Denial, in ordinary English usage, is asserting that a statement or allegation is not true. The same word, and also abnegation is used for a psychological defense mechanism postulated by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may use: simple denial: deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether minimisation: admit the fact but deny its seriousness (a combination of denial and rationalization) projection: admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility by blaming somebody or something else.