The first step in a 12-step program is for the addict to admit that they have a problem, because most addicts are in denial about their addictions. And, as my clinical supervisor observed when I was an intern therapist, “You can’t let go of something you don’t admit having.”

Denial of uncomfortable truths is one of several ego defense mechanisms that Freud described, including denial, repression (suppressing awareness of painful facts or memories), displacement (redirecting negative emotions at “safe” targets), rationalization (developing plausible, but invalid explanations for behavior that ease psychic pain), and projection (blaming others for our shortcomings) [1].

In one form or another, unconscious defense mechanisms seem to serve an obvious function: to help us feel good about ourselves by avoiding self-doubt, self-loathing, anxiety, low self-confidence, and other negative emotions that might get in the way........

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