I think it can go further than that. Before my diagnosis, while my health was declining, I didn't want to admit that I was as sick as I was. In the back of my mind I was afraid I was dying of MS, so I stopped going to my neurologist (who was no help anyway, but that's another story), further more I bought a manual sports car, which I was in no position to get rid of once my illness progressed to the point that I was having trouble driving it (and I could see that day coming when I bought it--I now love my car, btw).

My point is, though, that I could see all this coming and was not willing to admit to myself that I was in a period of relative calm before a storm.