Psych Eval Made Me Feel Worse! Help!

[samomom 19]

WIth all due respect to pyscologists and psychiatrists, I think that many of them feel they can cure most anything through your head first. They see a patient with a food/weight problem and automatically label them as food obsessive and think that they can 'fix' them with therapy. Fat Chance(pun intended)! It sounds like too many of them are telling potential WLS patients that they can't or are making the wrong decision to have surgery. I wish they'd quit treating people like ignorant children. They should then make anyone who wants plastic surgery go through an eval as well to cure them of body image issues. I was told that my screening, which was a whole 10-15 minutes, was to weed out truly crazy people who need real psychiatric help or Bulimics. I laughed through most of mine based on the screener I did prior to my appointment. It was all good.

To the woman who has a child with Leukemia. Of course your are depressed! Who wouldn't be in your situation?? And yes, why wouldn't you put your kids first? You had a crazy shrink! I applaud you for wanting to take on this while your child is in treatment. A healthy mama is a happy mama and one who can better care for her kids. I wish the best outcome for your child.

Melissa

[ctwebb727 0]

Aww I'm sad that so many of you had negative experiences. People in general all seem to have some sort of opinion about WLS and the ones that are opposed are REALLY opposed. Unfortunately that had to be someone you met on a professional level. Luckily the surgery center I'm working with has a psychologist that they work with. He screens most of their patients and is very much used to the idea of WLS. I knew the purpose of the screening and knew I'd come out okay. But to my surprise, I left feeling better than I thought I would. He actually told me that he thought i'd do great with the band, that i'd be one of those people he sees in a year that he doesn't even recognize (he attends some of the support group meetings). I wish more surgery centers did this. WLS is a HUGE decision for most people and it's a discouraging enough journey with all the hoops for insurance, peoples opinions, etc. We shouldn't be exposed to negativity by those that are supposed to be helping us. I'm sorry you guys had to experience that but GOOD FOR YOU FOR MOVING FORWARD!

[ctwebb727 0]

I noticed from your note yesterday you were still waiting on approval, have you received it yet? I am also going to have Dr Spaw do my lap band and seen V O'Bryan this morning. I had a very nice visit and felt good when I left. I am working on the 10% that BCBS of Tenn requires and have about 12 more pounds to go.

[honk 780]

My Psych eval went fine. They asked a lot of questions. He asked about my life in general and what I did for work. I told him I was in recruiting but had been laid off. To which he replied that regrettably a lot of people were unemployeed right now. Later on he asked me what I was good at and instead of saying like I am a pretty good musician I said "my job" and then I started crying. He gave me some tissues but did'nt make a big thing out of it. Sounds like I was really lucky.

[Swan56 6]

I noticed from your note yesterday you were still waiting on approval, have you received it yet? I am also going to have Dr Spaw do my lap band and seen V O'Bryan this morning. I had a very nice visit and felt good when I left. I am working on the 10% that BCBS of Tenn requires and have about 12 more pounds to go.

Nope - still waiting on approval. Called BCBS today. First they said they hadn't received it. Then they found it, had received it, and said it didn't show it was in review. Although they told Dr. Spaws office earlier this week it was. I don't think they know... haha. Anyway, she said she'd send it over to be reviewed and to wait 7-14 days. BOO! hahaha. 12 pounds isn't too bad. Good luck with that! I hated that part. Seemed like it took FOREVER.

[stateofzen 46]

As a psychologist, I just have to comment that referring a person to counseling is not a negative thing and it does not mean that the evaluator thinks you're a lost cause or a failure. The fact is, we ALL know that our heads are as important in this as our stomachs, and for some people who are in a lot of additional stress (beyond the stress of the surgery itself), counseling could help you make sure that you succeed. That's what we all want, right? To succeed at this?

Some people do get sent to a psych eval with someone who doesn't believe in WLS and that's horrible-- without a doubt. But a general referral that some therapy could help you with your weight loss journey is not a strike against you as a person, or a greedy attempt to make more money, or a statement that you're a horrible failure at life. It's a recommendation for an additional TOOL, just like the band is a tool.

I go to all of the support groups I can get my hands on, and I have considered making an appt for some work on the "head" stuff that goes with drastically changing the way that I eat. That's a good thing, not a bad thing.

Just something else to consider. . .

[tntbelt 1]

As a psychologist, I just have to comment that referring a person to counseling is not a negative thing and it does not mean that the evaluator thinks you're a lost cause or a failure. The fact is, we ALL know that our heads are as important in this as our stomachs, and for some people who are in a lot of additional stress (beyond the stress of the surgery itself), counseling could help you make sure that you succeed. That's what we all want, right? To succeed at this?

Some people do get sent to a psych eval with someone who doesn't believe in WLS and that's horrible-- without a doubt. But a general referral that some therapy could help you with your weight loss journey is not a strike against you as a person, or a greedy attempt to make more money, or a statement that you're a horrible failure at life. It's a recommendation for an additional TOOL, just like the band is a tool.

I go to all of the support groups I can get my hands on, and I have considered making an appt for some work on the "head" stuff that goes with drastically changing the way that I eat. That's a good thing, not a bad thing.

Just something else to consider. . .

I do agree that there is nothing wrong with counseling and I am continuing to go even though I have met my requirements. But basically I had an additional 40 minute session, took another nearly 600 question exam, and another 20 minute appt to go over the exam. That was it, nothing was really even discussed about my eating habits just asked general questions about childhood etc and was basically just a 6 wk delay. If my insurance hadn't had such a quick turn around it would have been about a 6 month delay because I would have had to wait til my deductibles were met again.

I almost gave up after that first appt because I was reaching out for help which is HARD for me and I felt like I had been kicked in the gut by the time I had left and I cried the entire way home. I had to jump through hoops to even make that appt, I had to rent a car because one of the vehicles were down that week, come up with a $500 program fee, get someone to put my son on the bus, husband had to take off work to take my son for his spinal chemo, I had to miss being there for my 5 year old during his spinal chemo, and miss my first ever appt with him during his treatment, I went with no sleep(because of sleep issues waiting on results from sleep study), and vomiting from what I know now is a hiatal hernia, and try to keep it together and not vomit during all my appts that day. My blood work from that day showed I had low potassium probably from being so sick from the hiatal hernia and I had to take potassium for 2 weeks to get my levels back up.

His only reason for denying me was depression and putting my kids first. To me... doubling in size since my twin pregnancy resulting in a multitude of health problems, a child diagnosed with leukemia at 2.5 years old, and a strained 19 year marriage due to all of these changes... a little depression is to be expected I think. No counseling will ever make me put myself before my kids, I can put myself at a close second which is what I was trying to do by jumping through hoops to make my appt that morning.