I Don’t Want to Know-Denial as a Coping Strategy for Dealing with Sociopolitical Stressors

Denial can be a wonderful thing. It is a way our minds protect us from stress or difficult emotions by, quite simply, refusing to accept reality. It can help us cope in the short term but the downside is that it may prevent us from taking action or processing important truths in the long run. It can also cause us to have “reality build up”. This is where the weight of reality builds and builds and builds until it is no longer avoidable and we can be totally overwhelmed to the point of despair and/or panic.

Denial is a psychological defense mechanism that helps us manage distressing emotions, protect our sense of self, and maintain stability when faced with overwhelming or threatening information. While it gets a bad reputation sometimes, denial really can work for us in various ways, including:

1. Emotional Regulation – Denial allows individuals to avoid immediate emotional distress, especially when faced with grief and existential threats (Freud, 1924).

2. Cognitive Overload Protection – When confronted with excessive, negative and/or terrifying information, denial can act as a mental filter, preventing mental exhaustion and paralysis (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

3. Maintaining a Sense of Control – In situations where we feel powerless (e.g., systemic injustice, climate change, attempts at erasure by government systems), denial can create an illusion of control by allowing  us to disengage from distressing realities (Janis, 1982).

4. Social and Cultural Reinforcement – In some cases, denial is reinforced by societal story lines that discourage confrontation with uncomfortable truths, such as systemic oppression or public health crises (Cohen, 2001). This type of reinforcement is when entire groups of people are afraid or unwilling to deal with the negative emotions surrounding truths. This can be the most damaging form of denial. 

5. Short-Term Coping Strategy – While denial can help individuals manage immediate distress, long-term reliance on it can lead to maladaptive behaviors, preventing necessary action or adaptation (Kubler-Ross, 1969).

Though denial can provide temporary relief, balancing it with awareness and engagement is key to long-term well-being and social responsibility. This becomes easier if you have intact, positive coping strategies in place to support you in having the bandwidth to step put of denial and into truth. 

References:

• Freud, S. (1924). The Ego and the Id. W. W. Norton & Company.

• Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. Springer.

• Janis, I. L. (1982). Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes. Houghton Mifflin.

• Cohen, S. (2001). States of Denial: Knowing about Atrocities and Suffering. Polity Press.

• Kubler-Ross, E. (1969). On Death and Dying. Macmillan.