I have my appointment with the dietician and the psych on 1/20/14. I am sure each person's appointment is different but wondering if anyone can tell me about their psych appointment. I understand that they want to make sure there isn't something underlying and to see if having the surgery would be a bad idea but just curious as to what kind of things they asked you

I was asked 10 mins of basic questions , how many people in my family, are they supportive, do I eat when I'm bored, why do I want to have the surgery, blah blah blah, the I had to take a 150 questionnaire and we went over the results of that and that was it.

560 true false questions, they'll ask why do you eat in search of underlying issues that need to be worked out for you to be successful with this. I don't have any triggers so if you are like me then I suggest lying to them so that she won't keep drilling you and make you cry and feel like shit because you don't have weekday moat parole have that made us overweight. Ya, I hated my psych and have never went back.

Hopefully yours will go smoothly

Weekday moat parole????? Stupid autocorrect.

I think that's supposed to be "a trigger" or something like that. I forget.

The main concern my Psych really centered around was family support and who would take care of me. I have a history of dieting and weight watchers so I think they do want to hear that you have tried before this is the last option.

I did a questionnaire about my eating habits, family history, etc... Then I just went in and chatted with her for I dunno 30 minutes - hour. I went with the psych who is part of the bariatric team so it was easy.

Mine wanted to talk about what my trouble areas were (i.e. snacking/overeating in the evening during tv time) and that it is important to come up with some strategies or replacements for dealing with those times.

My experience was very easy. I also had to take the long true/false test.

No test. He primarily focused on my coping tools, feelings about changing life and strengths.

Mine was similar to what others have mentioned. He also wanted to make sure I had realistic expectations and understood that the surgery was a tool, not a magic pill.

Edited January 7, 201511 yr by Debbie Jean

I was supposed to have two sessions. At the first one the psychologist suggested I stop tv eating. At the second one I admitted I hadn't broken that habit. So he refused to clear me for surgery.

Nice, huh?

Well, it was the best thing in retrospect. I broke that tv eating habit and never returned to it. I saw him again three weeks later and he cleared me.

I was really pissed, but it woke me up to the fact that I had to do my part or WLS was not going to work for me.

From that day on, when the NUT or nurse or surgeon suggested something, I did it. I credit this willingness to follow directions with the success I had in my first few months.

So my suggestion is to listen to the psychologist, and if s/he suggests something, treat it like a requirement.

Listen...my Psych needed a Psych and I needed another one to deal with dealing with him

Long story short, if your psych has done this kind of evaluation before you shouldn't have any issues! Mine had not and it took him 4 visits and a call to my nutritionist to figure out that I'm not a nutcase....one more visit and I would have been committed!

I went to a psychiatrist because the psychologists here wanted you to take the 500+ questionnaires and charge an extra $160 for it on top of your copay for the actual eval. The psychiatrist was easy breezy, he just asked me some questions about my family health history, my health history and weight loss efforts, got a feel for my general knowledge of weight loss surgery. Nothing too invasive. You can ask them to send you a copy of the letter that they write, I did, it was actually interesting to read.

Since mine was part of the bariatric team my insurance covered it. I saw her during one of my 3 follow up appointments. The only thing my insurance didn't cover was the nutrition class. That was $200

I am probably just odd here but I find it almost insulting that striving to improve health requires a psychological evaluation. I know the rationale- I just disagree with it being a blanket requirement. That being said, I had to complete a fairly long questionnaire. The appointment itself was very pleasant. We talked about family support systems and food triggers. The whole thing was about 40-45 minutes. I felt a little bad because I walked in with such a bad attitude and it was a great experience!

I didn't go with the the one thru my surgeons office it would have cost me $350 out of pocket and I had already paid $150 for a consult with the NUT that I found to be a waste of my time and money. Everything she went over I already knew, but oh well I had to do it.

So we found a psych thru our insurance and only paid the $35 co pay. I have to say it was a very bad experience for me until I met with her. Unbeknowst to us the offce this lady worked out of was mainly for people with no insurance, no homes, no money etc When I arrived there the door had to be unlocked and there were quite a few very unstable people in the waiting area. I was very uncomfortable and almost left. It was so not what I was expecting. When she finally called me back you had to go thru a keypad locked door and it was like entering a whole different rhelm LOL Her office was nice and quiet and comfortable like I expected from the beginning. I could tell she didn't do to many of these pre surgery evals cause it took her awhile to find the form she needed. She asked me questions about my family, how I would handle the process after the surgery, very generic questions. She then said I see no problem with your having this surgery signed the form made me a copy and got the hell out of there. Went directly to my surgeon's office to hand in the form since it was the last piece we needed to submit.

Approved about 10 days later!!!

I am probably just odd here but I find it almost insulting that striving to improve health requires a psychological evaluation. I know the rationale- I just disagree with it being a blanket requirement. That being said, I had to complete a fairly long questionnaire. The appointment itself was very pleasant. We talked about family support systems and food triggers. The whole thing was about 40-45 minutes. I felt a little bad because I walked in with such a bad attitude and it was a great experience!

I don't. This is a life altering surgery. You are physically changing your body. There are so many people simply not ready and a few people who have ED's or are on the verge of ED's. I think it's a sensible safeguard. Honestly I wish it was a requirement for self pay patients as well.