Psych Evaluation Tomorrow

I have no idea what to expect. From what I hear, it could take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours. What happened at your psych evaluations?

Hi Erika,

When I had my psych exam a few months ago, it wasn't bad at all. It was kind of a 2 part exam. One day I filled out a questionaire of about 50 questions. Then about a week later I had the actual "interview" with the MSW. She asked me questions about why I thought I had gained so much weght, did I think it was my fault at all that I gained weight, why I thought I hadn't been successful at losing weight any other way. Why did I think I would be successful (compliant) this time, did I have people supporting me and my efforts.

I was honest with her, I accepted part of the blame for my obesity, but I also informed her there was NO adult in my family that was not obese. I told her of my parents "clean your plate" mentality (and grandparents) and that diabetes had run rampant in my family (myself included). Honesty with yourself and with the psych dr or MSW is important.

When my interview was done, she told me I was the most "normal" patient she had ever seen. LOL! I made her go out to the lobby where my hubby was and tell him that. He would never have believed me otherwise!

Good luck,

Beth

Mine didn't give me the final results, but I'm pretty sure everything went well. It was the first time I have ever felt comfortable discussing my obesity with a very thin person. My exam was a 3 part exam pushed together in the same day. I answered questions on paper about my weight, eating habits, feelings, etc, then had the discussion with the psychologist, and afterward had to complete a 338 question true/fales questionaire. It took somewhere around 2 hours. I'm expecting good things to come from it.

My psych exam lasted about 20 minutes tops. He wanted to make sure my expectations were not unreasonable and that I was doing this for good reasons. I had made a little list of things that I was hoping to do post-op before I met with him, like participate in a 5k and go on a roller coaster without worrying if I'd fit in the seat. Actually my surgeon, who I met w/the same day, was more interested in seeing my list than the psychologist was.

Wow, 20 minutes, really? Mine was like 2 hours long. My appt was at 3 and I was in the car leaving to pick up my husband at 5.

Erika, Dr. Stewart will be my surgeon as well and I was told he didn't require a psych eval? Is this something your insurance requires?

I'm not sure if he requires a psych eval or not. I had to have one as a pre-op requirement for my insurance.

My psych evaluation was a couple of hours. The first hour was taking the MMPI (MN Multiphasic Personality Inventory), which was tedious but not particularly difficult. The second hour was talking to the psychiatrist about why I wanted surgery, my attempts at weight loss, how I felt about surgery, what my expectations were, etc. It was a little emotionally grueling at times, but I got through it just fine, and you most likely will, too.

Mine was pretty much like yours. I filled out paperwork (including answering questions about weight history, personal info, questions about how I'm feeling in regards to sadness, happiness, depression, etc.) Then, I had the actual meeting with the psychologist, and then completed the never ending questionaire.