TRY NOT TO THINK OF A RECESSION — Biden administration denials are bound to deliver the opposite of the intended message.

Is the U.S. in a recession? New York Mayor Eric Adams seems to think so. Speaking last week to the nonprofit group Project Hospitality, he said: “We’re in a financial crisis like you can never imagine. . . . Wall Street is collapsing. We’re in a recession.” But Mr. Adams’s fellow Democrats in the Biden administration have been furiously denying there’s a recession. When a reporter asked him if they’re wrong, he backtracked: “The president will make a determination on the official title of where we are; that’s the president, and I follow the lead of the president.”

The debate has brought a new notoriety to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee, the organization that officially designates recessions. The NBER’s definition is “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months” and taking into account gross domestic product, real income, employment, industrial production and consumer spending. That’s a mouthful, and it can’t compete with the simplicity of “two quarters of declining GDP.” In any case, NBER won’t make a determination for months.

Adding to the danger is that experts think that the expectation of inflation can cause inflation. Does the same psychology apply to recession?

The administration’s communication challenge is twofold. First is the old “don’t think of an elephant” problem. What are you thinking of? Second, saying “This isn’t a recession” only convinces people we’re in a recession. The word “recession” makes a much stronger impression on the listener than the word “isn’t.” This is one of the easiest mistakes to avoid, but it pops up daily.

As always life imitates Monty Python: In “the Amazing Mystico and Janet” sketch, the magician puts up a block of apartments instantly — but the buildings only stay vertical if their tenants believe in them.