from patients who may be in denial is: “Am I an addict?” When discussing the issue with his clients, Armstrong focuses on aspects of his patients’ lives, which they feel are out of their control. “That’s where you start,” he said. “Once you do that, you can begin to start to list out how that’s affecting any of your goals or your day-to-day responsibilities.”
The mental state of patients who begin moving from denial to acceptance initially gets worse, “but only for a moment” Armstrong said because patients start to look inward instead of externalizing.
The final part of our four-part series on denial focuses on addressing denial. In part four, Armstrong will discuss how parents can speak to their children who may be in denial about their substance abuse. In addition, he will address strategies to open up the doors to discussing denial.
