"Another point on semantics (sorry)... Denial is, as I understand it, to refuse. If your aunt refused to acknowledge your trauma, she was in denial. You, however are not."

Semantics or not, I agree 100%. To deny is to refuse; in this case, to believe something.

According to Webster: (some "psycho-babble" or terms. I prefer "terms.")

Denial: 1 : refusal to satisfy a request or desire
2 a (1) : refusal to admit the truth or reality (as of a statement or charge) (2) : assertion that an allegation is false b : refusal to acknowledge a person or a thing : DISAVOWAL
3 : the opposing by the defendant of an allegation of the opposite party in a lawsuit
4 : SELF-DENIAL
5 : negation in logic
6 : a psychological defense mechanism in which confrontation with a personal problem or with reality is avoided by denying the existence of the problem or reality

Repress: 1 a : to check by or as if by pressure : CURB <injustice was repressed> b : to put down by force : SUBDUE <repress a disturbance>
2 a : to hold in by self-control <repressed a laugh> b : to prevent the natural or normal expression, activity, or development of <repressed her anger>
3 : to exclude from consciousness
4 : to inactivate

Avoidance: 1 : to make legally void : ANNUL <avoid a plea>
2 : obsolete : VOID, EXPEL
3 a : to keep away from : SHUN b : to prevent the occurrence or effectiveness of c : to refrain from
4 : archaic : to depart or withdraw from : LEAVE
synonym see ESCAPE: 1 a : to get away (as by flight) <escaped from prison> b : to issue from confinement <gas is escaping> c : of a plant : to run wild from cultivation
2 : to avoid a threatening evil
transitive senses
1 : to get free of : break away from <escape the jungle> <escape the solar system>
2 : to get or stay out of the way of : AVOID
3 : to fail to be noticed or recallable by <his name escapes me>
4 a : to issue from b : to be uttered involuntarily by
- es·cap·er noun
synonyms ESCAPE, AVOID, EVADE, ELUDE, SHUN (escapism: habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine)

Oh, jeez... I need a nap!

<font color=blue>This above all: To thine own self be true. --Shakespeare</font color=blue>