Understanding and working with the concept of denial and its role as a coping strategy.
We are psychological therapists working as part of a specialist palliative care team, and receive referrals for patients who are psychologically distressed and frequently described as being 'in denial'. In this article, we explain what denial is and how patients use this process as they try to find different ways of coping with their prognosis.
Hardy
Rona
R
St Nicholas Hospice, Bury St Edmunds.
Kell
Chris
C
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010166:Palliative Care