Recovery through the Stages of Depression: Denial

A crisis is a turning point in your life, and literally feels like it carries life or death consequences to you in some way. Therefore, your body will react as if you are under a full-fledged attack from outside forces. Prepare for your body to defend itself using all its resources.

Denial is a survival mechanism, hard-wired by God into your body and mind to protect you from harm while you react to an immediate threat to you or your loved ones. The worse the reality, the more denial there will be to protect you from it. Denial allows you to act in the midst of an emergency, doing essential tasks required during that time.

The value of denial is easy to see in a literal life-or-death situaltion. For example: pulling a loved one out of a burning car that has just crashed. Without denial, you would fall apart at the sight of the flames, from the pain of your own injuries, or the terror of seeing your loved one injured. Denial for the sake of survival allows you to ignore the very real dangers to do what needs to be done to save your loved one, despite the circumstances.

Whatever your crisis is, you will stay in denial as long as you feel endangered; once you feel safe enough, the reality will be begin to reveal itself, sometimes in small jolts, other times like a tidal wave crashing through your barrier of protection. Then you will collapse, emotionally and/or physically.

This let-down reaction will also come after any outburst of adrenaline, whether it is triggered by excitement and delight or by trauma. If you just finished a major accomplishment, a triumph, you can expect a let-down. Remember that it is normal it collapse, even feel depressed, after a major event. You are not crazy, weak, or sick. This will not last.