Kvinneakt, different theorists have defined denial and repression in very different ways. As used by Freud, denial is the coping mechanism in which you refuse to admit the truth of factual information that is threatening to you. Repression is an unconscious process, also a defense mechanism. True repressed memories happen in early childhood and are things that are so threatening that we can't bring them to conscious awareness. (This is a current topic in one of the classes I am taking - Personality Theory - and I am finding that class and this thread to be extremely relevant to each other.) I feel that re-writing your story and changing your perceptions of it is different. You don't deny that things happened, but you look for the good in it - how you were strong enough to get through the problems and be a survivor. Yeah, it's hard, and I tend to rebel against the idea that I could go back and look at my childhood and pull out positive things. But why do we want to dwell on the negative so much? I definitely do it, but my childhood wasn't all bad. Maybe it isn't any less accurate to pull out the good memories and dwell on them instead.

<font color=blue>Life is filled with tragedy; if you let it overwhelm you, you cannot enjoy life's innocent pleasures. -Robert Heinlein</font color=blue>