HEALTH/Patients Impact on Decision Making - Essay Example

he first defense mechanism used by the patient in the present case study was denial – the refusal to accept the painful event; this denial is seen through the fact that even feeling weak the patient didn’t address the doctor immediately, and only when this weakness achieved considerable levels he had to go to the hospital, where the professionals discovered his tumor. However, it may also be argued that this has been denial – moreover, it should be admitted that the patient was wise enough to address the doctor as soon as he felt something was wrong with his health, and the fact that the doctor didn’t find anything wrong was the reason for the patient going home with wrong diagnosis (or, better, absence of any diagnosis at all).

Another defense mechanism used by the patient was at the time he knew he had to go to the hospital for surgery. It would be possible to call this mechanism as ‘sublimation’ – channeling the unacceptable impulses into more acceptable outlets. In this case when the patient was speaking to his parents about the surgery, he was open and easy-going, concealing the seriousness of the disease, and trying to persuade himself that everything would come to the positive outcomes. Not that he needed to conceal the truth from his parents, but this mechanism worked for the benefit of the patient, making him feel better and not concentrate on the serious complications which the surgery might have had.

Can one state that the patient has used intellectualization as one of the defense mechanisms when getting to know he has got cancer – a life threatening disease? Both yes, and no. Yes, because he was rational enough to understand that even life threatening diseases are cured, he was rationally considering the events which took place with his participation – namely, the event of the patient being seriously ill and the patient playing major role in it; no, because intellectualization usually implies the fact that the patient is unable to