The Biggest Cases Of 'Living In Denial' People Have Ever Seen

When people don't want to accept a harsh truth and continue believing everything is just peachy are delusional.

The evasiveness is a tactic to put off what they eventually have to face.

Some people are good at hiding it while others can see right through them.

Curious to hear from strangers online about observing people, Redditor inferno2808 asked:

"What is the clearest case of 'living in denial' you've seen?"

Avoiding the truth can cost you your life.

Family Of Drinkers

"So my sister gets married, he husbands family are pretty heavy drinkers, and it's the full range of drinks; beers whenever, mixed drinks, straight hard liquor like vodka, whatever is on hand, and plenty of it; seven days a week, and all day on weekends, holidays, etc."

"So her husband's brother, late 20's, hits it a lot harder than even the other people in his family; a full handle of vodka after work every day kind of hard. Four or five over a weekend, all by himself."

"So he gets sick, not felling well, tired, etc. but just puts it down to getting older and maybe not handling his liquor like he used to, but doesn't cut back at all."

"Once he starts turning yellow, he gets to the doctor, who tells him his liver is shot; full cirrhosis, there's nothing left of it, whatever. He tells the doc he doesn't know why, he doesn't drink any more than the people he knows, it's a mystery, but he'll stop entirely to get put on a list for a new liver."

"He obviously doesn't stop drinking, doesn't even cut back. Everyone knows it's the drinking and cirrhosis, but he and his family start calling it 'cancer'- it's cancer, so the drinking has nothing to do with it."

"So he eventually ends up in the hospital full time because there's no liver for him yet, and his family starts sneaking vodka into the hospital so he can keep drinking."

"He left the hospital on a slab, and the family starts asking people for money for cancer walks, stuff like that, and not a one of them cut back the drinking at all."

– gallaj0

Harsh Consequence

"Nurse who thought the lump in her breast was nothing important and the open sore appearing was also nothing important and once it started draining thought it was nothing important despite dressing it daily. Was confronted by coworkers after the smell became so rank it lingered where she went. Stage IV cancer with mets to bones and brain. Died soon after."

"She was the manager of the oncology unit."

– Pistalrose

Lesson Never Learned

"Ex’s mom: moved to Vegas from Europe. Went broke gambling over 10 or so years, practically homeless… then she got injured on a casino escalator and was compensated more than fairly with a life-changing amount of money… guess who went broke again, pretty much exclusively at the same casino…?"

– AIShalmanezer

Fear Of The Needle

"Friend diagnosed with diabetes 10 years ago, has needle phobia so afraid of pricking his fingers to monitor his blood sugar so doesn't, and just 'eats healthy'. Due to blood sugar fluctuations, gradually goes blind and kidney fails, 3.5 years on dialysis, then finally gets a kidney transplant. Home again with a new kidney, is still afraid of pricking his fingers and decides he will manage his diabetes by 'eating healthy' just like he did for the past 10 years :_-("

– Burner_Account_2002

People are fooling themselves when they think that life will always be normal.

Turning A Blind Eye

"My Dad has PSP/dementia. My Mom refused to acknowledge that it was a developing problem, because it was an 'inconvenience to their lifestyle'. I confronted her, because he needed to have his drivers license taken away, because he was a danger on the road."

"My Dad impulsively went out one day, bought a BMW without her present, and later drove it underneath a semi-truck. And shocker- that was when she realized he was unwell. I also had to find out through extended family about his accident because she didn’t want to give us 'the satisfaction' of being right all along."

– FlannerysPeacock

Refusing To See The Problem

"My mother (now deceased) refused to wear glasses because she hated how they looked on her. Instead, she insisted her eyesight was 'not that bad' and the fact we had to read menus to her at restaurants was just a cute quirk."

– starglitter

Will these folks ever get a clue? Probably not.

The Late Start To Raising A Family

"Got a friend. He's in his fifties, makes next to minimum wage. Drinks and eats too much. He and his gf (late sixties) live with a mutual friend."

"They're 'discussing' adopting a child."

– SnooMemesjellies7469

Getting Back Together

"My mother and father divorced 26 years ago. It was a toxic marriage and probably for the best that they part ways."

"Since then she has been remarried and is happy with her new husband. We all get along and my parents get along for the sake of visits and being around grandkids."

"To this day my father wants to get back together with my mother. I don’t blame him there if he still loves her but the denial part is he thinks he did nothing wrong in the marriage. He is under the impression that he was the perfect husband and he is doing her a 'favor' by taking her back if she did come back. The reality is he did not treat her well, she left and is now with someone who makes her happy."

– ZenoSalts

Finding The Right Match

"Buddy keeps complaining that 'normal' guys won't respond to him on dating apps and keeps getting hit on by 'creepy old dudes.' Uh, you're nearly 60, and those are age-appropriate matches. 🫤"

– broccoli_octopus

Delusional, Party Of One

"I am 43 and am sort of friends but mostly colleagues with some guys my age but mostly older."

"They look their age or older. Nothing insulting, just it's less likely that guys have taken care of their skin, dress appropriately for their body types, etc."

"The amount of complaining they do about women that are 'too old' for them is wild. I have a friend who's 50 this year and complained that 35-year-old women look too old. Another guy is nearly 50 and said he's finally ready to 'settle down' and have kids and can't believe he can't find a 30-year-old willing to do the same with him."

"Almost all of them have 39 as the max age if they are on dating apps. And they grow more misogynist over time, but mostly sad and frustrated."

– SeasonPositive6771

Road Rage

"It's the 'if you think all the other drivers on the road are a**holes, maybe you're the a**hole.'"

– islandsimian

"An elderly lady is watching the news waiting for her husband to come home and sees an alert about a driver going full speed in the wrong direction. Knowing he is on the way, she calls her husband to warn him."

"Honey, be careful driving. Theres a crazy person on the highway driving the wrong way"

"'One of them?!' the husband replied, 'There's HUNDREDS!'"

– secondphase

Some family members are the worst.

Unfatherly

"My loving, yet abusive and alcoholic father telling me that he has no problems to fix and that whatever trauma I think happened in my childhood is a product of my 'sick and twisted mind' because he was 'nothing but good to me.'"

– sea-bagel

Not Marriage Material

"My brother is married for the fourth time, my mother blames all his ex-wives. I keep pointing out her son is the common link to all the divorces."

– abby_normally

Blame The Exes

"I know someone who just blew up his second marriage in a spectacular way, but his family still blames the ex’s… I’m like… the f'k guys?"

– Skywalker87

Look, if we all can't admit our shortcomings in life, we will never grow and improve ourselves.

Ignoring reality by staying in a carefree world will eventually catch up to us when we least expect it and cause more harm than good.

Yes, it's hard. But if we all do the work and get past our egos, we'll be all the better for it.