The Occupy movement is causing us to confront our denial head-on. People are finally talking about — and in some cases, even taking action to remedy — injustices that have been with us for far too long.

The latest crop of reality TV tells stories of people suffering because their homes are filled with useless junk and filth. But how many of us treat our time as badly as these people treat their spaces? You may be a “time hoarder” and not even know it.

Riding out the global recession means marshaling your emotional resources as much as managing your finances. You can use today’s economic setback as a catalyst for personal growth right now — even before the recovery takes hold.

Effective manipulation tactics simultaneously put others on the defensive while also obscuring or denying the malevolent intent of the person using them. Such tactics are particularly effective on neurotic individuals — especially those who always want to think the best of people and who strive hard to understand what would make a person behave in a problematic way.

True “acting-out” is an outward manifestation of an emotional conflict that can’t be consciously recognized by an individual. Acting-up is NOT acting-out.

For neurotics, behavior such as denial is an unconscious defense mechanism that protects against the experience of unbearable pain. With disordered characters, what we commonly perceive as unconscious defenses (e.g., denial) are more often deliberate tactics of impression-management, manipulation, and responsibility-avoidance.

“Everyone is in denial about something; just try denying it and watch friends make a list.” An article in the New York Times looks at research on denial and comes to the conclusion that far from being a destructive force it is a necessary part of life, which both protects us and actually helps us to form and nourish relationships.