Denial is a psychological defence mechanism that people sometimes use as a protection against certain realities that they would prefer to ignore. According to the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud there are various degrees of denial. There is simple denial, which is the form we have described already, there is the act of minimisation, which means that although we accept that a certain unpleasant fact exists, we play down its importance and pretend that it does not have serious consequences when in reality it does. The third type of denial is projection. With projection we accept the existence of a problem, we also accept how serious it is, but what we fail to do is to accept that it is our responsibly; we blame other people for it.
Each one of these forms of denial is typical behaviour of people with serious debt problems. First they will deny that there are any problems at all, despite the fact that they are receiving demands from their creditors and that the brown envelopes are piling up unopened. Secondly they will admit that they are having a few problems paying their bills, but that it is only a temporary glitch in their finances and really nothing to worry about at all; it will all fix itself eventually. With the third form of denial, projection, they will see that there are real financial problems ahead, but they will always find someone else to blame for their personal situation.
Of course, for anybody in serious debt, in whatever form it takes denial is potentially disastrous. Debt will never go away by itself and although it may be difficult to face up to the situation and one’s personal responsibility for it, unless one does so then the eventual outcome will be very painful indeed.
Debt management is all about facing up to the truth of our debt problems and doing something about them. Debt management is a way to overcome these problems and work towards that time when we can become entirely free of them and again hold up our heads in the knowledge that that we are no longer in debt.
