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Mental Health and WLS

Posted Aug 26 2008 12:41pm

I've been open about my diagnosis of Bipolar disorder. It is just a part of me. I do not define myself by it. I've also had WLS. Here again it is just a part of me. But the question is do the 2 things have anything in common.

Part of the pre-op course prior to being approved for WLS, you must undergo a psychological exam. The reasoning behind this is find out if you will be able to handle all the changes that will come about after losing so much weight in a relatively short period of time. Also they want to determine if you will be able to stick with the restrictions put on you post op.

WLS brings about a lifetime of change. Some adjust to it some don't.

I found this article recently in the American Journal of Psychiatry , Psychiatric Disorders Among Bariatric Surgery Candidates: Relationship to Obesity and Functional Health Status.

Approximately 66% of the participants had a lifetime history of at least one axis I disorder, and 38% met diagnostic criteria at the time of preoperative evaluation. In addition, 29% met criteria for one or more axis II disorders.



The therapist I see has numerous clients who have undergone WLS. So for me this raises the question of which came first--the mental illmess or the obesity. Did the obesity bring about the mental illness. Or is the obesity the result of a mental illness. Or could it be both.

An article from Reuters Health that I found on Medscape went into a little further detail





Overall, 66.3% of subjects had a lifetime history of at least one axis I disorder and 37.8% were currently diagnosed with such a disorder. The most common lifetime axis I disorder was major depressive disorder , seen in 42% of subjects. Binge eating disorder was the most common current disorder and had a prevalence of 16.0%.



A lifetime history of an axis II disorder was noted in 28.5% of subjects, the most common being avoidant personality disorder , which was seen in 17.0%.




There is alot of research dealing with this to be found online. One such study-- Psychosocial and Behavioral Aspects of Bariatric Surgery goes into a lot of detail--even stating that some see improvement in their mental illness post op.



With more and more people looking to have WLS--there needs to be more followup post op. As it stands right now---after the first year post op most patients are typically on their own.



I would love to hear from any one who has had WLS and is willing to share their experience.

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