Denial often used to avoid facing problems

One of the greatest challenges and opportunities afforded the psychotherapist and counselor is dealing with the resistance presented by individuals seeking assistance for psychological difficulties.

This resistance can take many forms, including some of the following:

• Denial. The client, in meeting with the counselor, tries to present the difficulty as a situation in which he or she does not really believe a problem exists. The client’s agenda is to have the counselor agree that no problem exists and send the person away with a “bill of good health.”

Denial can take many other forms, as well, including “nobody understands me” and “my problems are only the results of misunderstanding.” Another familiar form of denial often heard by counselors is “other people do the same thing that I do, but their problems are overlooked and mine aren’t.”

Endless variations of the denial theme are presented and the counselor is faced with the challenge of helping the client understand his/her use of this defense mechanism and see the need to change.

• Rationalization. “My problems are a result of my unhappy childhood. Since I can’t change that, the world needs to cut me some slack. I behave the way I do because I have been treated in such a terrible, horrible, awful way. Anybody who has experienced what I have would behave in the same way. I am not as smart, as attractive, as strong, as witty as other people. Therefore, I am doomed to a mediocre life.”

Again, the permutations and combinations of rationalization are endless, as this defense mechanism is one of the most used strategies for dealing with psychological pain in human beings.

• Intellectualism. “Shakespeare had something to say about my problem. He talked about human frailty in many of his literacy masterpieces. For instance, in Hamlet, he wrote…”

Or, “I read about a person in a scientific journal recently. It seems this individual had a very unhappy childhood and struggled with many adversities. The most interesting thing about the article was that I could see how people like this could really have problems.”

These are but a few examples of resistance that therapists meet in counseling individuals with psychological difficulties. Therapists who are able to recognize these obstacles for what they are – resistance – and have the proper training and motivation to deal with this natural phenomena in therapy are in a position to potentially help the client/patient.

The counseling process can often be enhanced by exploring this resistance. The therapist can point out, at appropriate times, what is transpiring in the therapy session and can provide the client insight into how these defenses are being used to impair mental health.

Copyright c 1995 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.