psych eval?

Could you guys clue me in on the psych evaluation?. I mean like the questions? What should I expect? What are they looking for? I am curious because I went to see my pcp yesterday and told her about my decision. I explained to her about my previous attempts to lose the weight. I made a comment about how hard it is for me to stick to a plan. She tells me that particular comment I made to her worries her, that maybe I won't be able to stick to this. I guess maybe I should not have said this. So could you guys give me some advice as far as getting my head right for wls?

Hi, It's hard for all of us to stay on a diet or we wouldn't need surgery...... Don't let the pcp comments worry you. I bet your pcp dr doesn't have a weight problem and doesnt understand. As far as the questions on the psy test some were like.... Do you want to me a race car driver? Do you love your Mother? They are all true or false. Not to worry you will do fine. My test told the psy that I was in a hurry and didnt want to take the test... well duhhhhhhhh and that I am more male then female.... OK I just sat there and smiled as she gave me my results. I passed thats all that matters.....

I had a 600+ question that covered everything from "I like myself" to "there's a little green man behind the fridge that tells me what to do". followed by a meeting with the psychologist to discuss my knowledge and readiness to do this. What he told me of his experience is that he rarely has to recommend against someone having surgery, but WILL recommend continued care to help correct anything that might have a tendency to sabotage good results.

Kat, Go take do the eval and get it over with. The test I took had a lot of questions and some of them were really silly. I did not have to go back for an appt to get the results. I just picked up the results on my way home from work. I didn't even bother to open the envelope. I figured he would have called me if I flunked. LOL! Also, my pcp told me not the be upset when this surgery did not work. Go figure!!! Sandy

Ok...I'm not sure how to word this so please bear with me....the PCP might be right -you may not be able to stick with this. Thats why they give the pysch eval...so they can determine what your triggers and weaknesses are. Hopefully the eval will tell the pyschologist what you need to help you stick with this...that is the point. Mine showed that I have addictive behaviours, and in order to break some of my addictive responses to stimuli, I needed to be better educated. i.e....stressors lead to my addictive behaviours - I used to smoke, now I eat....so if they can teach me better ways to eat - my addictive behaviours won't inhibit my attempts at wl after surgery.... so they made me do a 12 week nutrition class so that when I do eat, I make better choices...they didn't try to change my addictive behaviour itself, but they tried to teach me better ways to handle it when it rears its ugly head. It wasn't supposed to be therapy - it was to find out what I needed help in learning.... I hope I am making sense...right now your PCP might be right (tho she shouldn't have been so discouraging), but the pysch eval will help them find out why you have a hard time sticking to it, and hopefully give you guidance on how to avoid those traps so that you CAN stick to it. And you can.

I am still shopping Surgeons. One group wanted me to have a $350 psych evaluation. Another group with more experience in Lap Bands said they would waive it as long as they felt I had a good handle on the long-term nature of this procedure. Everyone with a weight problem has been turning to food for one reason or another or they wouldn't have gotten fat, right? From what I have gathered, I think they are looking for stable, motivated realistic people who know this is a TOOL not a "magic get out of fat jail free" card. JillybeanOhio

The only problem I had w/ my psych eval is that I talked about how I would sometimes eat until I was sick, or that I ate out of boredom (which is emotional eating). Even w/ those problems I just had to have more counciling about emotional eating.... so it wasn't to big of a deal. If you don't learn how to control emotional eating beforehand it will eventually get the best of you. You have to learn how to deal with your emotions b/c you won't be able to use food as your crutch any longer. Good Luck!