Denial is not only a river in Egypt.. it is a human skill too - when we do not want to face the reality/change happening we go through processing cycle of denial-anger-bargain-depression-acceptance. That woman (that i know nothing about) is still stuck in stage one, civil war is not happening, 'all is going to be ok' , etc. until person is able to connect with reality, the path to dealing with it (acceptance) can not happen.