Psych Eval...WAY too long, WAY WAY too long

[bbjerseygirl 0]

Thanks for this thread. I was going to post about psych appointment. I have one on Monday and was wondering what to expect. I guess I have to expect the unexpected. I have led a pretty boring and uneventful life too. My psych should be pretty bored as well. After this appt my doc is going to try to have me pre-certed because I am border line of being approved. My doc has a lot of out of pocket expenses $1,600 which I haven't heard anyone else paying. I have seen the nutrionist 3 times so hopefully it is enough to get approved. It is only half way through the pre-program but he doesn't want me putting the money out if I can't get approved. I hope all this is not for nothing. This psych better not say I am nuts and hold things up (lol)

[Anyalee 0]

Does anybody else think it is really weird that you have to get a psych eval for this surgery? They don't make you get a psych eval for ANY other surgery- except maybe sex change. I can't even imagine the extreme depression that would result from getting denied by insurance! Like that poor black lady in Big Medicine who moved to Texas so she could get the surgery and then got denied! I wanted to pay for HER surgery (cept I'm totally broke). :cry

[cazulay 0]

Mine was a little over 2 hours, there were 2 psychologists asking me questions and then they gave me a bunch of multiple choice tests. Glad that is behing me.

[sweet_liberty 1]

I don't think it is weird at all, as I have seen what can happen when someone isn't properly screened ahead of time. The eval is more for YOU than the surgeon, they are trying to make sure YOU are responsible and understand that this is as much a psychological change as it is a physical change. A proper eval will offer you ideas and tools to help you thru this transition.

A friend of a friend of mine had weight loss surgery a couple of years ago. She had very little support from family and friends. She became very thin and was very good looking and the new attention that brought her was difficult for her to take. Her reliance on food switched to a drug dependency and before long she overdosed on purpose and died.

I know not all people will have problems like that, but those are the types of things they want to avoid or at least bring to your attention ..ie addiction transfer, etc. The more aware YOU are of those things, the better prepared you will be for the changes this surgery can bring.

[Anyalee 0]

Wow- that is definitely a good example of why they SHOULD have the psych eval!

[Ready4it 0]

This is making me nervous about my upcoming psych evaluation. I don't want to sit down and have my past analyzed, I just want to let them know I understand the risks, I know this is going to effect all aspects of my life, etc. I'm hoping I can get a recommendation from my PCP or the team I am going to be doing this journey with. It is worth it though.

[fatfree07 0]

:help:Hi all I am really new to this.. I am finally making the decision of having the land band which I know will transform my life. I had my psych eval last Thursday and YES it took about 2 hours. The advantange of this psych evaluaton is to determine that you are a good candidated for the surgery.. The Docotor who is going to do this surgery for you will determing with help of the nutrition eval and psych evalu if you have some issues as for eating or depression issues.. Sometimes their are people who have severe depression and due to this binges on food or others just have no control over food:hungry: at all, these evals just show the doctor the capacity of one's actions to see if they can succesfully stay on a strenouos diet after the lap band surgery..

Good Luck:scared:Rhonda

[spag1952 0]

Sweet, did you poor friend get a psych evaluation before her surgery? Just curious.

Judi

[mnn2501 0]

I had to take a multiple choice questionare -- took about an hour - then the 'shrink' read through it while I was in the waiting room (about 15-20 minutes, then we talked for about 45 minutes - so roughly 2 hours. And no puzzels.

[triser72 0]

I am not sure what to think about all of this....maybe there should be some form of standardization on the psych eval step in the process. My psych eval is Monday. She said it would take an hour and cost $175. Part of that time is 20-30 min. spent on the paper questionnaire.

I have been in psychotherapy for close to a year (I am a workaholic) - which has led to the discovery that I do so much for others that I let myself go. Lapband is doing something for myself and being forced to pay attention to it. My psych says that I have ignored my weight for so long and allowed food to serve emotional needs. She says losing weight will bring my self-esteem back into balance and I will begin to view food as fuel. Undoubtedly, psychotherapy has changed a lot of my perspectives in the past year. I plan to continue psychotherapy after lapband.

[MacMadame 81]

I just made my appointment. She said it would take about an hour, maybe 1.5 if I need to do a questionnaire to be screened for depression. So this one does the talking first. It seems like a lot of others do the questionnaire first.

[lynnt1215 1]

my eval was about 30 minutes, I had a paper questionaire to complete prior to the appt. All we talked about is who was our support system, did i understand the life changes involved.

Nothing overly deep.

As with all other aspects of pre op preparation for lapband surgery psychology eval seems to have it's differences too. All you need to do is go with the flow, it will get you through all of this. and then you will be getting banded

good luck

[anjelinaj 0]

I had to laugh out loud at whoever it was that referred to their therpist as Captain Obvious. Too funny.

As I have gone thru life (all but a brief period 5 years ago) overweight, i have put my own psych spin on things.

We all have our own way of dealing with things. Some eat , some drink, some do drugs, some work out, some starve, some are angry, some internalize everything, some sleep, some make their lives so busy they don't 'have time' to deal with things, etc. Some of these things are healthier and more socially acceptable than others.

That being said, I am a girl who can wipe tears with one hand and eat with the other--BUT I also LOVE food, and often food is the focus of celebratory events in my life-Graduate from college? let's go out to eat! New job? Let's go out to eat! Get a raise? lets go out to eat! Hear some good news? Let's go out to eat! Birthday? Anniversay? Holiday? Let's go out to eat! You get the picture.

I am looking @ this procedure as a way to start over from scratch and learn to eat right. Sorry to go on & on, I'm just excited!!

[Long2BFree 12]

I'm reading through this and am now nervous about whether or not my psych eval will be different after speaking the nutritionist yesterday. It came out that I binge eat when I feel stressed especially work related stress. I did tell her that I am actively looking for a different job to get out of my present situation (which I didn't go into) which is really stressful. She asked if I thought of taking antidressants. I just hope this doesn't prevent me from getting approval for the surgery.

[Scarlett O'hara 0]

I had to see the shrink 2 times. Both times he sat in his chair holding up a picture of what a lap band looks like. The entire visit! He barely asked me any questions about myself or eating habits. Just gave me lots of info on the surgery itself. Stuff I allready know! Oh yeah, the second visit he talked about how MY skin will sag and the wrinkles I do have now on my face, you just cant see them b/c of the fat, will show up and basically, my whole face will be wrinkled and I will be wearing a "shirt made of skin".

NICE GUY - He really said that stuff! What a Di-k! Between the 1st & 2nd session, I had to take a 500+ true/false questionarre, ?'s like 'if given the chance I could change the world' 'my father is a good man' alot of the same ?'s over and over but phrased different. It took over 2 hours to do! Both sessions with the shrink lasted a half hour, but I am sure my insurance was billed for the whole hour.

I let it upset me for about a day, now I find the whole thing pretty comical. He can be the biggest jerk in the world, just tell them I am sane! It was worth the 3 hours I put into it.

Don't over-think your upcoming evaulation! I just heard today, "if you THiNK your crazy, your probably not" (the truly crazy don't know it, never thought about it)!

(I have been approved and my surgery is April 30th)!