(This blog was originally posted on December 24,
2014)
A baseball player rejects the
doctor’s diagnosis that even if the injury heals completely, the shoulder will
never again be strong enough for pitching on a Major
League Baseball team. A man refuses to believe that he is terminally ill
and books a Mediterranean cruise for Christmas 2017. A mother continues to set a
place for her daughter at the dinner table even though the girl ran away six
years ago and has never contacted her family since she left home. You continue
to wear your wedding band even though your spouse has just served you with
divorce papers.
These
are examples of denial, a defense
mechanism in which the mind blocks external events from entering our awareness
by abolishing (negating) their very existence to reduce fear of the unknown (“pain”).
Like other defense mechanisms, denial
is: 1) unconscious; 2) self-deceptive; 3) and it distorts reality through
thoughts and action. “Change is a threat to the subconscious mind,” said John Kappas,
Ph.D. According to the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder’s Theory
of Mind, everyone is subconsciously motivated to maintain and/or restore a known physical and emotional status of
comfort and security. The primary role of a defense mechanism
is to protect the subconscious mind from what it perceives as a threat or
“pain” of having to deal with an unknown.
It
is possible to successfully “avoid” suffering emotional pain by temporarily ignoring
or refusing to accept its existence, and such denial can go on for a very long
time. However, our level of success (comfort) in negating an unpleasant event
or emotion can only exist as long as we continue to believe our subconscious
deception. Over time, becomes increasingly difficult to nurture this defense
mechanism as we continue to perceive and process more and more information
(message units) to contradict our fictional reality. Eventually, we must address
the primary issue that has triggered the defense mechanism in order to resolve
it and achieve personal growth.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in
Southern California. She graduated with honors from the
Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about
Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2015
