Physcological consult sessions?

Today I had my physcological consult. I've never been to a conseling session before. My bariatric surgery program requires that I have at least 1 counseling session with a psychologist. After the session, the PsyD said she was going write a recommendation to my surgeon for VSG surgery. However, she made the recommendation that I come back for 1-2 sessions with her before the surgery to address some issues with emotional eating. I'm not opposed to the idea, since I know how important it is to have your head on straight before surgery, but I was curious to see if anyone else has done more than 1 counseling session prior to surgery? She did stress that it was a recommendation, and not a requirement. Is that common for multiple "recommended" sessions?

My psychological clearance was a one-and-done situation. We did speak at length about support systems, expectations, potential impacts on relationships, and transfer addictions. He did not say anything about seeking more counseling. I may seek them on my own, but it wasn't something explicitly recommended as part of my pre-op prep.

My psychologist plodded through a set piece he obviously recited for everyone. We spent more time talking about how we were in rival high schools at the same time and competed against one another in the same sport. I did not see any value in the session, although I suspect others may have felt differently.

That's interesting, because that's what I thought my session would be. He seemed to take it really seriously and really, really dug in to each topic. I was surprised. I thought it was going to be a rubber-stamp type situation, but it wasn't at all. One reason it may not have been was because I don't think my doc typically did these clearances.

My PsyD specialized in bariatric counseling, so she was very thorough. First step was 30 minutes of written questionnaires related to my eating, emotions, and fitness routines. Followed by an intense hour long counseling session in which she addressed my responses on the questionnaires. It was no joke and no rubber stamp.

Rubber stamp would be a good way to describe it. I think he was an LCSW. He definitely didn't have an MD. He was part of the staff of the "bariatric team" which also handled quitting smoking as well as overeating. He asked a few perfunctory questions, and then proceeded to give me his theories on eating, using the analogy of feeding a wood stove with good wood or bad wood. He drew some diagrams over top of the print on the papers he handed me when I arrived, and at the end pronounced me good to go. It was a total waste of time, but one hoop I had to jump through.

There are LOTS of people on OH who've started working with a therapist to address their emotional eating issues before surgery. Surgery fixes your stomach, not your head, and it can take a lot of work to get yourself set for this new lifestyle change.

I had my surgery in March 2014 and, knowing that getting my head sorted out was imperative to my long term success, I started seeing a therapist weekly at the beginning of 2014. I continued seeing my therapist weekly for probably a year and then switched to fortnightly.

Probably just a thorough practitioner who possibly identified something they felt needed more attention. It's not a bad idea to have a few more sessions. I would comply with her recommendation to be on the safe side.

Mine just asked me about life stuff, family, growing up, support system. She asked about my eating habits, and my plan for being compliant post op. In the report I also read stuff like I made good eye contact, I was engaging, and that I seemed to have sound decision making processes (weird to read but flattering). I think they are looking for any major psych issues needing to be addressed. I don't think anything that wasn't completely off the wall would prevent you from moving forward.

I wish mine would have recommended it because in my opinion I think everyone needs therapy to address the emotional eating. It took me 6 years after surgery to finally realize I need it. So I think you should def do it because surgery won't fix your brain just your stomach.