Denial VS Negative Hallucination

An ego defence closely related to denial is negative hallucination, which is the unconscious failure to perceive uncomfortable sensory stimuli, for instance, the failure to see something that should clearly be seen, hear something that should clearly be heard, or feel something—such as crushing chest pain—that should clearly be felt. Thus, a common experience in conversation or in a social setting is for a person to ‘edit out’ a challenging or contradictory remark. The person momentarily goes blank, and then carries on as though nothing significant had been said.