What is the behavior of someone in denial?
When someone is in denial, they may avoid and minimize their behaviors, refuse to accept help, or downplay consequences. For example, someone who regularly misses work due to substance use but thinks their boss doesn't notice or that they aren't hurting themselves. Denial is a spectrum.
How can you tell if someone is in denial?
We might rationalize, excuse, or minimize its significance or effect upon us. Other types of denial are forgetting, outright lying or contradicting the facts due to self-deception. Deeper still, we may repress things that are too painful to remember or think about.
What does it look like to be in denial?
The effects of denial
It can lead someone to engage in unhealthy behaviors or allow a bad situation to continue. The negative effects of denial often compound over time—if an individual is aware that a certain situation is worsening, they may try harder to avoid confronting it, allowing the problem to grow.