Biomaterial Database

Understanding and working with the concept of denial and its role as a coping strategy. 2009

Rona Hardy, and Chris Kell

St Nicholas Hospice, Bury St Edmunds.

We are psychological therapists working as part of a specialist palliative care team, and receive referrals for patients who are psychologically distressed and frequently described as being 'in denial'. In this article, we explain what denial is and how patients use this process as they try to find different ways of coping with their prognosis.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009723	Nurse-Patient Relations	Interaction between the patient and nurse.	Nurse Patient Relations,Nurse Patient Relationship,Nurse Patient Relationships,Nurse-Patient Relation,Patient Relations, Nurse,Patient Relationship, Nurse,Patient Relationships, Nurse,Relations, Nurse Patient,Relations, Nurse-Patient,Relationship, Nurse Patient,Relationships, Nurse Patient
D010166	Palliative Care	Care alleviating symptoms without curing the underlying disease. (Stedman, 25th ed)	Palliative Treatment,Palliative Supportive Care,Palliative Surgery,Palliative Therapy,Surgery, Palliative,Therapy, Palliative,Care, Palliative,Palliative Treatments,Supportive Care, Palliative,Treatment, Palliative,Treatments, Palliative
D003717	Denial, Psychological	Refusal to admit the truth or reality of a situation or experience.	Denial, Psychology,Psychological Denial
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000223	Adaptation, Psychological	A state of harmony between internal needs and external demands and the processes used in achieving this condition. (From APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed).	Behavior, Adaptive,Healthy Adaptation,Positive Adaptation,Psychological Recovery,Adaptation, Psychologic,Adjustment,Psychological Adaptation,Adaptation, Healthy,Adaptation, Positive,Adaptive Behavior,Adaptive Behaviors,Healthy Adaptations,Positive Adaptations,Psychologic Adaptation,Psychological Recoveries,Recovery, Psychological