Hello again; its’ definitely been a while since we’ve talked. A few days ago, Dr. West, our hero, asked me to comment on a GRACE reader’s question about a relative who was in complete denial. The state of her unfortunate lung cancer situation was so obvious to all that the friend wondered what the patient could possibly be thinking when she refused to consider her physician’s suggestion that she get her ‘affairs in order’.
Denial is one of our psychological defense mechanisms and, believe it or not, it works very well for those who need such a defense. Denial is actually very functional, and I am frankly surprised that more cancer patients don’t employ it. Freud once said, and I am paraphrasing, that no human being could face the fact of their imminent death for very long; truly coming to grips with the fact that one is going to die, and probably sooner rather than later is a terrifying thought. This is when denial really kicks in as the way to avoid looking at this reality. Another very wise man once said: Acceptance is hope co-existing with reality. Denial is hope masquerading as reality.
