Good Morning, Today is my Psych Evaluation, not sure what to expect. Any insights that you that have gone before would like to share with a newbie?

Thanks much,

JJ

Good Morning, Today is my Psych Evaluation, not sure what to expect. Any insights that you that have gone before would like to share with a newbie?

Thanks much,

JJ

I am a newbie also! All can say is good luck!

Well, each is eval is a little different depending upon your responses. You need to be honest in your answers. Smile. Really they are looking to see if you are capable of making a life changing decision, if you are willing to follow a new eating guideline for life, have you had any eating disorders such as bulemia and the probability of your long term success.

Know why you want this surgery. Maybe make a list beyond ... to be a size 8 or so my boyfriend will stay with me. just kidding here

Did anyone influence you and what was their motivation?

Who is your support? Are you going this alone or have you told someone? How did they react?

How are you going to change your relationship with food?

Good luck!

If your psych eval is anything like mine was, be prepared to answer what seems like 5,000 questions, but very few of them seem different. LOL. I took what is called the MMPI, and also talked with the psychologist for about 30 minutes. As was already mentioned, be HONEST in your answers. If the person doing your eval doesn't feel that you are being honest, they won't pass you for surgery. (YIKES!)

Good luck!

Mine was almost anticlimatic......he asked me a few questions about my childhood, alot of questions about my eating habits, chastised me for not eating vegetables (!!!??!!!) and then handed me a booklet with 500 true and false questions to complete. I was kind of hoping to get into the "why" of my eating, but I guess I will find a therapist to help me through that. I was all wound up about my psych eval and it ended up being rather boring and non-eventful. Good luck with yours. I hope it goes well for you!

Just letting everyone know I made it through the Psych eval today. the Dr. was a nice man, Hopefully, he will be able to get the results back to my Bariatric Center quickly. Thanks for everyones insights. appreciate it.

JJ

Good Morning, Today is my Psych Evaluation, not sure what to expect. Any insights that you that have gone before would like to share with a newbie?

Thanks much,

JJ

I totally agree with missbliss. The eval is basically non-eventful. They just ask questions about why you're doing it, have you always been heavy or what prompted your weight gain, are you dealing with any emotional instability in your life etc. My doc sent me the MMPI ahead of time and had me bring in the completed test. He also said that the test was originally designed for general mental health evals so a lot of the questions seemed completely un-related. My favorite was: true or false, "sometimes, I feel like swearing." My roommate and I still giggle over that one.

Don't worry over it and be honest about your goals and dedication.

Good luck!

My psych eval was bizarre. lol. I was very smiley with the lady and very friendly. She loved me since I was at goal weight. She mentioned several times that she loved that I was at goal. She asked me SO many bizarre questions like "Do you ever hear voices talking to you? Do you ever smell things that others around you can't smell? Have you ever harmed yourself intentionally or intentionally caused harm to those around you?" After a few of those questions I finally said "Wow... do people ever say yes to any of these questions?" She laughed and said "Oh honey... you'd be surprised.". lol!! I just said "Well, these questions are kinda cracking me up. I'm not nuts, I can promise you that. But let's proceed."

So my advice would be... just be yourself. At the end of my evaluation, she told me that I am as normal as normal can be (now, I don't know about all THAT... lol! ) so just show that you are ready to make the commitment and that you aren't planning on trying to test your sleeve and push the limits to see how much you can fit in it. Oh, and if you do have those voices in your head... tell them to shut up for about an hour so you can hear the questions

Ya mean, I wasn't supposed to listen to those voices? Man, I must be doing something wrong! LOL

It went well, yes, they asked those questions, plus more, I didn't understand why they would ask those questions, but they did. I did just fine.

thanks for your reply. I gotta good laugh with the voices thing:)

JJ

My psych eval was bizarre. lol. I was very smiley with the lady and very friendly. She loved me since I was at goal weight. She mentioned several times that she loved that I was at goal. She asked me SO many bizarre questions like "Do you ever hear voices talking to you? Do you ever smell things that others around you can't smell? Have you ever harmed yourself intentionally or intentionally caused harm to those around you?" After a few of those questions I finally said "Wow... do people ever say yes to any of these questions?" She laughed and said "Oh honey... you'd be surprised.". lol!! I just said "Well, these questions are kinda cracking me up. I'm not nuts, I can promise you that. But let's proceed."

So my advice would be... just be yourself. At the end of my evaluation, she told me that I am as normal as normal can be (now, I don't know about all THAT... lol! ) so just show that you are ready to make the commitment and that you aren't planning on trying to test your sleeve and push the limits to see how much you can fit in it. Oh, and if you do have those voices in your head... tell them to shut up for about an hour so you can hear the questions

Ya mean, I wasn't supposed to listen to those voices? Man, I must be doing something wrong! LOL

It went well, yes, they asked those questions, plus more, I didn't understand why they would ask those questions, but they did. I did just fine.

thanks for your reply. I gotta good laugh with the voices thing:)

JJ

Man 'ol man...I sure hope I can pass this stage! That voices thing keep coming through strongly..lol (gooo back...runnn forest runnn) yes, I don't listen and keep moving forward to try and get approved..lol

Hello Ladies...I couldn't resisit!

It depends on the evaluation. That, in turn, usually depends on whether it's a single evaluation event, or a multi-appointment process.

Most likely they will be looking to determine:

1. The nature of your eating disorder

2. Your likely successes of dealing with the distress of the WLS process

3. Your triggers, and how you might avoid them

4. Your coping mechanisms, and how well you might adjust to needing to change them

5. The support structure you have in place

6. Etc.

The MMPI is used to diagnose and/or treat mental illness. I'm not sure I agree with it as a generic WLS determination tool, much like I don't agree with personality sorters as a way of determining job candidacy.

Hopefully, the psychologist is determining your candicay in a more systemic way... seeing if there's anything that might indicate you're not a great candidate (e.g. history of eating disorder other than overeating), helping you understand the changes you will need to make, helping you find ways to "mourn" the loss of your primary addiction... in short, helping you set up a program to change your behaviors.

The best advice is to be honest. If you're a candidate, honestly will help set a path for success. If you're not a candidate, which isn't terribly common, it's better to know why and see if it's something you can work on.

I'm going Thursday. Hope I'm not psycho either, LOL!

I'm a newbie too. I had my psych eval done at the end of April. It was very enlightening. The physician was very emotionless which in the end allowed me to be very open and honest about me and my relationship with food. I don't know about anyone else, but I was brought to tears a couple of times when his questions struck a nerve. His interview technique helped me open up to him with things I've never discussed with another human being.

Overall, be yourself, be open and be honest. Best Wishes!!

Mine was a joke. I came in prepared to answer the hard questions. The question I got "what are your hobbies?" Seriously, that was the first question. She asked if I had someone to help take care of me after the surgery and how they felt about the idea. She gave me an IQ test where she mispronounced words and asked me to define them. That was fun. She asked if I had a drinking problem. She asked if I had ever been arrested. She asked if I physically fight with anyone in my life. Then she gave me a test with 500 true false questions.

Things like true or false. I would have liked to have been a park ranger. I love my mother. I believe someone is trying to poison me. I like reading books. I love my father. Sometimes I hear voices no one else hears. Sometimes the back of my head feels like it is on fire.

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. It is a shame I needed this so bad or it would have been fun to screw with them.

Psychologists get a kick out of those MMPI questions, too. There is a spoof of the MMPI in a book called "The Journal of Polymorphous Perversity" that has such memorable T/F statements as : " I salivate at the sight of mittens." "I try to steal people's thoughts and ideas when they are not looking." "I am easily awakened by the firing of cannons." and my personal favorite, "Sometimes I feel that things are real."