A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, used to resolve emotional conflict and allay anxiety by disavowing thoughts, feelings, wishes, needs, or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable.
In psychology, a defense or coping mechanism in which a person avoids anxiety by refusing to perceive or accept a stressful situation.
A person’s refusal to accept that he or she has a serious medical problem.
Refusal to admit the reality or to acknowledge the presence or existence of something; keeping of anxiety-producing realities from conscious awareness. This is a defense mechanism.