After being informed that she has only 2 months to live, Lisa plans a holiday that will take place in a year's time. This illustrates which defence mechanism?

A) Repression
B) Regression
C) Intellectualization
D) Reaction formation
E) Denial

Lisa's planning of a holiday for a year later, despite being told she has only two months to live, illustrates the defense mechanism of denial. Denial involves refusing to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought, or feeling did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms because it is characteristic of early childhood development. Lisa is denying the reality of her prognosis by making plans that assume she will live much longer than doctors have told her.