Denial of reality: a form of emotional child abuse

Parental denial of reality is a form of emotional child abuse. The case history of a 49-year-old patient in psychoanalytic psychotherapy is described in order to illustrate how parental denial, especially parental collusive denial, of reality may impair a child's sense of reality by invalidating his perceptions and memories. The resulting doubts about their truth may result in a feeling of "being crazy."