title: Understanding and working with the concept of denial and its role as a coping strategy.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: St Nicholas Hospice, Bury St Edmunds.
authors.forename: Rona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kell
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010166:Palliative Care