Had my first psych visit today. I feel like she is going to delay me in this process. She wants me to commit to therapy which is fine but if they want to fix my issues before they will let me get physically healthy then it is counterproductive. Has anyone else had this kind of experience? I am so afraid of being denied.

You need to fix your head before they operate on your stomach, not the other way around. Otherwise, the surgery may not be of any true, long term help to you. 

I was able to conquer my food demons before my surgery, and I'm grateful that I did. I've had zero desire to eat my feelings...and believe me, I've been through some major stress since my surgery in May of 2013. 

Good luck. 

What audrey said.

Before, I even contemplated WLS I did a lot of therapy.  To this day, I still slip up at times and see food as: 1) entertainment (cooking and eating are time consuming fun), 2) love (i just got married and sometimes catch myself saying things like I love  you and want to make the best ___ for you) and 3) stress reliever (nothing like clamping down on a pototae chip, popcorn, cracker...).

These above, aren't intrinsically bad. What is bad is looking at food solely any of the three all the time.

What food is..is fuel.  There is nothing wrong with wanting food to taste good, but it has to be good fuel first THEN taste good. One should not stress eat or boredom eat. Sometimes, I would feel hunger when stressed or bored. Sometimes, if I get hungry and it is not at an appropriate hunger time (as determined by when and what i last ate), I will "know" that it is just some sort of weird psychosomatic response and I am just going to have to mediate or white-knuckle through it.  It is not a real physiological need.

But it took a long time to get there, and a lot of mess-ups along the way. Patterns are hard to break.

From what I hear, this is very common. I had the exact same scenario. The psych I saw at my clinic last November said she couldn't clear me yet, and she wanted me to establish with a health psychologist to see regularly before surgery and through the first year after. I was really irritated at first, but then I realized it was part of a process designed to make sure I would be able to make the best use of my tool. Honestly, it was the best thing that could have happened to me, because I have a long history of depression and disordered eating going as far back as my preschool years. My head is in SO MUCH better a place than it was 6 months ago (regarding both food and personal issues), and I feel much better prepared to commit to these lifelong changes.

My regular psychologist had to send a letter to the one I saw at the clinic telling her how often we meet, what we're working on, and that she feels I'm ready for this big life event. That letter was submitted with my other chart notes to my insurance, and they approved me in 2 days once I had completed my 6 months of weight management classes. I was really worried about it delaying me too, but from what both the clinic and my insurance told me, this happens all the time and doesn't end in a denial as long as you follow the psych's recommendations.

The person at the clinic and my therapist will be the same person.  That is helpful.  I'm so tired can't sleep, stressing over everything. 

That should definitely help! The psychologist I saw is only at the clinic once a month, so she only sees new patients. I hear you with the stressing -- as soon as one of the things I'm stressing about gets resolved, I find something else to get stressed about!    I wish I had some advice for you there, but if I did, I'd take my own advice.

that's why we all have each other.  Without this and dedication I never would have gotten this far.  It's a battle I'm fighting all alone in my private life, guess therapy won't be so bad.