Reference no: EM132475971

The patient, a 35-year-old physician, had been diagnosed 3 weeks before with a malignant brain tumor and was told by his physician that there is no effective treatment. He came to a research medical center for a second opinion and was given some hope that an experimental treatment might give him 5 to 10 years of life. Referred by the neurosurgical staff for a psychiatric assessment, he reports that since his diagnosis he has experienced chronic feelings of sadness over the loss of his health and the implications for his wife and child, markedly diminished interest or pleasure in his usual activities as he focused on possible treatments, insomnia due to thinking about his illness and his prospects, lack of energy due to sadness and insomnia, diminished ability to concentrate on everyday tasks due to his attempting to come to terms with the possibility that he might soon die, and some suicidal ideation when he earlier thought the course of his illness would be more rapid and hopeless and he considered whether it would be better for him and his family to end his life before the occurrence of deterioration due to the disease.

Pretend that you are the psychiatrist that this individual is consulting. Would you diagnose this patient with a mental illness? What factors would you consider / how would you arrive at your decision? Please be elaborative.