D.E.N.I.A.L.

Denial Says...
“I’m not the problem, they just Don’t understand me!”
“DeprEssion is normal; I know a lot of people who don’t leave their house for days when they are sad!”
“There is Nothing wrong with looking at naked women all night; I’m only late for work/school three times a week and my wife need to leave me alone.”
“I’m not hurting anyone else, I’m just hurting myself with my drinking”
“I don’t use cocaine As much as she does, only one of my children was born addicted!”
“I can pay that biLl on next week; I just need to buy this today because it’s on sale!”
“This medication has been helping me with my back pain for years and I can stop taking it anytime.”

Denial is so powerful and it is a part of everyone’s psychological makeup. When a person is in this state they tend to lose their ability to accurately judge situations because denial distorts the truth. Some how a person that is in denial does not recognize the “true” issue, but point their finger out to others or blame their physical or emotional dilemmas on other things; denial is self-deception.

Think of a moment when you were in denial. What caused you to wake up or become aware of your true reality? Most would think life hardships such as lost of job, failing grades, divorce, lost of driving license, parents fussing you out, or lost of home. There are more items that can be on this dreadful list and all of them may not be tangible. These sad situations do not ALWAYS open the eyes of a person that’s in denial, especially a person with a chemical dependency.

Nevertheless, it is 2010 and many desire to make changes in their lives. We may have a behavior, thought, or something we severely depend on that could be holding us back from making those changes. We could be in a state of denial and need someone to help us acknowledge our core issues. We have decided that we wanted to stop blaming, minimizing, rationalizing, generalizing, or hiding our blockers in order for us to awake and live in 2010. Please know The Bridges Center desire to help you, your friends, or your family members with this process.

Happy New Years!

Nancia Leath, LPC NCC
Clinical Director