Pre-Op Psycologist Appointment

I'm sorry, my mistake. My program has everyone in the same building, pretty much. Well, the surgeon is actually in the adjacent building, but all the nutritionists, initial doctor evaluation, psychologist, insurance people... etc. All same office. I made a faulty assumption!

You poor thing, you had to beat the brush to drum one up and then it went like that.

Everyone sweats the psychological clearance, but you would have to be majorly weird (think "sociopath ax-murderer" weird) for a psychologist/psychiatrist to nix your surgery. I never heard of anyone who was denied the surgery because of "failing" the psych evaluation. I may be wrong about this. Does anyone know of someone who "failed" the psych. eval.?

psychoticparrot

Also good to know. Not the only one. And I foresee no killing sprees in the future for me, or even one-offs. Now down with the killing... Even if my Netflix history might suggest I have a serial killer fascination(it's horrifying and interesting... I can't help bu****ch those true crime documentaries...)

Yes, if anyone knows of someone who failed the psyche eval, I'd like to know.

Psychoticparrot- I personally don't know anyone who has failed the psych eval and I know several people who had the surgery. However, there are some people who posted videos on youtube about failing their psych eval. One woman held up the paper to the video camera and discussed everything she had to do (which was several things) before she could be approved for surgery. If you are interested one is under Failed my Psych eval:( and there's another one under Yep I failed my Psych Eval! It is not common for people to fail the evaluations though. 

Yup, I do know someone who was denied. The person, IMO, was in complete denial about her eating issues and had some other addictive tendencies and as far as I could tell viewed VSG as a cure rather than a tool. 

Yep!  Me.

I "failed" my 3-hr psych eval due to getting diagnosed with BED (Binge Eating Disorder) & now have to get "treated" for that before I can have surgery (8 sessions with a psych "dr" who specializes in BED). I've never heard of BED before but its description does appear to outline how I gain weight.

My psych eval was 3 hours long & consisted of about 90min of "testing" on the computer (mostly true/false type questions) & some questionnaires I filled out before arriving and the "interview" with the psych "dr".

Summertime is the only time I can have my VSG surgery so I have plenty of time to get this taken care of but I'm finding it difficult to find a "dr" that has the appropriate specialization for treating BED AND also accepts my insurance. I figure fixing this binge eating thing now will help when I have to deal with the post-surgery life, especially after 1 year out when hunger and being able to eat more are more prevalent. 

That blows. My only ideas on how to find someone who specializes is via Uncle Google... or asking the first psychiatrist for a reference.

I hope you can get it all sorted out before summer. When you're mentally ready to get going, the rigorous pre-op EVERYTHING just seems to take forever.

Three hours is average for a psychological evaluation.  

A psychologist does testing, assessment, administration, and counseling, and they have a PhD or a PsyD (a doctor of psychology).  A psychiatrist is an MD who typically does medication management.  Both are called doctor which can be confusing.  A psychologist just has a doctorate, whereas the psychiatrist is actually a medical doctor.

Then there are we counselors who just counsel and do some evaluations, but have a masters degree and license with no doctorate or fancy title. 

My pre-op visit was about three hours.  We did a Beck Depression Inventory (you answer this) and then a questionnaire that was very long, plus a third assessment I can't recall.  Each psychologist does a different battery of tests depending on insurance requirements and location, I assume.  Some do an MMPI/personality eval, but I did not have to do one even though I have a severe eating disorder and major depressive disorder.  It really depends.

You won't get rejected for surgery unless you have psychosis or other conditions which would prevent you from potentially making the lifestyle changes required.  If someone cannot adhere to a diet or change of lifestyle it could be damaging, especially if there is a severe compulsive eating component that is uncontrollable - like Praeder-Willi syndrome, for instance.

When psychologists do these assessments they write up a long report.  You can ask for a copy of the report if you're curious.  It's interesting to read.  Of course, this is what I'm in grad school for, so I'm biased. ;)

Average, wow, that is surprising. But I like the sound of tests! I also like the sound of a limited amount of issues being something to deny for.

(Because I know I'm weird. And I'm too set in my ways to normal-up at this point. Good luck with school. I may have to ask for the report just to see... Certainly more accurate than all those FB quizzes -- unless your aim is really to see what kind of Disney Princess you are :)

I can professionally tell you that no one is normal.  Everyone is weird!  I had blue hair before my clinical internship started and I am thoroughly geeky/nerdy with the sci-fi fandoms.  I have also have hideous taste in music which is without its horrifying peer.  We all have our quirks and habits... being a counselor has taught me that no one is normal.  We are all different and variegated in our own ways.  Perhaps you are more interesting than weird :)

The psychiatric evaluations take a while because of the sheer info dump.  I found mine more interesting than not... the psychologist I think was more annoyed by my nerdy nattering on, heh.  Definitely ask for the report copy if you are curious.  I love reading them.  Again, of course, I'm biased by my profession.