have long regarded denial as the enemy, and I challenge it whenever possible in my therapy and in my personal life. Not only have I attempted to shed all personal illusions that narrow my vision and foster smallness and dependency but I encourage my patients to do the same. I am persuaded that although honest confrontation with one’s existential situation may evoke fear and trembling, it is ultimately healing and enriching. My psychotherapeutic approach is thus epitomized by Thomas Hardy’s comment, “If a way to the Better there be, it exacts a full look at the Worst.”
