiness · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology

• A narrative exploration of identity in adults with de novo scoliosis

  Open Access•Lucy Tweedlie, Laura Simonds et al.•Health An Interdisciplinary…•2023

  Add to list

• Denial of impending death

  Open Access•Camilla Zimmermann•Social Science & Medicine•2004

  Add to list