Which of the following is NOT listed as a common way of practicing denial?

• A. Suppression of emotions
• B. Mummification
• C. Selective forgetting
• D. Middle knowledge

Answer: (A)

Denial in coping with loss often shows up as patterns that keep the loss at arm’s length. Some frameworks describe mummification as maintaining the deceased’s memory through persistent rituals, selective forgetting as intentionally blocking certain memories of the event, and middle knowledge as having partial awareness of the truth but not fully admitting it. These all function to deny or minimize the impact by avoiding full acceptance. Suppression of emotions, by contrast, is about deliberately holding back emotional expression in the moment. It’s an emotion-regulation strategy rather than a denial pattern of avoiding the truth. Because the question asks for what is NOT listed as a denial practice, suppression of emotions is the one that doesn’t belong in that set.