Talk:Denial (Freud)

Can we please, at least, name this page 'Denial (Psychoanalysis)'? If the main page for 'Denial' must be taken over by a dictionary definition, at least, please, let's not bury this one in absolute obscurity. This page does not simply describe Freud's theory, but describes the concept as contemporary psychoanalysis understands the concept. I tried to change the title to be less misdirective, but was unable.

Denial and disavowal section

There are two very easily conflated defence mechanisms here as an artifact of translation, as well as the confusing (clumsily handled and possibly not entirely necessary) introduction of a third. I do not have detailed knowledge of these defence mechanisms so I shall present the confusion based on what I have read on this and other Wikipedia articles: one defence is, in German, called Verleugnung, and is variously translated as disavowal or psychotic denial. Another is, in German, called Verneinung, and is variously translated as denial or abnegation. Although the "defence mechanisms" box at the bottom of the page has them linking to two different articles, the difference between the two defences is not clarified in the slightest, and there are even identical sentences present in the two articles, seemingly presenting them as the same thing. Furthermore, as disavowal is sometimes referred to as psychotic denial, presumably, abnegation is presumably not psychotic, and therefore I would query its inclusion in the pathological level of defence mechanisms, as this level is sometimes referred to as the psychotic level and, indeed, defences at this level usually involve some kind of split from reality. In fact, the entire "Denial and disavowal" section fails to describe abnegation (the topic of this article), instead describing only disavowal, while also presenting it as being able to exist in non-psychotic form, contradicting the Defence mechanism box's equivalence of disavowal and psychotic denial. The third, confusingly introduced defence mechanism in this section is repression (German: Verdrängung), whose mention, if it is indeed kept in the article, should at the very least have its English name accompanying the German name (if not entirely replacing it: I am unsure what using the German name adds here) and its mention should be reformulated to avoid having its contrast with disavowal being made when the reader has been made to think that disavowal and abnegation are going to be compared. Additionally, I recommend that, throughout the article and in all parts of speech, denial/to deny should be used exclusively in reference to the topic of this article, while disavowal/to disavow should be the only words used in reference to that defence mechanism. AS a final point, the second sentence of this section is, at best, very opaque. I hope someone with the appropriate knowledge can clean up this article (this section in particular) and the article on disavowal, as in their current state they essentially fail to impart any knowledge. Hopefully I have been able to make clear the various sources of confusion. Anditres (talk) 12:56, 10 June 2022 (UTC)