Denial, in colloquial English usage, has at least three meanings:
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the assertion that any particular statement or allegation, whose truth is uncertain, is not true;
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the refusal of a request; and
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the assertion that a true statement is false.
In psychology, denialism is a person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid a psychologically uncomfortable truth.
In psychoanalytic theory, denial is a defense mechanism in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The concept of denial is important in twelve-step programs, where the abandonment or reversal of denial that substance dependence is problematic forms the basis of the first, fourth, fifth, eighth, and tenth steps.
People who are exhibiting symptoms of a serious medical condition sometimes deny or ignore those symptoms because the idea of having a serious health problem is uncomfortable or disturbing. The American Heart Association cites denial as a principal reason that treatment of a heart attack is delayed.
Psychology
Initial short-term denial can be a good thing, giving time to adjust to a painful or stressful issue. It might also be a precursor to making some sort of change in one's life. But denial can also be harmful; if denial persists and prevents a person from taking appropriate action, it's a harmful response.
In political and economic contexts
Some people who have been known to be in denial of historical or scientific facts accepted by the mainstream of society or by experts, for political or economic reasons, have been referred to as
denialists[2005, The Cape Times 2005-03-11 ] or
true believers. Examples of denialism in this context include:
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Climate change denial
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Denial of evolution
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Election denial movement in the United States
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Historical negationism (such as Holocaust denial)
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HIV/AIDS denialism
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Modern flat Earth societies
In religious contexts
In the
New Testament, the Jewish
Sadducees sect is noted for its denial of beliefs held by other sections of the
Jews community: they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or the existence of
and spirits.
[Barnes, A., (1834), Barnes' Notes on Matthew 22, accessed on 11 December 2024]
See also
Further reading
