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Anna Freud suggested that denial can sometimes be a necessary part of healthy development.

Family stories often serve as adaptive shelters, not outright lies, until deeper truths can be faced.

Therapy often brings people back to stories they have told about themselves for decades.

Sigmund Freud described denial as one of the ego's defenses against intolerable psychological pain. His daughter, Anna Freud, expanded this idea, suggesting that denial can sometimes be a necessary and adaptive part of healthy development rather than simply a pathological symptom. We often think of denial as something to overcome, but from a psychological perspective, it can also serve as a temporary shelter until we are emotionally prepared to face a more difficult reality.

While psychoanalytic theorists have traditionally understood denial as an intrapsychic defense, relational and family therapists like me are often equally interested in the stories families create together. Families don't simply pass down memories; they pass down narratives. These........

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