DMC Exercise #2:  
Understanding The Principles Of Denial Management

Min-Education Session

This exercise explains the basic information you will need to understand and recognize denial.  I want you to be able to make a choice between continuing to lie to yourself or facing and dealing with the truth about what is happening in your life. 

Denial is the natural tendency to avoid the pain that is caused by thinking and talking about serious problems.  This pain is avoided by using a set of automatic and unconscious thoughts, feelings, and actions that keep us from thinking and talking about our problems.  Denial is a normal psychological defense that has both benefits and disadvantages.  The major benefit of using denial is that it allows us to avoid feeling the pain caused by serious or overwhelming problems.  The major disadvantage is that it prevents us from seeing what is really going on and effectively managing our problems. 

The primary feelings that drive denial are pain, anger, fear, guilt, and shame.  Denial can be recognized.  You can face the truth about what is happening in your life, and by doing this you can turn your life around.

Focusing Questions;

1.  What benefits could you get from denying the problems that brought you into treatment?

2.  What disadvantages or problems that you could you get from denying the problems that brought you into treatment?

2.  When you decide that something is going wrong in your life and you need to deal with it before it gets worse, what are the steps that you normally go through to figure out what is wrong and to fix it?

3.         Are you satisfied with your current ability to see what is really going wrong in your life and to use effective methods to solve the problems?

1.  Do you believe that you sometimes use denial when it would be better for you to recognize what is really happening and set up a plan to deal with it?  Tell me about that.

2.  When you think that you might be using denial, what can you do to check yourself out and see if you are using denial or honestly looking at the problem?

3.  Once you see what the real problem is, what steps do you normally use to solve the problem?

Exercise 2-1:  The Benefits and Disadvantages Of Using Denial

Exercise 2-2:  Acceptance And Problem Solving As Antidotes For Denial

Exercise 2-3:  Denial Can Be Recognized And Managed

Exercise 2-4:  Defining Denial In A Way That Can Help Manage It