Both the family and the person who is ill want to forget the abhorrent behavior that led to the hospitalization, and the pain it caused the person, the family and others. In this situation people with mental illness and their families, behave much the same as people with other illnesses. For example, some people with diabetes attempt to deny the seriousness of their illness and do not follow a prescribed diet or exercise. Some people with life threatening heart conditions will continue to smoke, refuse to exercise or change their eating habits. Change is not easy.
Denial can lead to reduced participation in treatment and a reduced level of recovery.
People are frightened about what is happening to them in the present and what may happen in the future. They are angry and distraught about the changes occurring in their lives. All of this underlies much of why the person who is ill and the family may deny or avoid facing reality and finding ways to manage the illness. Many people believe that physical symptoms must have physical causes, a view that is part of our cultural focus on disease. What they do not recognize is that the brain is part of the body.