D.E.N.I.A.L.
The Anonymous programs and Co-dependency have been around for a long, long time—long enough to have Denial, as a concept, be a customary part of the understanding of psychological coping skills. As you know, I am often delighted by new and exciting ways to think about old ideas.
A patient of mine at Visions gave me this one: D.E.N.I.A.L.:
Don’t Even Know I Am Lying!!
I know the N doesn’t really match, but isn’t that just perfect anyway? When true denial is in place, this is the absolute truth—I don’t even know I am lying!
Not only that but true denial has in its very nature the roots of its own crumbling. We can’t sustain denial over long periods of time. It strains our minds. Oh, we can try, and doubtless, we do, but actual denial? The kind when I don’t even know I am lying? Not so much.
Think on it this way: you keep denial in place for as long as you need it, then, when you’re done, you know you’ve been lying, and denial crumbles all by itself in the light of truth.
Seeds XIV, 39
