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.
Author: Livia Areas-Holmblad
Livia Holmblad is an editor at Addiction Now and covers breaking news, features and everything in between. She moved to SoCal after living in NYC for about 10 years, where she worked for VICE and SinoVision as a writer, editor, host, producer, and director. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Contact Livia at liviah@addictionnow.com
In part three of our four-part series on denial and addiction, group facilitator and case manager Adam Armstrong discussed the process of moving from denial to acceptance. The key to moving from denial to acceptance is awareness, according to Armstrong.
