How self-denial can affect mental health.

How Chronic Self-Denial Can Affect Mental Health

36 Self-Care & Stress Management

Typically, when a person is in self-denial, they’re trying to protect themselves by refusing to accept the truth about something that’s happening in their life. Although denial is a coping mechanism that helps you to adjust to distressing situations, it can interfere with treatment or the ability to handle challenges in the future.

Often, short- term denial is a good thing to cope with distressing issues, but in the long run, it can become unhealthy. This article provides an overview of when self-denial becomes a bigger problem and how one can move past it.

What is Self-Denial?

In psychological terms, denial is a defense mechanism, a skillful tool that the mind can use when things get tough. Often, when a person is in denial, it means that they’re struggling to accept stressful or overwhelming situations. In other words, you can be in self-denial about anything that makes you feel vulnerable or things that threaten your self-control, such as addictions or illness. Usually, it is difficult for a person in denial to acknowledge a tough situation, face the facts, and moderate the consequences.

Sometimes, denial is common among individuals with certain health conditions, such as  narcissistic personality disorder, alcohol use, and substance abuse disorders. These individuals often live in denial to avoid facing the reality of their condition.

The Common Triggers of Denial

Some of the common triggers include:

  • Abuse including, emotional, mental, sexual, financial, and physical
  • Alcohol or other substance use
  • Lifestyle or family issues
  • Mental health issues
  • Medical diagnosis
  • Unhealthy weight gain
  • smoking

When is Self-Denial Helpful?

Short-term denial can be helpful as it gives your mind the chance to absorb distressing information. For instance, after experiencing trauma, you may need a few days or weeks to come to terms with what just happened and process the challenges ahead.

On the contrary, denial can lead to problems in your life, especially if it stops you from addressing the issue at hand and making the needed change. It can also prevent you from accepting help or getting the needed treatment.

What are the Signs of Self-Denial?

A person using denial as a defense mechanism will show the following signs:

  • Justifying a behavior
  • Refusing to talk about the problem
  • Blaming others for causing the problem
  • Promising to address the issue some other time
  • Continuing a behavior despite the negative consequences
  • Avoiding thinking about the issue

Furthermore, you might find yourself feeling helpless or hopeless. To some extent, you acknowledge that there’s a problem that must be addressed, but convince yourself that there’s nothing that you could probably do or say to solve it. You may also turn down people who offer to help or give advice.

How Self-Denial Impacts Your Health

Self-denial can lead to chronic stress, which negatively affects both your mental and physical health. When you consistently ignore your needs, the body remains in a constant state of tension and contraction, triggering the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Prolonged exposure to high cortisol can lead to:

  • Mental health issues such as stress, depression, anxiety, and low self-worth
  • Compromised immune system
  • Increased risk of cardiovascular disease

Research shows that people who frequently engage in self-denial are at a higher risk of developing chronic fatigue, sleep issues, chronic fatigue, and frequent headaches. This ongoing cycle of stress and illness erodes both emotional and physical well-being, making recovery and self-care more challenging.

What Happens when You’re in Self-Denial?

When in denial, it becomes hard to express your emotions, especially when your feelings are difficult. It may feel like your emotional security is under threat or that you’ll lose control over your life by expressing your emotions. However, what happens is the exact opposite, and your suppressed feelings can slowly take over your life.

Being in denial can be seen as:

Withdrawal

Withdrawal includes refusing to be around others or participate in activities. For instance, a person in denial may feel too overwhelmed when around others. You may feel like other people don’t like you or don’t want you to be involved in particluar social circles. While this may feel better in some ways, it can bring about other problems, such as anger, loneliness, and distorted thinking.

Self-Harm

Denying that you’re experiencing difficult emotions doesn’t make them go away. The magnitude and pain of what you are facing will always come back. An individual may result to harmful activities like cutting, engaging in risky behaviors, or eating disorders. While these behaviors may feel like they are bringing relief from the intensity of your emotions, they can lead to a darker and more painful path.

Bullying

This involves the use of force, threats, or ridicule to exercise power over another person. When a person does this, they are trying to make the other person feel as bad as they do to feel less lonely. If you are in denial, you may deny that you are feeling bad, so this strategy will subconsciously and negatively impact you.

Substance Use

Self-denial can also lead to substance use. Most individuals with an alcohol or drug addiction use denial as a way to continue with their addiction, which can also impact their relationships.

How to Move Past Self-Denial

It’s important to remember that saying, “I can’t think about this now,” is okay. Because everyone processes information differently and, sometimes, we need to work through what happened. However, denial should only be a temporary measure as ultimately, it will not change the reality of the situation.

Although it can sometimes be hard to tell if denial is holding you back, if you feel stack you can try the following:

  • Self-examine what your fear is and be honest about it
  • Carefully think about what might happen if you don’t take action
  • Allow yourself to express your emotions
  • Journal your experience
  • Talk to someone you trust

Overcoming denial often depends on the nature of the problem. Often, individuals come into terms with the reality of a situation on their own given time. Psychotherapy or support groups can be very helpful.

Final Thoughts

Self-denial is a great coping mechanism when used in the short-term. However, it shouldn’t be used as a constant way of coping with the reality. Accepting the situation as it is earlier on is the best way to help you move past it and get the necessary help before things get out of hand.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the consequences of living in denial?

While denial provides short-term emotional relief and time to process distress, prolonged denial hinders personal growth, worsens untreated health and life issues, and destroys relationships.

How do I recognize when a person is in denial?

A person who’s living in denial may avoid conversations, blame others, minimize problems, or make persistent excuses to justify unhealthy behaviors. They might pretend that everything is fine and ignore their own negative emotions or disagreements within relationships.

How does denial affect mental health?

Denial prevents emotional processing and can lead to chronic anxiety, depression, and stress. Avoidance and shifting blame can also lead to social withdrawal, isolation, and misunderstanding.

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Elizabeth
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