vanishingirl

I had my initial psych eval about a month ago. Everyone kept saying that it was easy and not to worry, and I told myself that I'd be cool with whatever recommendations they make. I had an hour long clinical interview followed by several screening tests. Days before i was supposed to go back for my follow-up to see if i had been cleared for wls, I got a call that they wanted me to do even more testing. I had to take the 550+ questions on the mmpi. I have had a life long history of low levels of depression and social anxiety, and I've been treated for it. Anyway, the tests came back and indicated that I do have clinical levels of depression and generalized anxiety, and so I am being referred to an actual psychiatrist for med changes and I have to go to therapy. She will not clear my for wls until I have been "stable" for at least 6 months. That's at least 6 months of counseling. She read me my entire report which indicated that I don't binge eat, or have problems with emotional eating, that I've never been suicidal, that i have a good support system, that i understand the surgery and am doing it for health reasons and that i am an excellent candidate with a great chance of success...after i go to therapy for at least 6 months. At first I tried to just accept it and see the positives in the situation - it would be awesome to have whatever mental health issues i might have "under control," but I just feel angry now. *I* don't think my depression is that bad, nor that my social anxiety will have much of an impact on my weight loss. Maybe I'm just scared because I don't think the depression and anxiety actually can be fixed? I've been in therapy 3 times before and for the most part it was a complete waste of time. I've been on more meds than just about anyone I know - and they've never really helped at all. i've never actually been much less depressed or anxious than I am now at this point in my life. I admit that I do have some level of depression and anxiety, but it's always proved very resistant to treatment....so now I feel like the chance for surgery is being taken away from me, and that no matter what I do to prove I'm committed to this- unless this depression and anxiety go away, it will never happen. I'm still going to continue doing everything that my insurance company and the weight management institute are asking me to, but I feel like right now losing on my own, without the surgery as a tool, is my only choice - and I've been failing at that my whole life. At this point, I won't be able to have surgery until March at the earliest, and we were shooting for December before. I just keep thinking that my social anxiety is that I always worry that people are judging me for being fat, and my depression is mostly because I never feel physically well enough to do anything because I'm fat, and even though I've never thought that surgery would cure my emotional issues, my weight really is my biggest problem emotionally. ......so...has anyone else ever had to deal with this?

So as a bit of an update, I'm still feeling pretty frustrated, because I am going to just do what they want and make the best use of my extra few months. The thing that seems to be bothering me now is I keep hearing everyone talk about how easy the psych eval is - how it's NOTHING and mine was so incredibly extensive. I just wish I had been warned that some psychologists take it very, very seriously, lol. Oh well. I probably wouldn't have been able to get off of work for the surgery until about March anyway!

I've been diagnosed with dysthymia in the past, but all she said was that the tests showed I had clinical levels of depression, which I think is mostly anxiety as well. I guess I'm just frustrated because I feel fine and stable, and I know they're looking for things that could possibly pop up after surgery and they want to prevent that from happening, but I just don't know how effective that it will be. I've been on effexor, prozac, paxil, celexa, zoloft, welbutrin, lithium (my doc was trying everything at that point!) and abilify. I probably should have mentioned that she thinks my biggest problem is that I probably have undiagnosed ADHD, but they don't do that in their office, and I'm supposed to go get tested for ADHD before I do anything else. I guess initial depression screening she did didn't even show I had depression, just the mmpi. But I'm fine! Generally happy, positive, and optimistic! She said that herself. I guess I should have known when I went in for my eval that it wasn't going to be so easy, because right away I could tell that she was being much more indepth than anyone else I'd heard about.

I've been researching this just in case we lost my husband's insurance, and I haven't been able to find any in Idaho, either. I'm just very, very lucky because the insurance through his work is actually Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nebraska, even though he works in American Falls, and they do cover the surgery. Maybe something will change when the health insurance exchange opens?

I had my eval on 8/5 - about an hour of clinical interview and then another hour of written tests. Got a message today that the psychologist wants me to come back for further testing...now I'm scared. I felt pretty good about it before, but now I'm worried! Anyone had this happen?

Oh no! I was hoping that I was going to be able to somehow squeeze this in before Dec 31st! My first appt was 7/9...I don't think it's possible. :-(

Mine was also about 2 hours - questions about my history and a lot of tests. My psych said that she has never said "No - never" to anybody as far as their surgery goes, but she has suggested that people slow down until they resolve some issues. The way I see it is that even though I want the surgery - like RIGHT NOW, if the psych finds something that causes her concern regarding my readiness for surgery, that I should trust her professional judgement. I don't know the results yet - I have a follow up appt on Aug 22nd where I get to go over the entire psych evaluation with her. She said it will be about 7 pages long.

I have BCBS of Nebraska and my plan does cover WLS. I agree that it does depend on what kind of insurance your employer purchases.