A friend of mine at work is going through the process of getting approved for bariatric surgery. She's already had her initial surgical consult and just called a psych office to set up an appointment for her psych eval. She was told the evaluation will take - are you ready for this - TWO AND A HALF HOURS! WTH do they "evaluate" for two and a half hours?

What's everyone else's experience?

BTW: I had surgery in Mexico and my "psych eval" consisted in filling out a form online of maybe 20 questions. Shebang! I was "qualified" and got a call the next day asking when I wanted to have the surgery.

Hi, I was self paid and had my surgery here in the states. I got to do my evaluation on the phone and took maybe 20-30 minutes.

I had mine today and it was about 1 1/2 hours. I briefly spoke with the Doctor. Now get this, this guy advised me to find a therapist and see them till my surgery and continue with the therapy for 3 months post op. Sooo, I guess I'm cleared for the surgery, I think.... He did say that he wanted to be sure that I knew what I was getting into and he really emphisized that the "new" stomach would only hold 3 oz. He also tried to warn me of the dangers of NOT eating the 6 times a day after the surgery AND the results of over eating and splitting the stomach. That was a new one for me, wow...

I had my psych eval this week. It lasted about 2 hours. The first 30-40 minutes consisted of one on one discussion with the psychologist. Then she had me read a list of vocabulary words that increased in complexity. After that, she gave out a long list of words which I had to define. I made it all the way through both lists. She told me that rarely happens. I guess they normally quit after a person has missed a certain number of words/questions. It's not the same as an IQ test. It was more of a one on one achievement test, so I'm not sure what the purpose was. There was no math, so I was relieved! lol The rest of the the time, I answered 2 different sets of questionnaires, one of them was several, several pages. They seemed to be screening for signs of depression.

The psych evals vary so greatly. I am a psychologist and conduct bariatric assessments. Mine take about 2 hours and I do give the MMPI...it is actually very relevant to the situation as it can screen for psychosis, substance abuse, easting disorders, etc. It's really for the surgeons to protect them from potential liability. Meanwhile...as a patient, I had mine done on Friday and it was about half an hour. I pretty much told the psychologist what I wanted and needed and it was really quick.

The psych evals vary so greatly. I am a psychologist and conduct bariatric assessments. Mine take about 2 hours and I do give the MMPI...it is actually very relevant to the situation as it can screen for psychosis, substance abuse, easting disorders, etc. It's really for the surgeons to protect them from potential liability. Meanwhile...as a patient, I had mine done on Friday and it was about half an hour. I pretty much told the psychologist what I wanted and needed and it was really quick.

I did the consult, an MMPI and two short tests. The one short test I think was something like word association, some memory and I can't remember what else. What do those tests show? I know that might be a tough question to answer without more information, but just curious if you had any ideas. Like, I was given 3 different words at the start of one the tests and then told I would be asked what they were at the end. Even though it was a short test, I have a horrible memory on stuff like that. He said sunset, and 2 other words. I spent the whole rest of the time after he gave me those words saying them in my head, not really able to pay attention to the other questions.

mine was three visits. Billed at 2.5 hrs to the insurance company per visit reguardless if I was there 30 min or 10. (he was on their list of approved providers) My co-pay was 20.00 a visit. First visit was basically a why are you here today type of visit. The second was the MMPI2 test. (There is one on line to look at and yes the questions are the same) Third was the results of the test. Within a few days my surgeon had the report. Not a bad experience at all.

Deb

I did the consult, an MMPI and two short tests. The one short test I think was something like word association, some memory and I can't remember what else. What do those tests show? I know that might be a tough question to answer without more information, but just curious if you had any ideas. Like, I was given 3 different words at the start of one the tests and then told I would be asked what they were at the end. Even though it was a short test, I have a horrible memory on stuff like that. He said sunset, and 2 other words. I spent the whole rest of the time after he gave me those words saying them in my head, not really able to pay attention to the other questions.

Sounds like a standard Mental Status Examination....just to make sure you are oriented. Remembering the 3 words is part of it. Pretty standard.

I have my eval tomorrow and I was told to be available for 4 hours. Two tests of some kind and an hour of talk with the psychiatrist.

Originally I had an appointment with a different psychiatrist and she told me the same thing.

I suppose that is what my insurance requires. I hope it goes well.